Celebrating 13 Years with WESST: Melissa Williams' New Role
By WESST | July 15, 2026 WESST's longest serving employee, Melissa Williams, was recently promoted to Director of Lending. Melissa first joined WESST in 2013 as a Loan Fund Administrator and has been an integral member of both the WESST team and Lending department ever since. In 2025, WESST closed out the year distributing over $1,000,000 in loans to entrepreneurs and small businesses. Through the Credit Builders Alliance (CBA), Melissa is a certified Master Trainer and is cr
Investing in the Childcare Ecosystem: Insights from the OFN Small Business Finance Forum
By WESST | July 10, 2026 Ciara Peña Smith joined WESST in May 2026 as our Chief Operations Officer and has hit the ground running. With over a decade of lending and servicing experience, her work has consistently focused on strengthening the operational infrastructure behind capital delivery—ensuring that funding programs are efficient, accountable, and scalable. Ciara Peña Smith and Jonathan Ward of The Fund for Jobs Worth Owning This past June, Ciara represented WESST at th
Enchanting Soap Collections Take Flight
By WESST | June 9, 2026 Earlier this year, Enchanting Soap Collections, WESST incubator tenant and Ascend ABQ cohort member, entered Runway to Success, the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC) pitch competition. They were selected as one of nine businesses from a national applicant pool of 120 to pitch at a national competition in St. Louis. While they did not advance to the next round of the competition, Roberta Easter and Chrystal Trykoski are still winning big: they we
Committed to Service: Judith Perez’s Growth with the Maddox Leadership Institute
By WESST | February 27, 2026 Originally from Las Cruces and now based in Hobbs, Judith Perez has been with WESST since 2023. She initially served as a Bilingual Business Consultant and has since been promoted to Women’s Business Center Director. In 2025, Judith was selected to participate in the seventh cohort of the JF Maddox Foundation’s Maddox Leadership Institute (MLI). The Maddox Leadership Institute is a nine-month leadership development program designed to strengthen
Affordable Solar and Local Nonprofits Celebrate Launch of Statewide Community Solar Projects
By WESST | February 26, 2026 After years of planning following the launch of New Mexico’s community solar program, Affordable Solar is now powering up projects across the state. On February 26, Affordable Solar and its nonprofit partners gathered to celebrate five community solar projects now online, with a sixth expected by the end of the month. Together, these projects represent 30 megawatts of solar capacity, providing clean electricity to homes and organizations statewide
WESST Refreshes Brand
By WESST | February 18, 2026 In case you missed it, we revealed our new logo at our 11th Annual Silver Soiree in October 2025 and have been softly, and intentionally, launching since. In 2025, we were directly impacted by funding shifts and the physical footprint of our organization evolved. Our commitment remains unwavering, as our WESST's mission remains the same, to serve as a home to entrepreneurs. Our refreshed brand signals our continued evolution and commitment to a th
Leading with Intention: Valeria Olave on Her Leadership NM Experience
By WESST | January 23, 2026 With nearly a decade of experience in the banking industry, Valeria Olave joined WESST in 2023 as Program Director of our Albuquerque Women’s Business Center (WBC). Under her leadership, WESST’s Albuquerque WBC earned the 2025 National Certificate of Excellence from the Association of Women’s Business Centers (AWBC) and was featured in the first ever AWBC Media Spotlight tour in August 2025. Valeria recently gradu ated from Le adership New Mexic
WESST Named 2025 SBA New Mexico Microlender of the Year
By WESST | July 2, 2025 We are thrilled to announce that WESST was named the winner of the SBA New Mexico Microlender of the Year award for the second year in a row! Our Lending Team includes Sandro Tonini (VP of Lending), Melissa Williams (Loan Operations Officer), Teresa Rodriguez (Bilingual Loan Assistant), Humberto Hijar (Financial Capability Consultant), Angelica Ortiz (Loan Analyst), and Marcela Mendoza-Palacios (Program Coordinator). Their passion for service and tire
Summer Enrichment Program at The Studio at WESST
By Tom Ragan | May 12, 2025 One of the most rewarding experiences for me since I’ve been at WESST happened this last summer with the New Mexico Public Education Department’s Summer Enrichment Program. The New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) launched the Summer Enrichment Program in 2021 with federal pandemic relief funding. The Summer Enrichment Program provided high school students with paid internships in government agencies and community organizations. I saw th