Helena was born and grew up in San Francisco, California. She was a nerdy kid - she read voraciously. She always says she was an urban “free-range” kid. From middle school on, after school, She had 2-3 hours of free time when she would be on her own until time to meet her father at his office to go home. She was all over the city during those hours. Today, no one would let a child roam around a big city unsupervised, but the Lord watched over her.
She moved East to attend the University of Maryland and earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. A typical rebellious preacher’s kid, she was not saved as a child, but within three months of arriving on the East Coast, the Lord broke down all her resistance. She was born again, and became a new creature in Christ Jesus. Helena was discipled at the Refreshing Spring Church of God in Christ where she fell in love with the Bible, eventually becoming a Sunday School and Youth Group teacher. In 1993, she completed a life-changing short-term mission trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil, working with street kids in the big city.
Professionally, Helena began her career as a software developer in the healthcare industry. After seven years, she transitioned into project and program management and over time, she became a subject matter expert in the art and science of managing projects. In 2005, she returned to California because her parents were aging and needed her. She lost her Mom to cancer in 2010 and spent the next 10 years as a full-time caregiver for her Dad. She transitioned to remote work in 2012 so that she could stay home with him, and has worked from home since then.
Helena loves to travel, particularly to Spanish speaking countries, because she' has studied Spanish for most of her life and is almost fluent. She loves to worship God in both English and Spanish and attends the Spanish service at her local church. Having worked in healthcare technology for decades, she has a desire to use her professional skill-set to facilitate ministry and that’s what brought her to NBCC.