The Central East Region is very pleased to introduce our congregations to Cassandra Montenegro, our newest CER Congregational Life staff member.

Cassandra Montengro offers this short introduction to herself:

Cassandra Montenegro (she|ella) has joined Central East Regional staff serving our congregations in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. She identifies as a queer light-skinned cis-gendered Latina from South Florida, where she was raised on café con leche, the Rosary, and Tibetan chanting.

While an undergraduate at Williams College in Massachusetts, Cassandra majored in Spanish Literature and Art History, studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain, and remains an active alum (Go Ephs!). Right after college, she attended law school at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she was first introduced to Chi Kung meditation, a spiritual practice that would get her through the Florida Bar. After practicing law for a few years, Cassandra mentored and taught high school in South Florida, where she co-founded and co-organized a yearly TEDx event, committed to centering student ideas.

In the spring of 2024, Cassandra graduated with a M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School and completed a Congregational Internship at First Parish in Cambridge. This past summer, she served as a Chaplain Intern in the Spirituality and Mental Health Program at McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Belmont, leading trauma informed, evidence-based bibliotherapy and poetry therapy group spaces for spiritual care in community.

While at Harvard, Cassandra has served as a Graduate Assistant at the Office of BGLTQ Student Life at Harvard College, as a Teaching Assistant at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, and as a Chaplain Intern for the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at Harvard Divinity School.

Cassandra enjoys spending time on hammocks reading poetry, birdwatching, and dreaming of her Abuela Yeya’s flan. At present, Cassandra lives in Cambridge, MA, with a Mini Aussie named Foxy; they will be moving to the western side of the Central East Region in 2025 (i.e. Ohio/Western Pennsylvania!). Cassandra will be in touch with her congregations in the winter of 2025, and looks forward to getting to know you, journeying alongside one another in this Faith.