Since she was in high school, Federica Soriano De Teresa envisioned working in the nonprofit sector as her way of contributing positively to the country and the world. Fast forward, she has been living out her passion for philanthropy for more than 25 years, first as the co-founder and director general of promotion for the Fundación Teleton Mexico, A.C., from 1997 to 2015, and now as chief executive officer of the Children’s Rehabilitation Institute TeletónUSA (CRIT) in San Antonio, Texas, since 2018.
Ms. Soriano De Teresa oversees the operation and secures critically needed funds for CRIT, a nonprofit organization that treats families with disabilities and presents an annual telethon to raise money and help build and operate rehabilitation centers for children under its four-pillar care model that encompasses the family’s physical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of life. In Mexico, she said, the organization has 25 rehabilitation centers at children’s cancer hospitals and autism centers. Ms. Soriano De Teresa believes, however, that CRIT needs 50 centers in the United States, where the organization currently serves 350 families a year and has a waiting list of more than 1600. She encourages the public to visit the centers and become familiar with the organization’s ongoing work aimed at improving the lives of countless families for the better.
Named in 2014 as one of the 25 Most Powerful Latin Women by People en Español, published by Dotdash Meredith, Ms. Soriano De Teresa considers her most notable achievement as bringing the Mexican rehabilitation model to the United States. She recalled that many American children were going to their centers in Mexico to get the services they needed. CRIT, therefore, decided to also operate in the United States, which proved to be a challenging yet rewarding endeavor. She believes that her accomplishments stem from having a heart for the nonprofit’s mission and that “success comes when there is purity of intention.” Ms. Soriano De Teresa’s desire to help others extends beyond CRIT as a board member of the San Antonio-Mexico Friendship Council, working with the consulate of Mexico and the city of San Antonio to assist individuals with academics and getting into college. Understanding the benefits of a solid educational foundation, she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in economics from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and completed coursework at Colegio Miraflores in Mexico.
Aligning with her personal motto, “You will always have time to rest in heaven because there is much to do here. We have to always leave a better place than we found it,” Ms. Soriano De Teresa’s goal within the next decade is to open at least three to five rehabilitation centers in the United States. Devoted to her family, she is married with two sons and a daughter, and in her spare time, enjoys hiking, camping kayaking, and performing handiwork.
