ABOUT US
CRISTINA CALVILLO-RIVERA
Principal & Co-Founder
Cristina brings nearly 20 years of experience in local, state, and national non-profits, specializing in educational programming, leadership development, and organizational growth. Her career began in her hometown of El Paso, Texas, organizing LGBTQ community education and supporting high school students in establishing Gay-Straight Alliances. She later expanded her youth engagement work with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) of New Mexico, creating educational programs on DWI and underage drinking prevention.
In Washington DC, as Deputy Director of Training and Consumer Education and later Director of Young Adult Engagement and Advocacy at Young Invincibles, Cristina led youth engagement strategies, developed curricula, and facilitated nationwide trainings on economic policies affecting millennials. At Consumer Reports, she pioneered the organization's first community development program in its 80-year history as Training and Curriculum Specialist.
As Training and Engagement Director at Instituto in Phoenix, Arizona, Cristina was instrumental in creating the organization's leadership development fellowship focused on building electoral and advocacy leaders statewide. As one of Instituto's founding employees, she established core internal processes including hiring procedures and onboarding trainings.
At CR Strategies, Cristina helps clients develop strategic plans and improve organizational performance by transforming strategies, procedures, and culture. She designs and facilitates strategic planning sessions, brainstorming workshops, problem-solving meetings, and team alignment processes.
Cristina proudly resides in El Paso, Texas with her wife Ambar and their dogs, Churro and Frida.
AMBAR CALVILLO-RIVERA
Founder
Ambar brings nearly a decade of experience in strategic partner engagement, coalition building, and civic engagement across diverse communities. She has managed national education and awareness campaigns, built and engaged national coalitions, and executed large scale summits and conferences. Most recently, Ambar served as the Vice President of Campaigns for Voto Latino, where she led the implementation of Somos Más, a national campaign that mobilized young Latinos ahead of the historic 2018 midterm elections, successfully registering over 200,000 people to vote in 11 states with 76% voter turnout. Prior to that, Ambar led the mobilization of national organizations and caucuses during the historic 2017 special elections, to support down-ballot candidates across the country, as the Director of Community Engagement and Strategic Partnerships at the Democratic National Committee (DNC). She also previously served as National Director of Field and Partner Engagement for Enroll America, where she led a multi-state team and national partner program to implement an awareness campaign for the Affordable Care Act.