Meet the Gladiator Team

Rachel D’Souza, MPPA

Founder + President

Rachel D’Souza, MPPA, MLS is a St. Louis–based nonprofit strategist, community builder, and advocate for a more equitable and community-centered approach to philanthropy and social change. A lifelong St. Louisan and the daughter of immigrants from India, Rachel’s commitment to justice, belonging, and community was shaped by her own experiences growing up at the intersection of cultures and communities. 

At the heart of Rachel’s work is a belief that communities possess the wisdom and capacity to create the change they seek. Whether she is helping a nonprofit strengthen its fundraising strategy, supporting leaders through organizational change, facilitating difficult conversations, or working to expand access to opportunity, Rachel brings an asset-based, relationship-centered approach grounded in justice, imagination, and the transformative power of community.

Rachel holds both a master’s degree in Public Policy Administration from the University of Missouri–St. Louis and a master’s degree in Legal Studies from Washington University School of Law, where she pursued additional training in negotiation, mediation, and cross-cultural conflict resolution. Her work increasingly brings these disciplines together, helping organizations navigate conflict, strengthen relationships, build trust, and move toward greater collaboration and systems change.

Nava Kantor, MSW

Director

Nava Kantor is a social impact strategist who works toward a world centered on equity, connection, healing, and sustainability.

At Gladiator, Nava shares her passion for and expertise in facilitating community-driven, data-informed decision-making to create change. She brings skills in assessing community needs and creating strategies to address them; evaluating programs for learning and improvement; and engaging and facilitating volunteer leadership and community stakeholders. 

Amie Bossi, MPPA, CFRE

Development Specialist

Amiehas worked in the nonprofit sector for over a decade and a half, working with numerous local, regional, and national organizations. She spent most of her time working in small to mid-sized development departments, even building from scratch an entire development program for an organization that although over 140 years old, was brand new to the fundraising world.

Christy Maxfield

Fractional COO

Christy Maxfield is the founder of Purpose First Advisors, a firm that specializes in helping business owners enjoy the highest possible income, wealth and freedom from their businesses. In addition to serving as a fractional COO for clients like Gladiator, Christy advises business owners who want to deeply understand their business, optimize its performance, and position it to be profitable and transferrable.

Faybra Jabulani

Curator of Culture & Capacity

Faybra serves Gladiator Consultants as Curator of Culture & Capacity. She is a facilitator, strategist, and coach holding over a decade of combined experiences in programs management, curriculum & training development, nonprofit startup, leadership capacity-building, and groundbreaking philanthropy initiatives.  As Co-founder and Principal of Kamili Communities, LLC and in previous roles she has garnered extensive experience in convening and moderating forums, creating, holding space for communities of practice, curating tools and frameworks for mixed audiences, and leading community participatory processes of decision-making.