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Vincent Perez

Nonprofits & social impact

Vincent Perez(he/him)

Founder · Equity Institute

BA University of Idaho, MPA The Evergreen State College

Over the past 20 years, this contributor has built a career helping schools, nonprofits, and community organizations create workplaces where people are treated with dignity and can actually grow — work that has reached thousands of educators, young people, and community leaders across the country. Starting from a deep belief that real change begins with human connection, they went on to found several initiatives focused on leadership, healing, and belonging, including the Equity Institute, La Cima Bilingual Leadership, and the Men's Healing Network. If you're figuring out how to turn your values into a career that makes a difference, their path shows what's possible when you lead with purpose.

Their story

"Asking for help is a life skill" - Executive Director Non profit

16 min

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Key quotes

“Gratitude will get you everywhere. It was really my motivation was gratitude.”

Vincent Perez, Founder, Equity Institute

“Give me five years, drop me anywhere and I'll make success. That's what that taught me — to let go of something I was working on and just drop into something new.”

Vincent Perez, Founder, Equity Institute

“To live a life of purpose and pursue your own dreams — whatever that is — finding your passions, and the trick is to make a living off of that.”

Vincent Perez, Founder, Equity Institute

“Asking for help is a life skill set. There's a certain amount of grace I think we have to give ourselves when we feel like we're falling short or that we're not enough.”

Vincent Perez, Founder, Equity Institute

“I've never received a job in that form. I have only been hired by somebody who's recruited me.”

Vincent Perez, Founder, Equity Institute

Career highlights

Gratitude can be a career strategy — let it motivate you to show up and step up.

Vincent ran for senior class president specifically because he wanted to publicly thank his mom at graduation. That decision led to a leadership scholarship that paid for college.

When you can't find a job, build your network from the ground up — show up to every room available.

After moving to Louisiana and Wyoming where no one knew him, Vincent attended Chamber of Commerce meetings and community task forces until he built enough credibility to find work.

Seek out mentors proactively — you don't have to wait for someone to choose you.

At 17, Vincent met a teacher at a leadership camp and simply declared him his mentor in the closing circle. That man still mentors him today and now works at the Equity Institute.

A master's degree in something practical — like public administration — can open specific doors, especially for nonprofit and government contracts.

Vincent's MPA gave him the tools to navigate contracting with municipalities, counties, and school districts, which became essential to the Equity Institute's business model.

As a leader, focus on people's strengths rather than fixing every weakness — it builds better teams and better results.

Vincent described his leadership philosophy as delegating based on what people are actually good at, rather than forcing everyone into the same mold.

Give yourself grace — being hard on yourself doesn't make you better, it just makes the journey harder.

Vincent reflected that he was very hard on himself in his 20s and 30s and that learning self-compassion was one of his most important life lessons.

Student summary
Vincent Perez is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Equity Institute, an organization that helps schools, county governments, nonprofits, and even theater companies build more just, inclusive, and equitable workplaces and communities. He grew up in Santa Ana, California, the child of a mother who dropped out of high school and a father who couldn't read — and he figured out FAFSA, college applications, and leadership opportunities largely on his own. His path wasn't straight: he followed his partner's family across the country, worked construction in Wyoming when he couldn't get hired in education, and built his reputation one community meeting at a time. By 44, he had enough experience and credibility to launch the Equity Institute, his fourth entrepreneurial venture, paying himself $70–80K a year doing work he believes in. Vincent's day-to-day life as Executive Director is anything but routine. One morning he's reviewing payroll and invoices at 7am; the next afternoon he's driving hours to cover an after-school program for injured staff. Wednesday nights he works with high schoolers on youth participatory action research. He gives keynotes, manages contracts with cities and school districts, oversees a team of eight, and still finds time to dabble in graphic design and music. His master's in public administration gave him the systems knowledge to navigate government contracts — but he's clear that formal education is just one piece of the puzzle. For students of color, Vincent's story hits different. He was racially profiled six times in six months in Wyoming. He applied for jobs he was perfectly qualified for and never got called back. He had to build networks from scratch in towns where nobody knew him. And yet, he kept going — showing up to Chamber of Commerce meetings, finding mentors, and eventually creating his own lane. He didn't wait for a door to open; he built his own organization so he could do the work on his own terms. His advice centers on gratitude, mentorship, and playing to your strengths — both your own and your team's. He credits his entire career trajectory to a moment of gratitude: wanting to thank his mom at graduation, which pushed him to run for senior class president, which earned him a leadership scholarship, which got him to college. That chain reaction started with a feeling, not a plan. If you're a first-gen student or a student of color trying to figure out how to turn your values into a career, Vincent's journey is proof that purpose-driven work is possible — even when the systems aren't built for you.