Jennifer Pichardo: Giving Latino History a Permanent Home

In 1881, the Arts and Industries Building opened as the Smithsonian’s first U.S. National Museum, showcasing inventions that would reshape American life, including Edison’s lightbulb and the first telephone. On August 31, 2026, the Smithsonian gave the building a new chapter: it will become the permanent site of the National Museum of the American Latino.

What stands on the National Mall shapes what a country remembers. Congress authorized the Latino museum in December 2020. Turning that authorization into galleries, collections, programs, and a permanent building requires more than a vision. It requires people who can make the case, build trust, and turn belief into investment.

For years, Jennifer Pichardo has been one of those people.

As Head of Advancement for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino, Pichardo leads the philanthropic effort behind the museum. She is Dominican American and was born in New York. The story she is helping build a home for is also part of her own.

Her work with the Smithsonian began in 2018, when she joined as a fundraising consultant for the Molina Family Latino Gallery. She went on to become Senior Advancement Officer and, in 2024, Head of Advancement. Along the way, she helped build the philanthropic support that took the museum from an idea to its first physical presence on the National Mall.

The Molina Family Latino Gallery opened in June 2022 as the Smithsonian’s first space dedicated to the Latino experience. Its campaign surpassed its $24 million goal months ahead of opening, ultimately raising $28 million in 2021 and 2022.

Pichardo’s impact is also visible in the relationships she has built around the museum. In 2021, Wells Fargo became a founding donor and the first financial institution to commit $2 million to the project. The company specifically credited its work with Pichardo, then a Senior Advancement Officer at the Smithsonian, as part of developing its support.

Now the stakes are larger. The Smithsonian has designated the historic Arts and Industries Building as the museum’s permanent home. Retrofitting the building is expected to cost about $1 billion, while the Smithsonian’s current campaign for the museum has an overall goal of $200 million to support the building, collections, digital infrastructure, education, public programs, and other institutional priorities. Pichardo leads advancement for that effort.

This is the part of cultural institution-building most people never see. The time and effort spent cultivating relationships before a gift is ever announced. Pichardo has spent years building that infrastructure for a museum whose very existence changes what Latino history can mean in a national institution.

She has been there through each stage: the campaign for a gallery, the gallery itself, and now a permanent address on the National Mall. Her work is helping turn recognition into institutional permanence, giving Latino history not just a place to be seen, but a place to endure.

It’s no wonder Jennifer Pichardo stands among our Top 10 Latino Voices of 2026.