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Alumni Spotlight: Clarissa Diaz de Leon Martinez '13

Alumni Spotlight: Clarissa Diaz de Leon Martinez '13

After graduating from Cristo Rey, I went to Columbia for one year to study Education. After realizing I did not like being in the city nor the major I had selected, I decided to transfer to SIUC to become more independent and study Accounting. Ironically, I began to miss home as my sister had a baby and my brother was expecting. Aside from this, I could not figure out how to fit in on campus nor adjust to the classroom set-ups. I felt lost, became overwhelmed, and decided to withdraw from SIUC (I wish I had reached out to the many resources available at the time to help me gather my thoughts!). Once I was back in Chicago, I took on a bookkeeping position at Delgadillo & Co. where I primarily focused on payroll for small businesses and data entry. I became pregnant with my first baby, Samantha, in 2015 and continued to work at Delgadillo & Co. until her birth in February 2016. I took time off to dedicate to her and then began working at Allies for Community Business, formerly known as Accion, in October of 2017. I got married in April 2021 and had my second baby, Ismael, in April 2023. I am, in a nutshell, a full-time working mom of two!

I am currently still at Allies for Community Business. Allies for Community Business is a non-profit micro lender whose mission is provide the capital, coaching, and connections entrepreneurs need to grow great businesses that create jobs and wealth in their communities. I was in the lending department for 7 years, working my way to becoming Manager of Community Lending and I recently was promoted in 2024 to the risk department as Manager of Portfolio Risk. When I was a part of the lending team, I was the top producer at the organization for the past 4 years. In 2023 alone, I disbursed almost $1.6 million in small business loans to businesses in Illinois and Indiana (all while having my second baby, Ismael, in April 2023!) Allies for Community Business was also the administrator of emergency grant programs during the pandemic such as the Back to Business Grant and is currently still administering other grant programs such as the Good Food Fund (partnership with the City of Chicago). I was featured in Time Square in May of 2020 through a partnership with Coca-Cola for my work in contributing to the disbursement of emergency funds to small businesses during the pandemic. In my role now as Manager of Portfolio Risk, I am responsible for underwriting the loan submissions from the lending team and finding ways to improve our policy to serve more entrepreneurs through the collection of data on our current portfolio.

My sister had been working at the organization for a little over a year and when she would talk to me about her work, I was so intrigued and amazed with the impact the organization was making for small business owners who struggle to qualify for funding through a traditional bank. A position for a loan officer opened up and I applied! They did require a bachelor’s degree at the time (which they have since removed as they used me an as an example of how you can be very impactful to an organization without having a degree). They leveraged my 4 years at Huron Consulting Group through Cristo Rey’s work-study program and the reference submitted by my previous manager there to offer me the job. Since then, I have worked closely with small businesses owners to provide capital and the assistance needed for them to prosper in their businesses. We are different from many lenders as we do not have a minimum credit score requirement, work with ITIN applicants, work with start-ups, and provide coaching aside from the capital!

I enjoy getting to know business owners and hearing their stories and seeing how they eventually qualify for a loan through a bank! This past year, I worked closely with our Director of Community Lending to revamp our policy pertaining to how we underwrite credit builder loans so that we are able to provide capital to more business owners who have challenges with their credit profile.

The main advice I would give is to use all the resources available to you and if you do not know what is available to you please ask! Though I would not encourage anyone to not go to college, I would highlight that there are different versions of “success” and that if college did not work out for you, it does not mean that is the end of the road for you and that you cannot be successful or make a difference in your community. I would say to take your work-study position seriously, learn, adapt, and ask questions as those experiences can help you professionally.

I believe Cristo Rey has influenced my career and person I am today. I learned everything I know about professionalism from Cristo Rey and the work-study program and about the importance of community and family outside of your blood family. My time at Kairos is definitely at the top of my list of memories from Cristo Rey. It was such an impactful and eye-opening retreat that I will always cherish. I still open up the folder from time to time to read the letters and see the pictures!

Aside from spending time with my two babies, I enjoy going to the gym and traveling to Mexico. Because my job is primarily remote and salary based, I have flexibility in how I use my time thankfully, so I get to spend a lot of time with my family and travel when desired or needed.

I would say Cristo Rey is a one-stop shop for developing professional, passionate, educated and hardworking youth towards adulthood.

Thank you, Clarissa, for sharing your journey with us! Connect with Clarissa on Linked In.

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Alumni Spotlight: Ariana Martinez '16

Alumni Spotlight: Ariana Martinez '16


My name is Ari, and since graduating from Cristo Rey, I have been pursuing my career and traveling as much as possible. I am currently a Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse at MacNeal Hospital, where I have been for two years of my career, but I have been a nurse for three years already. I am currently pursuing my master’s in nursing education with the hopes of becoming a clinical instructor and professor for future nursing students.

I attended Dominican University in River Forest as an undergrad, graduating in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I am currently attending Elmhurst University, where I am pursuing my Master of Science in Nursing Education, and I hope to graduate next May 2025.

