Adrian Antonio Paling has over 12 years experience in Workforce and Community Development managing programs throughout New York City. Adrian Currently serves as the Career Services Specialist for Soulful Synergy. Prior to joining the Soulful Synergy Team, Adrian served as Program Director for the Woodside Queens Jobs-Plus Program, funded by NYC Human Resource Administration, Adrian successfully launched and managed an employment focused program for Woodside NYCHA residents offering job placement, access to education and training, and mental wellness support. From 2016 to 2021, Adrian was part of the leadership team for Equus Workforce Solutions helping to manage the Bronx Workforce1 Career Centers connecting job seekers to employment opportunities in a variety of different sectors.

Alejandro Alvarez is the CEO and Co-Founder of Soulful Synergy. He designs training programs and curricula for an evolving marketplace in order to meet employers’ demands. Since 2013, under Alejandro’s leadership, Soulful Synergy has trained thousands of NYC and Westchester residents both in English and Spanish to prepare them for job opportunities in the construction, energy efficiency, tech, security, and urban farming industries. Soulful Synergy has helped to employ hundreds of program graduates to meet the demand of an ever changing workforce. 

Currently, Alejandro is working with many local agencies in partnership to provide workforce training. He has also been instrumental in spearheading a city wide Urban Farming initiative with a few New Rochelle partner agencies, including WestCOP, New Rochelle Community Action Partnership, The Boys & Girls Club of New Rochelle, New Rochelle Municipal Housing and Heritage Homes. Alejandro is a founding member of Generation Now New Rochelle, and is a My Brother’s Keeper New Rochelle Fellowship Mentor. Most recently, he has been a recipient of the Business Council of Westchester 2020 Rising Stars Award.

Dwayne R. Norris is the Co-Founder & COO of Soulful Synergy, LLC. Through his work, Dwayne seeks to address systemic issues that affect disadvantaged communities by providing transformational services, designed to improve lives and create long term, sustainable development.

As Soulful Synergy COO, Dwayne is responsible for overseeing day to day operations, developing strategic partnerships and working with stakeholders to design programs that create impact in our community. Dwayne aides in the design of curated curricula for career advancement that encompass classroom training, hands-on vocational training, communication and soft skills training, financial literacy training, covered resume writing and assistance with job placement and career advancement. Dwayne manages multi-million dollar workforce development programs for government and private funded institutions; engages community partners across the state of New York to re-design and implement training programs that have succeeded in training more than 5,000 people for careers in the construction industry, clean energy industry, and security industry to name a few.

Dwayne R. Norris was born July 14, 1985 at Bronx Municipal Hospital, Bronx, NY. He is the youngest of three children born to Vienna & Robin Norris, natives of the island of Barbados. Dwayne’s parents instilled in him from a young age the importance of education and the need to live life with integrity and compassion. These lessons have stuck with him throughout his life. At the age of seven he and his family moved to New Mexico where his father was a professor at the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West; a two-year international baccalaureate school, enrolling 200 students annually from around the world and representing 80 different countries. This unique exposure to a wide array of cultures, personalities, and ideas has been a defining part of his development. Dwayne proudly serves as board member for New York based nonprofit, Active Plus, whose mission is to improve the lives of our youth through health, fitness, leadership and nutrition education. Active Plus is dedicated to bringing more equity and inclusion to sports, mental and physical health through customized programming. Dwayne is a long time martial artist, teacher and practitioner of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do since 2008. He believes in the vital connection of mind, body and soul. Recreationally he plays soccer, basketball, and tennis. Dwayne is the Board Chair for the Rotary Club of Harlem Foundation and was recently appointed by Westchester County Executive, George Latimer to serve on his African American Advisory Board where he sits on the Economic Development Committee. He is a recipient of the Business Council of Westchester’s “40 under 40 Rising Star” award and the Brooklyn Crown Heights Lions Club “Community Service Award” amongst other achievements.

Dwayne has a deep unwavering commitment to the needs of underserved communities.

John Antonio Candanedo is a retired US combat engineer with multi-service awards, honors and accolades. John’s repertoire of proficient abilities from Non-commissioned Officer in charge of safety to Resiliency Trainer to Marksman, allow for him to move smoothly in any environment and produce immaculate results. Loving life and wanting the best for others is ingrained inside him, making the transition from helping/protecting people while abroad in uniform to helping here in our own communities something dear to his heart. 

John manages, constructs, repairs, and modifies structural systems and wooden, masonry, metal, and concrete buildings. He can fabricate and repair components of buildings, utility systems, and real property equipment. He has trained hundreds of people in construction, self-development and conflict resolution.

