Giovanna is the Middle East Regional Director for the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), an organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. In 1947 AFSC received the Nobel Peace Prize along with the British Friends Service Council on behalf of all Quakers worldwide.

Over the past 20 years Giovanna has been a passionate advocate for human and civil rights in the United States and around the world. Giovanna co-founded and led ¿Oíste?, a US-based NGO with a mission to advance the political, social and economic standing of people of Latin American descent. Concurrently she held a number of other leadership positions in a variety of US NGOs, government commissions and political campaigns. Internationally, Giovanna has served as a consultant, advisor and trainer in leadership development and civic engagement strategies for under-served communities in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe, with a particular focus on women, minority and indigenous groups.

Giovanna is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a recipient of the 2008 John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award, a 2008 Prime Movers Fellow, and a 2010 Eisenhower Fellow.  She is a passionate campaigner for the independence of Puerto Rico and helped to lead the movement to stop US military exercises on her home island of Vieques in Puerto Rico.