Taking a deeper look at what Women’s History Month means through the eyes of a Hamilton Families staff member.
Rosa Martinez, Hamilton Families Chief Financial Officer
Hamilton Families on Medium.com • Mar. 29, 2021 • By Devon Mandell
March brings on the start of Spring, but it is also Women’s History Month — recognizing and acknowledging the achievements of women over the centuries as well as reinforcing women empowerment.
Rosa Martinez, the standing CFO of Hamilton Families, shared her background and insight on what Women’s History Month means from her perspective. She is one of the staff members that has been with Hamilton Families the longest, starting with the organization back in 1998. “I was working for a for-profit manufacturing company,” Martinez recalled, “I was not really happy with what I was doing at the time and I was not set on what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to make contributions to make a difference.” She was connected with an auditor that came into the manufacturing company, finding out this auditor was a board member of the nonprofit, and was introduced to Hamilton Families for the first time.
After meeting with the auditor and learning more about Hamilton Families’ and their mission, Martinez was intrigued with how the organization made a difference in the community. “I was very interested in the organization after that and what stood out to me was knowing that this would be helping children, too,” Martinez said, “I have always wanted to help children.”
Martinez shares that she was not very aware of how big of an issue family homelessness was, and was surprised to find out how many children experienced homelessness, too. “I always thought it was single adults that were having issues, and when I learned it was also families and children and that these children did not have a stable roof and were always moving or sleeping in cars, it really resonated with me,” said Martinez.
Since 1998 when she first joined Hamilton Families, Martinez has grown and climbed to a position of leadership, becoming a role model for others within the organization, the community, and for women everywhere.
When asked what women empowerment meant to her, Martinez responded thoughtfully and passionately. “It is amazing how we have grown, us women,” she stated, “how we have more opportunities and despite so many challenges through history, especially women of color and immigrant women, what we have overcome.” Martinez shared how she is a woman of color as well as an immigrant woman, and how those factors can feed into women having limitations or different opportunities, or even expectations. “Where I grew up, the expectation of a woman was to grow up, get married, and have children,” Martinez shared, “but now so many women are becoming leaders and climbing into leadership roles, paving the way for other women and being that role model for all those little girls.”
The meaning of Women’s History Month brought up similar feelings to women’s empowerment for Martinez. She recalls how more doors and opportunities have been opened for women over the decades. Martinez sees that there are plenty more doors to open and more opportunities to uncover, especially since opportunities for women depend on background and experience.
The different backgrounds and experiences that make up the staff at Hamilton Families is what makes the organization so inclusive and empowering. Martinez feels lucky to have a lot of women and women from different backgrounds within the organization. “We have women of color, immigrant women, and the diversity in our organization is great, plus we are starting to see more diversity in leadership now,” Martinez said. She used to be the only woman on the leadership team, and the only woman of color, and now that is not the case. Martinez expressed her excitement on the internal improvement and added that a lot of these women within the organization work directly with the participants, therefore having families see these role models and see the diversity firsthand makes a difference.
There are a lot of women participants that come to Hamilton Families for assistance and guidance, and Martinez finds that providing a platform of trust is what helps these women most. “We enable trust and we are there for them to help them with what they are going through,” Martinez said, “Trust is really important, especially with women.” The diversity and equality of Hamilton Families helps provide that foundation of trust, and what makes the organization so tightly knit so the focus can be to make a difference and help improve the lives of others.
Martinez pulls inspiration from women trailblazers and the generations of women in her family before her who have helped shape her path to where she is now. She grew up in a family that was led by women, and was raised by her grandmother who was a strong matriarchal role model. “She was smart, always giving us great advice and always honest, and I really looked up to who she was,” Martinez reflected, “There were always a lot of women in my world.”
Martinez admires the work of other trailblazing women, too. She remembers seeing Michelle Obama in power, especially because she was the first African American woman in the White House. “I am glad I witnessed that in my lifetime,” Martinez said. Other trailblazers Martinez greatly admires include Oprah, since she overcame so much adversity and is so resilient, and women in Mexican history who paved the way for her and her family.
Women’s History Month is a reminder to see how far women have come and how much further they can still go, opening doors and breaking glass ceilings.
The message Martinez has for women and for families struggling, especially fighting homelessness, is that there is hope. “Do not look back,” Martinez stated, “Do not give up and take advantage of the resources. Move forward.”
If you know of a family experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity in the San Francisco Bay Area, please visit hamiltonfamilies.org for more information.