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It was more than 40 years ago that Linda Valencia Martinez graduated from New Mexico Highlands University with an undergraduate degree in journalism and a minor in art. But what followed was a distinguished career helping her community and New Mexico. So much so that earlier this year she was honored with the “Sí Se Puede” Award by Dolores Huerta for her activism.

A native of Farmington, NM, Valencia Martinez started school in 1966 and earned her degree in 1971. “I dropped out for a year. I was not the greatest student in the world,” she says with a chuckle. “But I was having a good time.”

Still, she realized the importance of going back and finishing, before working for a time at Highlands University in public affairs, as well as doing social work in Las Vegas, NM before moving to Albuquerque where she began a career advocating for vocational education.

In the 1980s, Valencia Martinez became director of the New Mexico Council on Vocational Education, pushing to increase opportunities for people for whom college was not a fit. She also was a former Highlands University regent in the 1980s, and one of her points of emphasis was demanding childcare services for both students and faculty. “It wasn’t my idea, I just supported it because I believed in it,” Valencia Martinez says.

Looking back on her life, she says her success can be traced to her time at Highlands University. “My background in journalism was important and I had great teachers at Highlands,” Valencia Martinez says. “With good writing skills, you can work anywhere. Journalism teaches you how to write succinctly. The writing I learned in journalism helped me do a lot of things. Writing skills are everything. If you can write, you can talk and I was able to do a lot of public speaking. I used to lobby for vocational education and it all came back from my training at Highlands.”

The other aspect of her life at Highlands University was gaining a background in art, something that has taken on more importance in her life as she’s aged.

And that has started her on a whole trajectory, especially as she continues advocacy work, this time by helping other women artists. She began the popular Women’s Art Show that is entering its seventh year.

“The main reason I started it is I kept bumping into women who didn’t have a retirement and were just doing art and I saw them struggling,” Valencia Martinez says. “And I felt very bad so I wanted to start a show where you can sell your art and whatever you make is yours.”

The show started with 12 artists and now is at 90 and is quickly outgrowing its site at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

“I’ve always been a bit of a troublemaker. It’s good because you make a statement for what you believe in,” she says. “I do not fit your stereotypical old lady image that is more conservative and calm. I get more radical as I get older.”