Community Development Experts 2025

Juan Luis Garrido is a DEI Project Consultant at Center Desk Consulting whose work bridges strategy, facilitation, and communication to help organizations design more equitable, human-centered experiences. In his current role, he supports nonprofit and corporate clients in deepening their diversity, equity, and inclusion commiments through participatory methods, co-created initiatives, and systems-level thinking. With a background that spans nonprofit leadership and social impact consulting, he is known for his ability to build trust across sectors and center lived experience in meaningful, actionable ways. Juan Luis holds a Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University, where his graduate research explored the role of joy as a critical resource for practitioners in social change work. His work reflects a deep belief that joy, care, and imagination are not distractions from equity work, but vital components of its sustainability and impact.

From a past marked by transracial adoption, the loss of a parent, a traumatic assault, and teen incarceration, A. Margot Blair emerged with unwavering resilience, determined not to be defined by her hardships. Today, she is a respected Bible Teacher, Learning and Development Specialist at a technology company, Leadership Consultant, and Retreat Host. With over a decade of experience and currently pursuing her Doctorate in Leadership, she empowers women at the intersection of faith and leadership. As a trained and seasoned consultant, A. Margot coaches, mentors, and consults with women leaders across various sectors. Her expertise has fueled a 23-city tour, three professional development conferences, a $500K+ partnership portfolio, and the creation of seven personal and professional development resources—including books and courses. She has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Leader, a Top 35 Millennial Influencer, and the recipient of three state proclamations presented by Phoenix mayors. Her clients have included Comerica Bank, Grand Canyon University’s Honors College, and employees from LinkedIn, the Dallas Mavericks, ADP, Toyota, Prudential, and more. A former Forbes Business Coach and contributor, she teaches companies and leaders how to implement the blueprint that helped her build a thriving, multi-6-figure partnership portfolio. A. Margot’s work has been featured on The 700 Club, Fast Company, Esther Press, Lifeway, Goodwill AZ, Zapier, SCORE, and America’s Small Business Development Center. She is also a regular content partner for the YouVersion Bible App—with over 10 Bible plans—and a contributor to Esther Press, Journey Magazine, and other publications. Most importantly, A. Margot Blair is the wife of Vincent and the proud mother of her bonus children, Esaias and Alyvia, and her preschooler, Luke.

Saddam Hosen is a full-stack web developer, product builder, and founder of Free Document Maker — a free, AI-powered web platform that helps users generate professional documents, convert files, and manage PDFs with ease. With over 25 browser-based tools including invoice creators, image converters, resume builders, and PDF editors, Free Document Maker is used globally by freelancers, students, and businesses looking for fast, mobile-optimized productivity tools without the need to install software or pay for subscriptions. With a strong foundation in Laravel, Tailwind CSS, Vite, and Alpine.js, Saddam builds scalable, high-performance web applications optimized for SEO, accessibility, and user experience. His development philosophy combines clean architecture, speed-first frontends, and intuitive UX. From structured data implementation to core web vitals optimization, Saddam ensures every site and tool performs seamlessly across devices. Beyond development, he actively publishes technical blogs on Medium, Blogspot, and his own platform to help others learn about free AI tools, smart document workflows, and emerging tech. His platform has been featured on ProductHunt, AlternativeTo, SaaSHub, and across multiple developer communities for its usability and performance. Currently based in Bangladesh, Saddam is focused on building globally useful tools with minimal dependencies and maximum reach. Whether it’s simplifying a business contract or converting a JPG to WebP instantly, his mission is to make intelligent document processing available to everyone — free, secure, and accessible.

Heyo! I’m Saif, a startup and VC generalist with 12 years of experience enabling 150+ companies. 👨🏽‍💻📈 Born in 🇦🇪 - Raised in 🇺🇸 - Working in 🇵🇰 with a global mindset. I genuinely love solving problems for founders, mentoring students, and fostering community along the way. Recent achievements: ⭐️ Built strategic partnerships with banks and fintechs for Dastgyr, enabling 10,000s unbanked MSMEs to access loans worth $1,000,000s ⭐️ Enabled Pakistan’s largest Series A round of $37M at Dastgyr Media highlights: Quoted and featured in top media outlets and podcasts, as an industry commentator and company spokesman 🗞️ The New York Times 🗞️ Rest of World 🗞️ Reuters 🗞️ Wamda 🗞️ ProPakistani 🗞️ Branding in Asia 🗞️ Profit by Pakistan Today 📺 Asharq Bloomberg Live 🎙️ Wamda Podcast 🎙️ NoDegree Podcast 🎙️ The Hustle Podcast 🎙️ The MiMiYouYou Show 🎙️ Naeem Sikandar Podcast 🎙️ Thought Behind Things Podcast (3x)