about marisol

My name is Marisol Enriquez. I was born in Santa Fe, NM, raised in the rural town of Brazito, just south of Las Cruces, where my parents and grandparents lived and grew up, and after high school, I moved to the big city of Albuquerque where I have remained.

Our family home was located off a dirt road nestled between the hills of the desert and Interstate 10 to the East, and pecan orchards and alfalfa fields to the West. As children, my siblings and I played in drainage ditches trying to catch frogs and crawfish or in the desert catching horned toads, lizards, and tarantulas. We often tried to keep the latter as pets for a few days, but then we usually let them go free because we knew they really belonged to the earth. 

I am the fifth of seven children born to my parents. My upbringing was one of a traditional, Catholic, Mexican heritage where we went to church and visited grandparents on Sundays, ate menudo at Christmas, and where beans, chile, and tortillas were staples in the fridge every day. They still are today.

My parents were busy trying to keep shoes on our feet, well-fitted clothes on our backs, food in our bellies, a roof over our heads, and all of us in line. We knew what was expected of us: get good grades in school, go on to college and get a good higher education. We didn't have the time or the energy to pay attention to politics, but we always knew we at least needed to begin voting in the Presidential election when we became eligible, and we always knew we were Democrats. 

It only occurred to me later in life the ways in which living rurally, in and of itself, might be a result of inequity. My father couldn't afford a home in the city, so he bought one south of the city. It meant more money in gas, more wear and tear on the cars. The fact that we weren't connected to city water or sewage meant more money on an individual septic system, more regular maintenance to water wells and pipes affected by hard water. It meant we had to pay for a post office box instead of have mail delivered to our home. It meant more time out of the day when planning trips to the city. 

When I think of the richness of being able to take for granted the view of the black southern sky and the billions of stars visible because there wasn't any light pollution, those extra expenses don't seem like much. But, for a family of nine, on a single income, every penny added up, and it took a really long time for my parents to really get ahead. 

I have been involved with the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County in official roles since 2021. But, I have been active ever since the 2016 election, like many.

I served as a Precinct Chair, a Ward Chair and on special projects, which included leading the Grassroots 

Activist Support Committee. I was appointed to the officer position of 2nd Vice Chair in the spring of 2022.

In Spring 2023, I was elected Chair of the DPBC. Serving in this role has been one of the biggest honors and one of the biggest challenges of my life.

If you're not familiar with the way our county parties are scaled here in New Mexico, I'd like to offer some perspective. 

Simply, Bernalillo County is the largest county in the state, containing about a third of the state's voting population. It contains 687 voting precincts, grouped those into 73 wards for organizing purposes. The two next highest populated counties are Doña Ana county, which has 7 organizing wards and Santa Fe County, which has 19 organizing wards.

Running and moving an organization like this is a massive undertaking. The position is not paid and at times requires more than 60 hours of work per week. 

Simultaneously, I have continued to run my small business, Muscle & Flow Fitness and Yoga, established as Hot or Not Yoga NM in 2015.  I have a corporate background with a pharmacy benefit management company where I worked as a Call Center Operations Specialist, a Budget and Finance Analyst for the mail order pharmacy, managing a $13M budget, and with the Corporate Finance group performing physical inventories for multi-million dollar mail order pharmacy locations. 

I'm also currently working to achieve a Bachelor's degree in Chicana/o Studies with a Minor in Economics, which I will complete this year.  I do have the goal of attending the UNM School of Law sometime in my future, but running for DPNM Chair seems more important to me these days.

I am no stranger to working systems, relationship building, project management, team building, fundraising, hard work, time management, dedication, or team management, and I intend to bring all those skills along with me into the role of DPNM Chair.