Lawrence Woo - Director/Founder

Lawrence is the founder and director of Volunteer Visions. He grew up in New York City and graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Economics and was employed by prominent real estate companies such as Cushman & Wakefield and Starwood Capital Group.

During the summer of 2002, Lawrence decided that he needed to take a break from the corporate world and decided to volunteer his time and participate in a community development program in Costa Rica. A few weeks later, he found himself in a rural village consisting of 55 families in the middle of nowhere, sleeping under a mosquito net with no running hot water and completely disconnected from the outside world. After overcoming his initial shock, he adjusted to his new environment and somewhere between teaching English to the neighborhood children in a barnyard and digging irrigation systems for the farming community, he discovered his passion for volunteering.

Although his experience had been priceless, Lawrence realized that the program had charged him a fortune. He strongly felt that financial barriers should not prevent people from discovering and experiencing volunteering.

In the summer of 2005 he set off again, this time to Thailand, on a more affordable program to teach English in a small town in the Northeastern region of Isan. After experiencing the program, he realized that volunteering could be affordable without sacrificing the quality of the programs. That is where he realized that he wanted to dedicate his normal life towards giving people the opportunity to experience volunteering abroad and Volunteer Visions was formed.

Erin Smith - Director of Volunteers

Erin was born and raised in the same house for twenty-one years in Chesapeake, Virginia. After visiting England and Holland for a field hockey camp she realized there is much more to the world than just her treasured hometown, and thus commenced her love for travel. She realized there is so much to gain in seeing new people, places, and other ways of thinking and living life. After visiting her sister in San Diego, California there were times where she was surrounded by Hispanics, and could understand absolutely nothing that was being spoken around her. She hated the fact that she was in her own country and was not able to decipher what she was hearing. She was so disturbed after someone asked her a question and she was not able to help due to the language barrier, she decided she would learn Spanish.

Erin was very active in the community while in the process of achieving her Bachelors of Arts degree in Spanish and minor in Business at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. While working as a Resident Assistant and being a member of a Varsity Field Hockey program that valued giving back to the community, Erin was constantly organizing and coordinating community development, volunteer, social, and educational programs. After seeing the immense benefits of these types of activities, it was instilled in Erin to always be involved in the community and to do what one can to make the world a little bit richer because of your presence.

Erin studied abroad in Mexico, and later in Costa Rica where she also received her Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate. Erin fell in love with the Latin culture, people, and the beauty of the land. She returned to Virginia where she worked daily as a substitute teacher and nightly as a waitress, to be able to return to Latin America and practice what she learned in school, see the places she read about, and do what she can to improve the lives of those who are lesser off than she is. After traveling through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, she found that Samara, Costa Rica was the place where she wanted to devote her talents and efforts.

Alexis Nogueira Jimenez - Project Manager

Alexis Nogueira Jimenez is a native of Nicoya, Guanacaste but grew up on the Caribbean region near Limon. He returned to Guanacaste in order to continue his studies at the school of agriculture in Nicoya. Upon completing his degree, he decided to continue studying English at a language institute located in Playa Samara.

Alexis is our project manager and is responsible for establishing new and exciting projects for the volunteers. He also manages our relationships with local communities and acts as a liaison between Volunteer Visions the communities that we work with.

Alexis is open-minded, adventurous and enjoys practicing his English and engaging in intercultural exchange with volunteers. He has expert knowledge of the Guanacaste region and his strong interpersonal skills make him an ideal project manager.

During his free time he enjoys going for cruises on his motorbike to visit local beaches, mountains, rivers and hidden areas of Guanacaste. He also enjoys fishing, dancing salsa, horseback riding, playing soccer and hanging out with the volunteers.