Founder & Chairwoman - Sisters Under Sail
Co-Owner – STV Unicorn
Dawn and Samantha Santamaria
Dawn has nearly 30 years of business experience and has been co-owner of Tallship Unicorn for 11 years. She has an extensive background in youth sail training, operating a tall ship business, marketing, event planning and public relations. A graduate of Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, an all-women's College, and mother of 4 daughters, Dawn's personal passion lies in leadership development of teenage girls and women.
Sail training has long been recognized as a character building experience that develops confidence, self-esteem, responsibility and camaraderie. Dawn decided to take the spirit of teamwork one step further by putting together a structured program exclusively for young female sailors to work side by side maneuvering her 100 ton tall ship teaching them a powerful lesson of girls sticking together in support of one another. In 2005, she founded Sisters Under Sail, a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization that has put aboard nearly 400 teenage girls. Dawn serves as the Chairwoman of the Sisters Under Sail Board of Trustees and is a member of the Alumnae Board of Directors at Saint Mary's College.