“Students are who can make a change for life.” John considers himself a student of life and will say that he’s learned more from his students than he’s taught them. Experience, John believes, is the only way to truly learn but if possible he believes learn from another persons mistakes and then strive to do better. He loves seeing the students that keep trying and ask questions. He’s a fan of the ones that say they want to do better than trying. He believes people can all live in happiness and understanding, which goes hand in hand with learning.

“Be the best you, you can be wherever you are at the time”

Born and raised in Atlanta, Lily Moseley moved to Boston in 2012 to pursue a BA in International Affairs and Economics at Northeastern University. Upon graduating in 2017, she came to New York City to expand her horizons and seek new opportunities to engage in mission driven work. Lily first landed at Youth Action YouthBuild (YAYB), a community based organization in East Harlem serving youth ages 17-24 through education, workforce development, and case management services. During her AmeriCorps VISTA service year at YAYB, she successfully fundraised through grant writing, led the management and execution of two events in honor of the organization’s 40th anniversary, overhauled the existing data infrastructure, architecting a custom Salesforce + Nonprofit Success Pack solution to replace the existing system of spreadsheets, and played an active role in engaging the organization’s Circle of Friends, a supportive advisory board. At YAYB, Lily met Soulful Synergy founder, Alejandro Alvarez, and began working with the company part time.

As Soulful Synergy’s Director of Business Development, Lily builds community partnerships and cultivates business leads, assists with strategic planning, guides clients through the Minority and Women Owned Business/Enterprise (M/WBE) Certification process, works with the team to develop new initiatives and programs, and manages the company’s project management and data infrastructure. She was drawn to the company’s core belief that uplifting the community uplifts us all, and that the success of an individual should be viewed and celebrated as the triumph of the collective.

Reflecting her passion for building a more equitable world, Lily has dedicated her career to mission-driven work. In addition to her work with Soulful Synergy, Lily has worked as a Data Manager for the East Harlem Youth Opportunity Hub supported by Union Settlement Association, a nonprofit organization that has served East Harlem residents for 125 years. She also works as an independent consultant, assisting for-profit and nonprofit clients with business development, partnership development, fundraising, data infrastructure, technology, and other services.

Paul Presendieu is a born and raised resident of New Rochelle. He is also the son of Colombian and Haitian immigrants. He currently serves as the Chairman of the City of New Rochelle’s Sustainability Advisory Committee, Co-Chairman for the New Rochelle School Districts Green Schools Advisory Committee, and Board Secretary/Environmental Justice Co-Chairman of the New York State Association of Conservation Commissions.

A graduate of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, Paul majored in Environmental Studies at SUNY Westchester Community College, and SUNY Purchase, where he served as the Director of State Relations and Legislative Affairs for the SUNY Student Assembly, SUNY’s statewide student association which represents the systems 64 campus student governments. Paul has also received the Key to SUNY Westchester Community College for outstanding student leadership in being the founder of the college’s delegation to the Harvard National Model United Nations and founder of the Environmental Club.

Prior to joining Soulful Synergy as the Community Engagement Manager, Paul served as the Outreach Manager of Sustainable Westchester, Westchester County’s nonprofit consortium of 44 municipal governments and the County Government. In his capacity as Outreach Manager, Paul worked alongside government and community leaders in support of sustainable development through the lens of environmental economics. Paul also pioneered programming in environmental equity, including the creation of a Hispanic Roundtable, where he assembled Hispanic-American elected officials throughout Westchester County to discuss how programming in sustainability could be made more equitable to members of the Hispanic Community.

An accomplished young professional, Paul has received a wealth of awards and recognition. This includes five proclamations from the Westchester County Government, being named to four 40 under 40 lists, and being named a top 22 under 30 Young Professional Wunderkind by Westchester Magazine in 2018.

Melissa Goncalves, Program Manager at Soulful Synergy, LLC, embodies a profound dedication to youth development and community engagement. With over 11 years of service in the non-profit sector, she has played a pivotal role in positively impacting the lives of countless young individuals and their families.

Bio coming soon!

Workforce Instructor

Teraesa Metivier is the Outreach Coordinator for Soulful Synergy, LLC. Teraesa is passionate about being a steward for the environment, sustainability and reducing or addressing the negative impacts done to our environment.  Teraesa has a BS in Environmental Natural Resource Science and a Masters in Environmental Management.

At Soulful Synergy, Teraesa is responsible for recruiting participants to participate in the various programs offered and for forming long lasting relationships with organizations who refer and hire graduates of our programs.

Troy Thompson is a passionate person in the Sustainability/Environmentalist sector. With a BS in Environmental Science, various experiences in different sectors of sustainability and a certification in project management. He loves everything surrounding sustainability, management, data analytics and problem solving. He’s also a gardener, educator and a business owner who assist in the Urban Farming portion of Soulful Synergy. He feels his purpose in life is to always make an impact no matter how big or small it is and believes that the universe are the limits. 

Director of Decarbonization