My name is Cecilia Marquez, a staff member of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce (AHCC) Convention and Tourism (C&T) team for the last 24 years and 

I’ve worked in the same department for all these years.  I moved to Albuquerque in 1982 from a small town west of Albuquerque and have lived here ever since.  

I love Albuquerque, I call it my second “home”.    When I first moved here I attended TVI (now CNM)  I took Auto Mechanics, and then after that Office Occupations.  

I worked as an auto mechanic for 2 years and supported myself, but eventually moved into an office job at Kirtland Air Force Base.  After that I worked at Kirtland Federal Credit Union for 11 years.  I climbed the ranks there and then decided I needed a change and started working at the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce Convention and Tourism department.  Still to this day, my first Vice President teases me that I came in one day and kept coming back every day to volunteer and wouldn’t leave – so she had no choice 

but to hire me :)   I love Albuquerque and New Mexico, and promoting Albuquerque as a convention, event or tourism destination comes easy to me.  

I’m a native New Mexican, and I’m very proud of that!  New Mexico was, is; and will always be my home…  New Mexico is a melting pot of people and one of the 

things I’ve heard over and over again is:  Everyone is so nice here!  People of all walks of life feel at home here.   I do many jobs from A-Z here at the Hispano Chamber “we do it all”!  And I’m proud to say I do each and every job with all my heart.