Executive Director

Cat DaCosta McAfee was born and raised in Attleboro, MA. After completing high school, she moved to Atlanta and attended Kennesaw State University. After a year, she transferred to Dekalb College where she received an associate’s degree in business administration. She then transferred to Georgia State University to continue her undergraduate in finance. After college, she started her own corporation, 13 Stories, LLC and toured all over the US for over a decade as the lead guitarist for 13 Stories.

McAfee also worked for Fundraising and Management Counsel as a Program Director in charge of management and execution of capital campaigns for non-profit organizations for nearly ten years. In 2000, she began working at The Gym at Peachtree as the Director of Skating and Roller Hockey and created one of the most successful hockey programs in Atlanta. Until 2005, McAfee taught skating to the LaAmistad children and helped find scholarships for the most advanced participants to attend camps or play in competitive leagues. In 2005, she became the Director of Athletics for LaAmistad.

In August 2007, McAfee became the Director of LaAmistad. She continued to study Spanish and has completed more than 300 hours of study at an accredited Spanish School, Instituto Chac-Mool in Cuernavaca, Mexico. In July 2012, McAfee was promoted to Executive Director of LaAmistad, Inc. Her responsibilities now include future growth planning, program replication, team leadership, fundraising, and management of volunteers and classrooms. Using what she has learned from her certification in Developing Capable Young People, her studies of Teach for America applications, and her experiences in fundraising, McAfee continues to take LaAmistad to even higher levels.

Her passion for the students, the families, and service to the community fuel her continued study and research of effective avenues of communication and learning between different cultures. She is deeply involved in the community serving on Atlanta Public School’s Advisory Committee, Georgia Coalition for English Language Learners and the Georgia Department of Public Health Brain Trust 4 Babies Committee. McAfee is also a founding board member for Atlanta Classical Academy, a tuition-free, open enrollment, K-12 public charter school opened in 2014 with a mission to develop students in mind and character through a classical, content-rich curriculum that emphasizes the principles of virtuous living, traditional learning, and civic responsibility. When Ms. McAfee is not at LaAmistad, she loves playing guitar, salsa dancing, wakeboarding, snowboarding and hockey.

HONORS AND AWARDS

• Member of Community Advisory Board for Winship's Office of Community Outreach and Engagement (2020-present)
• Board Chair of Atlanta Classical Academy (2019 - present)
• September 2017 Education in Excellence Award from Mundo Hispanico
• Member of the Goizueta Foundation Grant Advisory Board at Emory University (2017-present)
• Member of Atlanta Classical Academy School Board Member at large  (2013 - 2019)
• Atlanta Public School’s Charter System Advisory Committee (2014-2016)
• Georgia Department of Public Heath Brain Trust 4 Babies Advisory Board (2015 to present)
• October 2012 Renovacion Conyugal honored LaAmistad as Community Partner of the Year 

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