Rini Fonseca-Sabune ’00 

Consultant, Facilitator, Coach
Recipient of the 2025 Alumna Community Service Award

Education: Harvard University, Social Studies (BA); Fordham Graduate School of Education (MST.); Harvard Law School (JD)

What I’m Doing Now: After many years teaching, practicing law, working for the ACLU as a civil rights attorney, and serving as New York City’s first chief democracy officer, in 2020 I launched my own strategic consulting and executive coaching practice. I help organizations think about how to align their internal practice and external work with their values and principles. Working primarily with mission-driven nonprofits, I help create and execute on strategic plans. I also design trainings and support executive teams. Executive coaching is the other part of my practice — collaborating with leaders who are figuring out how to carry out their values in their work.

I always knew I wanted to use the law for social change. Throughout my career and in my consulting work, I enjoy helping to build consensus toward action in a group — helping people recognize what’s agreed upon, what isn’t, and how to move forward. It’s magic when you can acknowledge tension and difference but find the alignment that exists and move toward positive action.

How KPS Influenced Me: In law school, professors used the Socratic method, cold-calling students. I remember classmates asking me how I was able to respond so well to their questions. I didn’t think it was anything special but I began to reflect on where, exactly, I learned how to speak. It was Kent Place. At Kent Place, I learned how to use my voice and not be afraid. My advisor, Mr. Pridham [former Chair of the Theater Department], and Dr. Cole [former English teacher] were particularly influential. For me, using my voice in service of disenfranchised and low-income communities of color has been my professional mission. The other aspect of this, of course, is public speaking. When I had the opportunity to work on the ground with community and tenant organizers in New York City and at City Hall with the mayor, I had many speaking engagements and interviews. I wasn’t unafraid, but I knew I could do it anyway. This was yet another lesson from Mr. Pridham and Dr. Cole: You can feel nervous and still do the hard thing.

Favorite KPS Memory: Speaking of Mr. Pridham, before every performance, he gave the cast and crew a talk and always ended with: “Sending love over the footlights.” After months of rigorous rehearsal and preparation, he sent us off with that message. It exemplifies the love and care that buttressed the rigor and excellence I experienced at Kent Place. As his advisee, one day I was melting down in his office about something. There was a large cork board in the Upper School where messages could be posted, and I spotted a postcard the next day with the words, “OK, today? :)” He didn’t even sign it but I knew it was from him. I kept that postcard for years. His demanding standards combined with a deep kindness and deep concern for students’ well-being had a great impact on me. 

My Proudest Accomplishment: I haven’t always followed a traditional career path. I worked in Uganda and Rwanda on separate occasions after college, for example. I left law to open my own consulting practice. I’m proud of having remained true to myself and my values in every role and experience I’ve taken on. That has required a depth of confidence that I began building at Kent Place. I thought I would follow a lockstep path, but it has been so much more interesting and fulfilling to be open to the journey, to different opportunities and meanderings. And my Kent Place friends have been my cheerleaders and supporters at every step. In fact, two of my closest Kent Place friends — who happened to be my tour guides when I first visited campus in sixth grade — live within 20 blocks of me. I see them all the time.

Advice for My KPS Sisters:
Three sayings come to mind — 

1. Don’t be afraid to be different. Do the thing you know is right for you even if it doesn’t look right to the rest of the world. 
2. Stay true to your authentic self. In my consulting work, I use the metaphor of a gold star versus a north star. Do the work to identify your north star and don’t be afraid to follow it.
3. In seventh grade, a Kent Place classmate had a bumper sticker on her binder that I still remember: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagined.” It’s not always easy to figure out what that is, but stay with the journey. 

Profile as of 10/2025.