The part of my job that I enjoy the most is that every day is a different day. I have similar tasks that I must achieve throughout my shift, but there are always different skills or critical thinking that I have to use to do my job successfully. I also enjoy caring for patients, and one thing that I enjoy about my current job is that it is in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood where I can use my bilingual skills to translate for patients who are not English-speaking. Being able to explain to Spanish-speaking patients what their medications are for or what kind of procedure they are getting and finally seeing them understand it is something I am always grateful for and happy to see with my job.

The advice that I would give other alumni or current students who aspire to be a nurse would be to volunteer or get familiar with the field. Nursing is not for everyone, but if you get exposure to it and love it, you will see how great it truly is. I would also say it is not an easy career like many others, but if you work hard and stay disciplined during school you will see all the benefits of it afterwards.

I do believe Cristo Rey has impacted my career and the person I am today because during the four years, I attended Cristo Rey, I was lucky enough to work at The University of Chicago Hospital, which exposed me to healthcare and registered nurses. While I was at Cristo Rey, I was in between pursuing a career in physical therapy and nursing. Because I worked at the University of Chicago Hospital, I was able to have a conversation with one of the registered nurses there and obtain more information about how to become a registered nurse because I did not know anything about it. I feel like, in the long run, that conversation helped me decide what I wanted to do with my future, and well, here we are 8 years later. A thing I look back on and really love about Cristo Rey is that it taught me how to be a woman for others, and with my career, it's something I have to do every day. Giving back to my community and helping others is something I will always be passionate about, and Cristo Rey helped water that seed.

On my time off, I enjoy many things. I like to travel a lot, so I have been to several places over the past couple of years. But if I am here in Chicago and the weather is nice, I like to go

for runs and walks on some trails by my house to enjoy the nice weather and nature since I am currently training for a half marathon. This year, in January, I also started taking Pilates classes, which I highly recommend doing. I also just started being an assistant coach to the boys’ varsity volleyball team at Cristo Rey, which I am super excited about, given that I played volleyball the four years I was there, and now I get to coach with Oscar, who was my coach while I was there. If I am not doing anything active, I also really enjoy reading a good book, binge-watching a show on Netflix, or catching up with friends and family.

If I had to describe Cristo Rey to someone, I would say it is a family. It will be 8 years since I graduated from CR this upcoming June, but I still go back, and the teachers, coaches, principal, front desk, and everyone still welcome you with open arms. It is a place where not only do you get to attend school but also experience what working in the adult world is like and get prepared for the future. At Cristo Rey, you get to meet some great individuals and even some lifetime friends.

Thank you, Ariana, for sharing your journey with us! Connect with Ariana on Linked In.

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Cristo Rey's Inaugural First Responders Recognition Day

Cristo Rey's Inaugural First Responders Recognition Day 

Cristo Rey held its first event to recognize the heroic men and women who so generously devote themselves to helping and serving others, celebrating the Cristo Rey alumni who are truly Men and Women for Others proudly serving in the military, law enforcement, fire department, and medical fields.

At the inaugural first responders’ recognition day on February 15, Cristo Rey honored Rick Portillo, retired CPD and long-time security officer at Cristo Rey, with a special award of gratitude for his service to the City of Chicago and his protection and care of the Cristo Rey community.

Cristo Rey welcomed more than a dozen alumni First Responders and friends into the Chapel of the Sacred Heart for a blessing by Fr. Bradley Zamora. Fr. Zamora offered remarks and blessed medals that were presented to the alumni. Cristo Rey president Antonio Ortiz shared his gratitude and remarks for the alumni and security officer Rick Portillo.

“We're faith-based, we have a work experience program, but at the end of the day, our goal here is to create good people. Your parents created good people. It's our job to kind of foster that forward. So whether you go to college, whether you have some credits, whatever it is you decide to do in life, at the end of the day, we just want you to be good people…be a good neighbor, be a good partner, be good husband, wife, good father. Help someone when they need it on the street. And to me, that's what first responders do on a daily basis. That's what they do for a living, is they protect and they help people. So I am super proud to continue to celebrate the vocation of being first responders.

Rick's been here almost from the beginning…We've seen the school grow. We were here before we saw these buildings go up. And the school continues to evolve as the world is. But one thing's been consistent, and it's been your love and care for our students. Hundreds and hundreds of students every year and thousands of students over 27 years. And anytime you talk to a first responder, nine out 10 times, they say, I'm doing what I do because of Rick.
We have you to thank for inspiring so many alums to pursue this vocation and to serve, protect, and be good people. Now these folks here will continue your tradition to inspire others, not just here, but in the cities and districts and neighborhoods and communities that they work in. Hopefully more will be inspired from here.”

 

Front Row:

Rick Portillo, Emanuel Castilo '15, Ariana Martinez '16, Andres Naranjo ’16, Omar Castro '11, Alberto Rangel '13, Daniel Montes '09

Top row:

Omar Moreno '07, Adrian Moreno '09, Hector Alvarado

 

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