Anita Bringas
Title(s) and work responsibilities: Strategic Support Manager, UNM-TAOS
I support the campus CEO and Executive Leadership Team in achieving our mission through strategic planning and various initiatives on campus and in the community. This includes activities that are multifaceted and diverse, such as: public/government relations and community outreach and engagement, to identify and facilitate opportunities for collaboration; marketing and communications, to inform and educate our campus community and the community at large about the programs, events and activities happening at UNM-TAOS; and collecting and analyzing institutional data for program assessment and to inform decision-making, to name a few. Additionally, I oversee the rental of
Bataan Hall as an event facility.
My hope is that my work helps UNMTaos to continue providing affordable, accessible and supportive academic and workforce training programs to the community, and to create a culture on campus for our students to achieve their academic and career goals.
How many years in present occupation?
Going on nine years. I’ve worked at UNMTaos since 2010, in various capacities— as a project coordinator for the Taos Education and Career Center (formerly the Literacy Center at UNM-TAOS), administrative officer, Title V program specialist, institutional researcher and now my new role as strategic support manager (since December 2018).
What do you think is the most pressing issue for women in the workplace?
Universally, women continue to face the challenge of inherent biases that are held about our capabilities on the basis of gender. Women, and to a greater degree women of color, are often underestimated, and are expected to fit into limiting stereotypical representations of women. We are fortunate that these assumptions are being challenged all around us and the narrative is changing. More and more, women are standing up and showing up, embracing and celebrating their womanhood proudly and unapologetically. I feel fortunate to be living in a time with so many strong, intelligent, compassionate and diverse women leaders, both in Taos and those representing us on a state and national level.
List any involvement with groups/nonprofits:
I currently serve on various local nonprofit boards and committees, including Taos Feeds Taos and the Taos County Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee and Education Committee, and I recently joined the Taos Entrepreneurial Network as a board member. I also have served on a national organization, the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators (AHSIE) as a board member since 2013, and now as a volunteer member of their Strategic Partnerships and Institutes Committee.
In the past, I’ve been a member of the Taos Milagro Rotary Club, and served for a few years on the Taos Fiesta Council.
If you could go back and tell your 18-year-old self anything, what would it be?
I’d tell her two things: First, “Trust your intuition—it’s right!” And then I’d give her a copy of the poem “Our Deepest Fear” by Marianne Williamson, and tell her to read it, embrace it and live it.