Laura Isabel Toro, GALEO Program Manager for Leadership Development

Laura Isabel Toro

Laura Isabel Toro has joined GALEO as of September 2012, as the new Program Manager to focus upon the GALEO Institute for Leadership, among other civic engagement responsibilities.

Laura brings with her a lot of positive energy and drive. Presently, Laura lives in Vinings and she is establishing herself in the Atlanta area, having lived here for only a bit over a year. Previously she was with the law firm of Garcia & Fernandez, LLC, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she practiced law for three years in the area of general civil litigation.

Besides her professional endeavors, Laura is also an avid scuba diver, having received her PADI Open Water certification from Scuba Dogs in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico in 2003. Afterwards, she spent approximately seven years volunteering with Scuba Dogs Society, supporting their efforts in the Ocean Conservancy’s International Costal Cleanup, celebrated worldwide every third Saturday of September.

Laura is now very excited to bring her interest in civic engagement, legal expertise, innate sense of leadership and thirst for knowledge to Georgia, through the efforts of GALEO, and is looking forward to immersing herself in the issues that affect the Georgia Latino community.

Having been born and raised in Puerto Rico, Laura is also completely fluent in Spanish. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in History, with a minor in Political Science, from Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland, and then went on to live in Connecticut, where she worked as an elementary school substitute teacher and after-school day care coordinator. Afterwards, she lived and worked in New York City for a few years, before returning to Puerto Rico to pursue her Juris Doctorate degree. As part of her curriculum, she participated in a joint University of Barcelona and University of Puerto Rico law school program that focused on human rights, international law and European Union law before graduating from the Inter-American University School of Law in San Juan in 2006.