The Sabbatical: Coming Back to Myself
By: Gabriela Quintanilla, Hudson Valley Program Director, North Star Fund. This piece was adapted from a longer post published on June 23, 2026.
I work in philanthropy as the Hudson Valley Program Director at North Star Fund, a social justice fund that supports grassroots organizing. We work with communities of color building power in New York City and the Hudson Valley.
I recently returned to work after a sabbatical. Our organization offers staff a three-month sabbatical after every five years of work. This practice reflects the vision and values we hold in the world.
I wondered what a sabbatical would be like for me—a previously undocumented person from a working class, single-parent household now working in philanthropy?
At 13, I walked from El Salvador to the United States with my younger sisters, ages four and seven. We arrived in 2006 without knowing English, to reunite with family.
In 2008, I became part of the DREAMers movement. Our youth-led movement advocated for pathways to citizenship, access to financial aid and equal rights for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children. I started to organize protests and share my story.
Despite my undocumented status, I was able to go to college at SUNY Stonybrook. And I wanted to do more to help rural, undocumented high school students in the Hudson Valley. I created Adelante Student Voices to inform undocumented students of their rights, including access to higher education. I dedicated myself to building the organization for several years. It is now Adelante’s 10-year anniversary. I am so proud of the work they continue to do.
Next, I served the Rural & Migrant Ministry—the organization with the youth group I was part of when I was younger. As the Coordinator for Western New York, I organized for policy change with farmworker women and youth.
At North Star Fund, I am often a voice in the room for grantees because of my background in grassroots organizing. I am a bridge between communities and organizers and those with the wealth and power to support them. I feel a tremendous privilege and honor holding this role—and immense responsibility.
So what is a sabbatical like for a 33-year-old who has had little time for rest or reflection? I did not want to be in the US for my sabbatical.
I started and ended my trip in Mexico. I traveled to Costa Rica, Colombia and El Salvador in between. For the first month I did not know what to do with myself. I was in such vibrant places—and yet I couldn’t detach from the realities around me and back in the US.
As I began my sabbatical, I experienced an earthquake in Ciudad de Mexico. Everyone had to evacuate their buildings. One person died. The next day, I woke to news of President Maduro being captured by the US government. Throughout Central and South America, rightwing politicians have rapidly gained power. In El Salvador, under Bukele’s dictatorship, authorities are arresting people in an anti-gang crackdown rife with abuse. To criticize the government there is to risk being arrested without due process or legal representation. I saw the fear in people’s eyes when I asked questions about their lives. At the same time, I anxiously watched the violence in the US from afar—immigration arrests, deportations and the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti.
I felt so much panic, thinking about all the immigrants in the US. Thinking of the risks my loved ones were facing scared and overwhelmed me. My body broke down. I cried for days.
Our bodies speak to us if we have space to tune in and listen. It took my body to stop working for me to pay attention to my emotional pain differently. I was able to do that because I was not working full-time. I needed to cry out my frustration, fear and worry. I focused on breathing exercises. I reminded myself that I deserved this time—to be present in my surroundings. To be in awe of the toucans, capuchin monkeys and to slow down like the forest sloths.
Slowly, the pain began to disappear. It was a product of the stress and helplessness I felt watching my people being criminalized for their immigration status. I feel honored to have had the privilege of not working for three months to look myself in the eye and take stock of all the lives I have lived up to this point. Immigrant. Student. Organizer. A bridge between worlds.
As philanthropy slowly hires more staff from impacted communities, its practices need to adapt. It has a responsibility to provide extended rest periods to staff—and to make the same possible for grantees.
Gabriela Quintanilla is the Hudson Valley Program Director at North Star Fund. This was adapted from a longer post on North Star Fund’s Substack, Resource & Rise.