Featured Staff Member of the Week

Tessah currently serves in the capacity of Director of the Barelas Economic Opportunity Center (BEOC) at the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce (AHCC), and has been on staff for 3 years, but an active community partner and member of the AHCC since 2002. Overseeing education and workforce development programs while strategizing the formal split of the AHCC Foundation to grow the Chamber’s community-based initiatives, Tessah manages all program development and partnership cultivation of the BEOC. With over 18 years of experience in strategic funding, organizational/program development, community outreach and cross-sector coalition-building, Tessah has organically evolved in the Diversity and Inclusion landscape of our local economic and workforce development arena. Previous experience includes her roles as Development Officer with WESST, as Development Coordinator with New Mexico Community Capital’s Native Entrepreneur in Residence Program, and 8 years as Program Director of the statewide New Mexico Business Leadership Network (NMBLN), an Employers’ Disability Resource, where she played an instrumental role in the development of its LLC small business incubation subsidiary, NM Opportunity Group, for entrepreneurs with disabilities. A native of (very) rural Massachusetts, Tessah has claimed New Mexico as her soul’s home since 2002, and now irrigates land cared for by 6 generations of North Valley Garcias, including her 6-year-old daughter, Grayson. She has served on both local and national Boards in support of at-risk youth, marginalized and under-served populations and continues to do so, and was honored in 2009 with Business First’s 40 Under Forty award. She holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and an MA in Intercultural Relations, Community Development Emphasis, from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.


Featured Staff Member of the Week Tessah currently serves in the capacity of Director of the Barelas Economic Opportunity Center (BEOC) at the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce (AHCC), and has been on staff for 3 years, but an active community partner and member of the AHCC since 2002. Overseeing education and workforce development programs while strategizing the formal split of the AHCC Foundation to grow the Chamber’s community-based initiatives, Tessah manages all program development and partnership cultivation of the BEOC. With over 18 years of experience in strategic funding, organizational/program development, community outreach and cross-sector coalition-building, Tessah has organically evolved in the Diversity and Inclusion landscape of our local economic and workforce development arena. Previous experience includes her roles as Development Officer with WESST, as Development Coordinator with New Mexico Community Capital’s Native Entrepreneur in Residence Program, and 8 years as Program Director of the statewide New Mexico Business Leadership Network (NMBLN), an Employers’ Disability Resource, where she played an instrumental role in the development of its LLC small business incubation subsidiary, NM Opportunity Group, for entrepreneurs with disabilities. A native of (very) rural Massachusetts, Tessah has claimed New Mexico as her soul’s home since 2002, and now irrigates land cared for by 6 generations of North Valley Garcias, including her 6-year-old daughter, Grayson. She has served on both local and national Boards in support of at-risk youth, marginalized and under-served populations and continues to do so, and was honored in 2009 with Business First’s 40 Under Forty award. She holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and an MA in Intercultural Relations, Community Development Emphasis, from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.
AHCNM Weekly Highlights - Weekly Highlights March 25, 2019