Elevating diverse students

Age: 27

Title: Director Diverse Learning

Organization: Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy

As a first-generation Latinx college student, advocating and pursuing educational equity has always been Calderón’s passion.

As a Chicago native and Chicago Public Schools grad- uate, she wanted to pursue a role in education where she could serve and elevate change for communities and students of color. In 2018 she joined Teach for America. Her experiences in the education system pushed her to support the highest-needs students.

As a queer Latina, Calderón wants to create a space where the BIPOC community feels embraced when they walk into schools. She currently serves as director of diverse learning for Excel Southwest, an alternative option school contracted with CPS. The school serves students who haven been removed from traditional schooling.

As a restorative justice practitioner, she believes that BIPOC communities need significant healing from harm created through generations by the education system. As an experienced interventionist, LSB1, and case manager for alternative secondary education, she will begin her next journey in policy and systemic change by serving in the inaugural class of leaders of color for systemic change with Teach For America.

Title: Vice President of Sales Organization: Comcast

In her role, Martinez oversees the company’s 36 Xfinity stores, indirect retail, sales operations, third-party branded partner retail, and multi-dwelling units throughout the Comcast greater Chicago region, which includes Illinois, northwestern Indiana, and southwestern Michigan.

Martinez began her career in the consumer electronics industry and rose through the ranks at large big-box retailers. Since joining Comcast in 2013, Martinez has served in an array of roles, the latest being senior director of retail. In that job, she and her team led the compa- ny’s retail transformation in the region, developing and maturing some of the company’s first local Xfinity retail stores and contributing to the company’s national retail operations and processes.

Martinez has served on the board of the Computing Technology Industry Association, is a member of Women in Cable Telecommunications, and serves as the executive sponsor for Greater Chicago Unidos, an employee resource group providing leadership opportunities, professional development, and service to multicultural communities. A native of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, Martinez and her family live in Chicago’s west suburbs.

Congratulations to our very own Lisette Martinez for being named to the Negocios Now 8th annual list of “Latinos 40 Under 40” in Chicago. You’ve always been on our list.