ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Teresa Palomo
Acosta will receive the 2022 Liz Carpenter Award for her book, Tejanaland:
A Writing Life in Four Acts (Texas A&M University Press, December 2021). The award will be presented by the Texas
State Historical Association.
Victoria Alcoset self-published the
Little Book of Ghee, eBooklet.
In mid-November
2021, Julie Anna Alvarez Rivera joined the New York City office of the
law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in the role of
Senior Career Development Manager after a 15 year career in Law School Career
Services Administration (most recently as the Director of International and
Alumni Career Services at Columbia Law School since 2017). At Paul Weiss, Julie
will develop and oversee career programming for attorneys at all stages of
their professional life within the firm across all nine of its domestic and
international offices. The Career Development team is part of the Professional
Development & Training Department.
Raysa Amador’s course on Diego
Rivera and Angelina Beloff was accepted at the American University, Osher Life
Long Learning Program!
Elisabet Barrios just received her Master’s
Degree in Sociology and is on the way to her doctorate! I also went to Hawaii
for the first time where I hiked and beached to my heart’s content. Power to
todas nuestras comadres.
Maritere Bellas is happy to
announce that she continues to write a monthly column for Siempre Mujer
magazine in Spanish and directed at parents.
Jorivette
Carrington found a great job after being unemployed and recently separated
for a year and a half.
Mona Chavez finished her long
awaited Masters in Sociology in December 2021!
Patricia Dabbert is the new Chair
of the Austin Public Library Commission.
Larissa Davila got invited to
Mexico City to receive an award Mujer Lider by the Organization Forjadores de
Mexico in Campo Marte. Amazing honor to receive this mention. She’s really excited.
Julie Delgadillo is the new
selected Executive Director of Corazon Inc. USA & Comunidad Corazon A. C.
Mexico. Corazon is committed to
transform lives through building homes, developing leaders and providing
scholarships to educate and empower communities.
Rosemarie Costas Dietrich celebrated three years working as a caregiver for Visiting Angels. She currently cares for seven elderly veterans, and she loves her job!
Maria Ferrer celebrated her
25-Year Anniversary with Institutional Investor, where she is currently a Logistics
Director. The company presented Maria
with a “yoga” laptop for her service.
Mona Lisa Galicia was promoted to City Secretary of the City of
Grand Prairie, Texas, last January 2021.
The office held five elections during her first year in this role and
worked through redistricting after the Census.
All glory to God for strength and wisdom in a very challenging year.
Clara Galvano
Rivera was a "Celebrando Lo Mejor de Nuestra Comunidad" Award
recipient for her volunteerism and writing career highlighting Puerto Rican
people, stories and culture. The award was
presented by and for Comite Noviembre's 35th Anniversary and in honor of the
2021 Puerto Rican Heritage Month. Some of Clara’s volunteer highlights include
six years on the National Puerto Rican Day Parade's Scholarship Committee;
interviewing artists for the PRIDA (Puerto Rican Institute for the Development
of the Arts) Artist of the Month profiles and volunteering for the annual
Artisans Fair. The award committee also noted her published articles ranging on
topics from the origin of the Young Lords in Chicago, covering
"Hamilton" before it got to Broadway and celebrity profiles such as
Gilberto Santa Rosa, Jeimy Osorio, and actor Adam Rodriguez.
Dulce Gruwell, MHPS &
Peer-Programs Coordinator, celebrates her first year job anniversary with NAMI
Central Texas! She is responsible for guiding and directing NAMI Central Texas’
peer program development, delivery, expansion, and implementation for
individuals with mental health conditions. As well, as increase Latinx outreach
and engagement in Mental Health education & support programs. Por que No
hay salud sin salud mental!
Monica Guzman ran a strong eight-week
issue community-based grassroots campaign for the Austin City Council District
4 Special Election. Election Day was Jan
25, 2022. Monica came in 2nd with modest
fundraising, campaigning during the holidays. Even though the results did not
turn out as she had hoped, Monica is honored to have the support of many people.
She will continue to work hard to make District 4 and Austin better for
everyone by fighting for comprehensive social justice reform, more economic
opportunities, stopping gentrification and overdevelopment, and fighting
climate change.
