Meet Kelly Hurtado

We were lucky to catch up with Kelly Hurtado recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kelly, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

When I was a very young child, my stepdad adopted me and walked along side my mom to raise me as his own. This act of altruism deeply influenced not only my life outcomes, but also the way I wanted to be in the world. I ended up dedicating my career to ensuring that children who have needs early in life also have access to the resources they need to thrive. My career in non-profit early childhood education, as well as raising my own amazing children have become my purpose in life, all rooted in my own very early life experiences.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I have the amazing opportunity to work alongside partners to build systems locally that prioritize children and families. Daily, I have the privilege of engaging in conversations that focus on what is best for children and families and how we can leverage partnerships, relationships and funding to ensure equitable access to resources in our community. I meet new and amazing people from our community and beyond that are highly committed to doing what is right by children and families. I also get to engage in meaningful dialogue about what is not working in our community and brainstorm new and innovative ideas to make real change take place. This means, that often times, my co-workers and I are implementing programming that hasn’t been tried before and that is thrilling because it means that active steps are being taken to ensure a community full of thriving children, thriving families and a thriving local economy.

One project that I would love to highlight is the El Paso County Family Friendly Summit that Joint Initiatives partnered to bring to life in our community this past May, with the focus of meeting the childcare crisis. Over 100 local leaders attended representing business, education, faith-based, government, healthcare, human services, media, and military organizations and spent the day creating a robust community plan to continue to increase equitable access to high quality early childhood education in our community. It is moments like this that make me extremely proud to be in non-profit leadership and proud to be a citizen of this community.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

As I look back over my career thus far, I would highlight the importance of open-mindedness in the face of change, spirit in the face of uncertainty and relationships in the face of divisiveness. While none of these skills were taught to me in my formal education, they have become the foundation upon which I create forward momentum in my work.

For those just starting their career journeys, I encourage you to dive deep into the content knowledge of that which you care deeply about, and then balance that knowledge with an openness to connect with and learn from the amazing people you will work with along the way. The combination of these will allow you to become a true expert over time and help you to remain human-centered in your approach to work and life.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

In my career, I have been led by a series of strong women and have done work focused on serving diverse populations. The strong women have taught me how to be tenacious while kind, assertive while grounded, and how to take risks in a world that wishes you wouldn’t. The diverse populations I have served have taught me how to listen while guiding, how to learn from everyone I encounter and how beautiful it is that we all see things from our varied perspectives. This combination of experience has allowed me to have a balanced view of success- one that strives to do work for the good of all, while never losing the importance of looking at each individual.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jointinitiatives.org
• Instagram: jointinitiatives