Deanna Cardenas is a bilingual community leader, consultant, and cultural strategist with more than 25 years of experience serving Oklahoma’s diverse communities. Her work spans community engagement, nonprofit leadership, cultural arts advocacy, and strategic partnerships—bringing a unique blend of insight, trust, and relationship-building to every project.

Deanna began her career in commercial property management before transitioning into real estate, where her ability to connect deeply with clients and communities quickly set her apart. As the region’s Hispanic population grew, she became a trusted advisor and advocate, leveraging her cultural and linguistic fluency to bridge gaps, elevate community voices, and support families navigating key life decisions.

Beyond her professional work, Deanna has built a long track record of service across Oklahoma’s civic, business, and nonprofit sectors. She has served on numerous boards and advisory councils— Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma, Other Options Food Pantry, Holy Angels Education Center, Oklahoma Hispanic Institute, Catholic Charities, the Mercy Health Foundation, and the governing board of the Oklahoma State Arts Council. She has contributed to statewide efforts in arts access, economic empowerment, social services, and cultural programming.

Her experience in fundraising, event planning, community outreach, and organizational development gives her a strong foundation for Inspira’s consulting work. She brings a distinctive perspective shaped by decades of hands-on service, cross-sector leadership, and a genuine commitment to helping communities thrive.

Today, Deanna and her team continue to serve as leading bilingual real estate advisors with Chinowth & Cohen. Through her role as CEO of Inspira Consulting Group, Deanna is dedicated to helping communities thrive by bringing people, ideas, and resources together. Through strategic planning, community development, marketing, and public relations initiatives, she is committed to helping organizations build stronger relationships and create lasting change. Deanna invests her energy in strengthening families, neighborhoods, and businesses, believing that thriving communities are built through collaboration, service, and a shared vision for the future.

A beacon of national service, Veronica Alarcon has shaped the lives of countless communities over her decades of work serving such entities as AmeriCorps, UnidosUS; the largest Latino, constituency-based, civil rights & advocacy, social justice organization in the nation, as well as the OK Department of Commerce, just to name a few. Veronica has stood in the gap for marginalized communities, educating and advocating with authenticity, empathy, passion, compassion, and care.

Social Impact Architect, Alarcon is compelled by the challenge to transform and develop BIPOC (Black Indigenous, Communities of Color) communities, LMI (Low to moderate income) communities and immigrant communities through capacity-building strategies, connecting funding initiatives and partnerships to equity driven initiatives.

Curriculum author for soft skills, mental health, and board development, Alarcon is adept in analysis, conducting scientific evaluation and crafting solutions to challenges in the nonprofit sector, government agencies and higher education through intellectual curiosity, mixed method research methodologies and data collection. 

Veronica possesses professional experience in all forms of energy with a specialty in Renewable Energy Solutions.

An expert in managing the delivery, development, design, specialized training and improvement of federal program requirements, application submission procedures, program interaction, capacity building; and increased program efficacy, Veronica is an expert in coordinating multi-state planning projects, procuring and overseeing multi-million dollar grants, creating uncompromised community impact.

Derived from the deep belief that equal access to educational opportunities can and will pivot the trajectory of one’s future, Veronica has dedicated herself to the tenacious task of transforming techniques in mentoring students and young professionals in higher education as well as the nonprofit sector.

Inspired by the idea that philanthropy and volunteerism are taught and recognized in a distinct manner within BIPOC communities, Veronica is impassioned by the role to represent marginalized communities,
highlighting the innovative, often unconventional contributions of these extraordinary individuals and institutions.