Our Co-founders lend their skills to drive this work.

Shana Inofuentes

Director & Communications Strategy

Campaigns for public benefit

Shana Inofuentes revels in communication that inspires joy and justice. A proud daughter of the DMV’s vibrant Bolivian diaspora, she now directs The Quechua Project and its communications strategy. Over the decades through Fraternidad Alma Boliviana and Comité Pro-Bolivia, Shana has held leadership and principal dancer roles, helped showcase Native film, taught dance to hundreds of youth, directed choreography and music, and holds 11 combined Caporales Concurso and Copa Amistad championships. Shana participates in the traditional Carnaval Valluno with Renegados del Valle. Her roots lie deep in Ocobaya and Sorata. Part of her Yungas line migrated from Uncia, Potosí, passing down Quechua songs to her generation.

After the passing of her Aymara-speaking grandmother in Bolivia, Shana became acutely aware of Native language loss ramifications. Recognizing the potential for this same loss among friends in her predominantly-Qulla (Quechua) community, she sought partners to turn the tide. Shana feels compelled to give back to her community by helping to build a future where her son, Amichai, and other young people can thrive without sacrificing their identity, a luxury that their ancestors often did not have.

Shana also has over a decade of corporate and non-profit experience. She developed and managed Kimberly-Clark Corporation’s government relations compliance process and through her work in Indian Country, established Team Running Strong at the Marine Corps Marathon. Shana currently pursues a Master of Arts at Georgetown University, exploring new ways to use brand platforms for social impact. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College, Columbia University.

Contact: si359@georgetown.edu

Creative Director

Artist

Jennifer Albarracin Moya is a multi-disciplinary artist, who turns the abstract into digestible visual art. Her specialization in digital media is an extension of her art, enhancing community making, dialogue, and education. In 2018, she graduated from William & Mary with a Bachelor of Arts in film and media studies and a minor in Latin American studies. Since then, Jennifer has exhibited her short film and photography across the east coast. She has interned across the DMV area for Homie House Press, Transformer DC, Waller Gallery, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, solidifying connections with arts organizations and artists across the region. Jennifer is a Northern Virginia native, but lived her first two years in Bolivia. She grew up in the area’s highly-concentrated Bolivian community, has participated in the Incopea women’s soccer league for Tiataco, and danced in Tinkus Tiataco USA and Fraternidad Alma Boliviana. It is her Quechua-speaking Bolivian parents, both heavily involved in their hometown’s organization, OCIT Tiataco, who remind her every day of where she comes from and who she wants to be in the future.

Contact: jenniferalbarracin14@gmail.com

Quechua Language Specialization

Qhichwa K’anchachispa

Luz “K’ancha” Coca recently moved to the U.S. from Cliza, in Cochabamba, Bolivia. At first she struggled to adjust, until she found community in the DMV’s Bolivian diaspora. K’ancha feels deeply motivated to uplift traditional practices in her new community and to share them with the world, in all their diversity. K’ancha was Tradiciones Bolivianas’s representative for the Comité Pro-Bolivia Señorita contest. She also participates in the traditional Carnaval Valluno, representing Renegados del Valle for Miss Cholita, as well as dancing with Picaflores del Valle Alto and Misk’i Sunqus del Cono Sur. 

K’ancha feels that through the sweet misk’i of her first language, Quechua, she can truly express herself. She finds outlets for this expression by co-hosting the local WasaVision Quechua-Spanish language radio show on Facebook and writing poetry in Quechua. In college in Bolivia, K’ancha belonged to Qhichwap K’anchaynin, a student group led by Dr. Rosario Saavedra that realized Mast’aku, Wallunk’a, Takipayanaku, and harvesting, among other traditions. For her undergraduate thesis, she co-created a podcast to teach Quechua to public servants.

K’ancha earned a bachelor’s degree in Applied Linguistics in Language Education from the University of San Simón in Cochabamba, Bolivia. She has also taken graduate-level courses in Quechua as a second language and in higher education.

Strategic Formation Consulting

Project Management Professional

Monica Flores is a proud descendant of Quechua speakers. She learned a few Quechua words from her mother, who inherited their native language from her own grandmother. Monica grew up in Northern Virginia with the dream that Quechua would continue to flourish there.       

Cultural heritage and language shape Monica’s path, leading her to over 40 countries and landing her at the helm of several cultural and educational programs at museums, universities, and nonprofits. Her career began at the Smithsonian Institution’s Division of Cultural History and she currently works at an international development firm, while remaining engaged in the public diplomacy sector.  

Monica’s first short story, Wayra Chaki, was published in 2018 and she is currently producing a collection of stories inspired by her early years in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As a student at George Mason University, she co-founded the Bolivian Cultural Association, danced with Tradiciones Bolivianas as its first Ñusta, and supported community initiatives on indigenous rights. 

Monica holds a Master of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish literature with minors in dance and Latin American studies, both from George Mason University. Additionally, in Berlin, Germany, and Budapest, Hungary, she earned international graduate certificates in cultural diplomacy and in mediation. Monica is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has a Six Sigma Yellow Belt (CSSYB) in process improvement.

Contact: monicalorenaflores@gmail.com