Ascenda is an impact advisory firm dedicated to strengthening organizations that successfully contribute to a better future.

Vision

A Latin America in which all people have equal access to opportunities and healthy living conditions so they may live with dignity and realize their full potential.

Mission

To leverage an array of financial and non-financial resources to advance impactful and scalable solutions for a more inclusive and sustainable Latin America.

Diana de castro, founder

Diana de Castro is an executive, board member and advisor in the impact investment and social enterprise management industries.

She brings broad experience in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors including social finance, consulting, nonprofit management and banking in Latin America.

Diana served as the Chief Alliance Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Pro Mujer, a leading women’s development organization that delivers transformative services to low-income women in Latin America. Prior to Pro Mujer, she served as Principal of FIRST, a Brazilian impact investment fund. Additionally, she spent several years as an international private banker at Royal Bank of Canada and Barclays Bank.

Diana serves as Loan Committee Advisor for MCE Social Capital and as Investment Committee Member of Acceso Impact Fund. She is currently a Board Member of Alterna, and has previously held governance roles with the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, Central America and Mexico Steering Committee; Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund, Gender Smart Subcommittee; and the Boards of Pro Mujer Nicaragua and Pro Mujer Bolivia.

She graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and later earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Diana attended Harvard University’s Financial Institutions for Private Enterprise Development, an executive education program for financial inclusion at the JFK School of Government.

Recent Speaking Engagements

  • Foro Latino de Inversion de Impacto, Mexico - Employing an Intersectional Equity Framework for More Inclusive and Successful Enterprises, 2023.

  • Foro Latino de Inversion de Impacto, Central America - The Future of Impact in Central America, 2022

  • Impact Capital Forum - Spotlight on Refugee-Lens Investing, 2020

  • Women Deliver - Skills Building and Financial Inclusion Vancouver, 2019

  • FinDev Canada Inauguration - Supporting and Advancing Women in Business Montreal, 2018

  • Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs - Blended Finance Virginia, 2019

  • SOCAP - Gender-Lens Investing in Latin America San Francisco, 2019

  • Social Finance Forum - Impact in Action: Global Social Finance Toronto, 2019

  • Georgetown University Women’s Forum - Impact Investing with a Gender Focus Washington, DC 2019

  • Acumen - Gender-Lens Investing in Emerging Markets: Insights from the Field New York, 2019

  • Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs Annual Summit - Gender Lens Investing; Gender Inclusion in Agribusiness Virginia, 2018

  • Georgetown University - Re-Imagining Philanthropy Washington, DC 2018

  • Foro Latino de Inversion de Impacto - El Futuro es Femenino; Gender-Lens Investing Antigua, 2018

Georgetown University Women’s Forum

FinDev Canada Inauguration

Women Deliver - Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund Launch

Publications

“How a Brazilian Firm is Sustainably Solving the Problem of Urban Slums, One Community at a Time” for the international journal, FACTs Reports, published in 2011.

“Financiamento Urbano: Como o Movimento de Impacto Pode Ajudar Projetos de Moradia e Urbanismo” for the book Arq. Futuro – Financiamento da Inovação Urbana: Novos Modelos, published in 2014