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa is honored to be one of the 22 Puerto Ricans to win the Inaugural Letras Boricuas Fellow from the The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Foundation’s Arts Fund. She has an English language hardcover, A Woman of Endurance, releasing on April 12, 2022 and a Spanish language paperback edition, Indomita, releasing on May 10, 2022. Llanos-Figueroa just launched two scholarships: The Figueroa Sisters Fellowship at Kimbilio for women writers over 50 and The Figueroa Sisters Scholarship at Comite Noviembre for undergraduate or graduate students majoring in creative writing or literature -- both the Fellowship and Scholarship are in honor of Llanos-Figueroa's mother, Carmen Maria Figueroa and her sisters, Betty, Modesta, and Rosa Amelia. Llanos-Figueroa's work featured in Tonia Leigh Wind's book, Black Women’s Literature of the Americas Griots and Goddesses. An anthology, entitled Trauma, Tresses and Truth will be release in the Fall of 2022 which also includes her work. Thirteen years after its release, Llanos-Figueroa's Daughters of the Stone has entered the "mainstream" by being featured in Jane Mount's and Janise Harper's Bibliophile: Diverse Spines.
Aimee Luna opened a used
bookshop in Wimberley, Texas on October 1, 2021! It’s a locally Hispanic-owned indie bookshop
committed to offering a quality selection of carefully curated and affordable,
pre-loved books for customers of all ages and backgrounds.
Laura Medrano
Carrillo is the First Hispanic Woman appointed to the City of Framingham
Licensing Board overseen liquor licenses.
She was appointed in November 2021.
Carmenza Millan, DHA, has been
assigned an eight-month Interim job beginning February 7 with AARP's Financial
Resilience Consumer Insights Research Team to advise clients, stakeholders, and
senior management on all phases of research; determine data analyses
strategies, and communicate findings with external audiences including the
media, legislators, and other organizations.
Raquel Mejia produces a PBS
foodie/inspiration/ interviewing show called “Dinorah Desde” it has been airing
in several cities. With patience and
determination, it finally came to flourish.
Irma Orozco started Bilingual
Communication Strategies, a communications company, that bridges the English
and Spanish-speaking worlds through strategic planning, bilingual and
bicultural public relations, and translation in December 2021. The company was
founded in 1989 in San Antonio, Texas under the name of Bilingual Expressions
and provided services for 7 years to museums, state government agencies, law
firms and businesses.
Mirtha Perez celebrated her two-year
anniversary at Q2 on January 27. She also
received top #6 volunteer at Q2 putting in 125 hours, Las Comadres and Westside
Elementary PTA.
Jo Reyes-Boitel’s opera, She Wears
Bells, performed with students from Teatro Palo Alto of San Antonio's Palo
Alto Community College, was chosen as a finalist for Guerilla Opera's virtual
festival. The opera retells the story of Coyolxauhqui, the Aztec diety, who
became the moon. It will stream in May.
Lizette Rivera feels accomplished
because she made herself a priority by focusing on her mental health and
fitness. She challenged herself every week by trying new gym classes and now she
has lost 15 pounds and just got a job offer. She feels amazing!
Zoraida Scirecalabrisotto starts school in March
2022.
Melissa Shapiro started a new position
in Provider Relations in December 2021.
Tania Sole has announced her
candidacy for the State Assembly in District 21 in California.
Darlene Tenes is proud to
announce that after much mixing, tasting and testing, then supply chain and
shipping issues, her new Mocha de Olla hot beverage is ready for sale! Frankly, CasaQ's Mocha de Olla drink came
about as a mistake when two recipes got mixed up but ended up being a wonderful
mash-up of Cafe de Olla & Mexican Hot Chocolate.
Cynthia
Valadez-Mata filed her candidacy for Texas State Representative of House
District 51, Austin, Texas, on December 10, 2021.
Robin Villarreal
Lepinay taught 176 at-risk, minority students who were Seniors in high
school, every day. Most of them graduated on June 4, 2021. She celebrates their accomplishment and hers.
Sabrina Vourvoulias
became the Senior Editor of Communities and Engagement at the Philadelphia
Inquirer on November 15, 2020.
Edna C Zalenski published her third
book in 2021, Cafe, Amor y Politica with Hola International Publishing Company.
It can be found on amazon.
Haydee Zayas Ramos is pleased to announce the opening of her store to sell her books, mugs and Puerto Rican coffee.
CONGRATULATIONS!
