Meet The SCP Team: Celena Mancina, Managing Director of Business Development and Operations

As we celebrate our five-year anniversary this month, we’re thrilled to have a great team that embodies our core values of excellence, passion, integrity, and equity on a daily basis.

First in our team highlight series, is one of the newest members of the SCP team, Celena Mancina. As Managing Director of Business Development and Operations, Celena serves on the leadership team overseeing all business operations including HR, Financial, Legal, Communications, and IT Infrastructure.  

Celena works directly with mission-focused organizations across the country to assist in their initiatives to serve youth in an equitable way. 

Before joining Strategic Community Partners, Celena was the VP of Operations at Grand Circus Detroit where she worked with over 300 companies and organizations to introduce career opportunities to coding bootcamp graduates. Celena also led Grand Circus’ partnerships, identifying creative strategies to fund scholarships and community outreach programs for underrepresented groups in tech. 

In 2017, Celena was named one of Crain’s Detroit Business’ Twenty in Their 20s award for her work on the Grand Circus DEVELOP(her) Scholarship, a program for women seeking careers in software development. Through this program, Grand Circus worked with local organizations to provide full scholarships for more than 80 Michigan women.

Celena is proud to work and live in the city of Detroit and enjoys being outdoors, biking, kayaking, rowing, spending time with her husband and dog, and traveling overseas to visit family. She also loves a good documentary and non-fiction book!

Learn more about Celena and her work with SCP:

In one sentence, how do you describe your work with SCP?

I oversee all business operations including HR, Financial, Legal, Communications and IT Infrastructure.  I also work on partner-work nationally, specifically in Detroit, DC and St. Louis. Overall I strive for operational excellence in all areas of the business for it to grow and thrive long term. 

What are some of your favorite projects you've worked on at SCP and why?

I’ve really enjoyed working on the recent strategic planning project with local non-profit JOURNi. We’ve worked with them on everything from capacity building and hiring, to building out the fundraising plan for 2020/2021. The organization is doing amazing things, reaching nearly 700 youth trained in 2019. I’m thrilled that the work SCP does can support their growth in the long term, allowing them to impact more youth in Detroit in the coming years. 

What quote inspires you in your work?

A quote by Theodore Roosevelt, "The Man in the Arena":  

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

What is your favorite aspect about Detroit?

I love the people, the size and diversity inside the city. A few of my favorite things to do is ride my bike around and discover neighborhoods, people and places. I love Belle Isle and I’ve rowed at the boathouse there in the summer for the past three years (it is the oldest boat house in the country). I really enjoy the newly renovated riverfront and the investment the city has made in it. I love walking my dog there in the spring, summer and fall. 

What is your favorite karaoke song?

“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston

Interested in getting in touch with Celena and learning more about her work at SCP? Email celena.mancina@strategiccommunitypartners.org.