Meet Dr. Nancy

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Nancy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Nancy, how do you think about risk?
As a first generation, low income student, I took my biggest risk when I decided to go to college. I was unprepared academically, financially and emotionally. I had a lot of ambition and desire but it wasn’t the only traits I needed. I gambled on my future, and I had no idea if it would pay off. As a consequence of my uncalculated risk, my journey through college and into my first professional job was terribly difficult, expensive and painful. Looking back, knowing what I know now, I see how unnecessarily traumatic it was for me. It took years to gain confidence, competence and traction. This is why I do what I do now. I advocate, coach, mentor and guide for students and families like mine- who have dreams of a life different than what we know and who want it but do not know how to get it. Since then, my risks have been more calculated but because one never stops being first generation, they are still intimidating and new. The difference now is that I am prepared to make adjustments and get advice as needed.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My career is a charcuterie board of delights. I once worked for Barnes and Noble, a wondrous experience and the only “for profit” job I have had. It doesn’t count. Does it? I have been in the nonprofit and education spaces for nearly 30 years now. Every job I’ve held has been an opportunity to learn. I consider myself a servant leader. In Spanish, we are told, “Sé útil. Sirve de algo.” Be useful. Serve a purpose. I love working in community. I love helping families and students who, like me, want to get somewhere but don’t know where to start. It brings me joy to speak in Spanish and offer what I know. My career began when one selfless woman let me work in her office while I was in high school. I had zero experience. She taught me everything: how to mail letters, use a fax machine (!), answer the phone, and present myself. The organization was the National Conference of Christians and Jews. They ran an anti-bias, anti-hate summer program called Anytown U.S.A. It was a vaccine for young leaders against scapegoating, Nazism, and oppression. It was a transformative experience that still makes me aware of the rhetoric used to divide, dehumanize and control us. In college, I was too ignorant to go to the Career Center early on and ended up mowing lawns on campus for a summer. That was hard, but I was proud to do it, and I got a great tortilla roller out of it. My first professional job was at the Gill Foundation, where I was in the minority as a Latina heterosexual. I learned so much: grassroots activism, fundraising, social change at the individual and local level, about supporting leaders, and how to be not just an ally, but a co-conspirator. It led to radical change when friends and family came “out” and my family learned to embrace, love and support them. I chose a partner who is not homophobic or sexist or ignorant- very important traits to me. I worked at multiple nonprofits: Clinica Tepeyac, the Colorado I Have a Dream Foundation, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the Westminster Public Schools Foundation and more- always nonprofits- always with a goal of making change. I spend many hours serving on nonprofit Boards, and committees. I’m an expert at it. My friends say that “I know everyone.” I don’t. I’m an introvert, and I am amazed at my network considering that I was so shy and unprepared in college that I could barely make friends and cried if I had to speak in class. My brand: Nerd, 1st Generation Doctor, Latina Leader, Nonprofit Fanatic, Aspiring agent of social change and lover of cumbia, salsa, merengue and mariachi. Proud Daughter of Immigrants.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We take a long walk to get coffee at Cake Crumbs Bakery. If that is too far (I have multiple generations of friends), we walk to Dandy Lion Coffee or drive to Prodigy Coffee. I like a breakfast burrito at El Burrito Cojo because they’re the kind I grew up eating. Or we get up really early and get to Sam’s #3 because their eggs benedict are my favorite. Depending on their interests, I connect them to friends for rafting, hiking, camping, music, or sports. We’d go to the Botanic Gardens (showcasing the waterlily weigh off), the Denver Art Museum or to the History Colorado Center. Lunch spots: Shish Kabob Grill, Bluefin Sushi or Sakana in Westminster with a stop to support youth mariachi because I am a mariachi madrina. We catch a yoga class at Urban Sanctuary or a Zumba or Soca class at Central Park Rec Center for health and wellness. We go to a Lucha Libre event at Museo de las Americas, or to the Chinook Fund to meet the new Executive Director. For dinner, if it’s not mine or my mom’s enchiladas, then we’d be going to el Taco de Mexico for casual, Bella Italia for small and local or Cativella for special occasions. And, for night life, I’d invite my dance-loving friends to Fridays at Raices Brewery, La Rumba or in summer to the salsa nights at Cheeseman Park (a mentee just introduced me)! With my friends who don’t dance, we’d catch Weird Al at Red Rocks or I could start a campaign to bring the Animaniacs back with the Colorado Symphony. If it’s during the winter holidays, we dress up in nerdy holiday gear and meet my brother for our annual visit to Union Station to people watch and drink fancy cocktails.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
So many! I did not get to where I am on my own. There is my family, especially my mother who supported my college dream even though she did not know how. There are my Colorado College mentors. My college mother Dr. Jane Cauvel, college advisor, Dr. John Riker, mentors, Dr. Mario Montano and Dr. Doug Monroy, and a whole lot of wonderful people who made time to guide me. There are professionals who gambled on hiring me. Donna Redwing, the LGBTQ activist who gave me a chance to be her administrative assistant at the Gill Foundation, and Katherine Pease, the Executive Director there who introduced me to my social justice family at the Chinook Fund. There’s former supervisors and colleagues from work and education, from the Colorado Trust Nonprofit Fellowship, and the Latino Leadership Insitute in Denver to El Centro de la Familia, and the Cinco de Mayo Scholarship in Colo Springs. There are multiple generations of scholars and families from my time at the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the Westminster Public Schools Foundation, and the Pre-Collegiate Program at UCCS who allowed me share what I know about getting in, getting through and getting past postsecondary education. I completed my doctoral research and dissertation thanks to them. All I have learned and all of who I am is because of them. In short, my life could not be without the lives of many.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-hernandez-phd

Image Credits
Nancy Hernandez