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Hello {{ first name | friends}},
It’s interview time again, and I’m delighted to introduce you to Altagracia Montilla. We met online some years ago, and I’ve always admired her work and clear vision. By the end of this interview, I’m sure you will, too. Please meet Altagracia…
Altagracia, tell me briefly about your background prior to founding Conflict Bravery
I grew up in a low-income, urban environment in the South Bronx in New York City. As a child, I was labeled “gifted,” which meant I was placed on a particular academic track, one where my intelligence was recognized, rewarded, and invested in. I was given more attention, more opportunities, and eventually encouraged by an educator to test into a school with significantly more resources.
That school was predominantly white and wealthy, an environment many families had been preparing their children for years to enter through tutoring and extra support. What I noticed, even at a very young age, was that this path separated me from the people I grew up with. I also noticed that the ways my intelligence showed up were celebrated because they fit a narrow, traditional definition of what intelligence is supposed to look like.
I deeply believed then, and still do now, that everyone I grew up with was brilliant in their own way. But not all brilliance has space to show up on paper or in systems that weren’t designed for it. That realization stayed with me. It planted a question that has guided every role I’ve ever held: How do I leave the world better than I found it? And how do I help create a world where people are truly celebrated for who they are and what they bring?
Every position I’ve worked in since has been a deeper layer of exploring that question.
Give me the elevator pitch for Conflict Bravery
Conflict Bravery is a framework and practice that helps people heal their relationship to conflict so they can remain rooted in who they are, deepen relationships, and build the courage and capacity to challenge unjust systems. Rather than focusing solely on terminology, frameworks, or intellectual understanding, Conflict Bravery helps people build the most basic and most necessary skills: nervous system regulation, self-trust, and the ability to stay present and speak up when it matters. This work supports individuals, teams, and communities in becoming strong enough, internally and collectively, to sustain meaningful change over time.
And in more detail?
Before founding my company, I worked across education and nonprofit spaces building college-prep programming for young people, designing and implementing equity strategies across school communities, and leading national organizations in developing more equitable approaches to serving communities. I’ve also designed anti-racist strategies aimed at interrupting and dismantling racist thinking.
Over time, I began to see a pattern: racism doesn’t just live in systems, it takes root in bodies, in fear, in disconnection, and in our relationship to conflict. So my work evolved. Today, my focus is on helping people be well enough, grounded enough, that racism doesn’t take root in the same way.
Conflict Bravery is about healing our relationship to conflict so we can engage it skillfully whether that conflict is internal, relational, or systemic. It supports people in building nervous system ease, clarity, and courage so they can challenge ideas that need changing, systems that need changing, and patterns that no longer serve us.
This work isn’t limited to any one identity group. It’s something all of us need. It helps communities deepen trust, strengthen relationships, and build the capacity to sustain movements, not just start them.