Melanie Madrid
Title - Youth Director
Organization/Agency – YWCA Middle Rio Grande
Hometown- Albuquerque, NM
Education- Bachelor of Science in Social Work
Why did you choose to work in the non-profit field?
I have always been interested in learning about and helping people. In college I gravitated towards social science classes because I loved learning about the challenges people face and the prospective solutions.
Why did you pick the cause you are currently a part of? When did you know you
wanted to do this work?
I currently run a program called TechGYRLS. The mission is to inspire young ladies into careers of science, technology, engineering and math because women are under-represented in those fields. This is problematic because these are high paid professions and is one of the reasons women are still earning .77 cents to every man’s dollar. This work is very important to me because I wanted to be a botanist at one point and struggled to get through the calculus. That’s when I decided I wanted to help girls at an early age so they didn’t get behind in technical subjects like I had.
What inspires you about your work?
The girls! They are so smart and have such wonderful aspirations. I love it when I receive thank you letters from them or they tell me that they want to be an engineer or scientist. It makes all of the hard work worth it.
What impact does your non-profit have in the community?
The program I run-TechGYRLS has served over 300 girls in the last year. Most of our girls come from low income families. We offer sessions for free in several Title I schools in Albuquerque.
How do you avoid burn-out and where do you get support?
I take lots of vacations! Luckily the YWCA offers a great vacation package that I take advantage of. I also keep a binder with all of my achievements and thank you letters – whenever I am having a bad day I flip through it and I feel much better! I rely on support from volunteers and interns; without them I would most definitely be over worked.
Who would you consider a mentor and how did s/he help you? Who have you connected with in the past that has been a wonderful partner/resource?
My biggest mentor is my boss, Carolyn Margolies. She has given me every tool I need to make sure I do the best I can. She has given me the opportunity in this position and has taught me so much. I look up to her and am very lucky that she has taken me under her wing.
What is your favorite part of our community?
I love how close knit Albuquerque is! We all support each other and many non-profits work together. I think the size is small enough to accomplish that, but large enough to bring resources to all of our causes. I think we are very unique in that way. I love how many friends I’ve made in this line of work and how I often run into people I know.
Please share a memorable story that sticks out in your mind about work you have done for a non-profit.
My most memorable stories come from experiences I’ve had with the TechGYRLS at camp. It is so neat to pair technology and the wilderness. Believe it or not—many of our girls come from the South Valley and have never been to the East Mountains! It is so wonderful to provide that opportunity for them. Last year, we were all taking a break
(from engineering and programming robots) and the girls were all scattered throughout the site. Calmly a young lady says to me “ummmmm, there is a bear standing over there……” and because of her calm demeanor and monotone voice, I didn’t believe her! I went on eating my lunch when low and behold their WAS a bear about 60 feet from where I was standing. I would like to say that I calmly told all of the girls to head inside—but as they reminded me this year, I totally freaked and yelled “BEAR!!! BEAR!!!! Everyone get inside!!” Once we were all safe in the locked cabin it was very cool to watch him drink from a hummingbird feeder from the window.
