Monique Bonilla
Monique Bonilla is the founder and leader of Free The Voice, an organization that focuses on Trauma Training. As a woman of color and a trauma survivor, Monique’s path to this work began through the exploration of her own trauma. She developed a deep understanding of how essential the personal journey is to anyone leading human-facing work.
Monique spent eight years as a Juvenile Detention Officer where she witnessed the impact of trauma first hand. This pushed Monique to recognize a deeper systemic issue that she believed could be solved through education. Over the past 20 years she has been a teacher, school principal, instructional superintendent and Vice President of Scholar, Family and Community Services – always seeking ways to increase her impact.
Monique works to solve how individual and collective trauma impacts our way of being and in turn impacts organizational culture. Her special talent is to assess, analyze, and support organizations to address issues of trauma that keep people, adults and children, from reaching their highest potential. Her Liberatory Design Process provides space for both flexibility and innovation to arrive at the best set of solutions and key practices tailored to support individuals and organizations. Monique utilizes coaching and system assessments so that organizations understand their own trauma and how it impacts individual and team performance.