Celeste Guzmán Mendoza has more than 20 years of development experience in higher education and nonprofit fundraising. She began her career as a grant writer at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, Texas, and now leads fundraising efforts in Latin America for the University of Texas at Austin. Throughout her career, she has cultivated relationships between donors and institutions that have resulted in support of students, faculty, research, plays and art exhibits, art education for youth and adults, scholarly and literary publications, and other projects totaling more than $15 million. She recently completed her PhD in Higher Education Leadership and Policy as well as a Graduate Portfolio Program from the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, both from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on Latinx philanthropy, specifically to higher education institutions and nonprofits.