Vanessa Carolina Marcano-Kelly

Owner and lead linguist, Caracas Language Solutions LLC | Strategist, content, Principal Financial Group

Age: 39

Husband: Michael Kelly 

Dog: Kal-El 

Accomplishments that make you deserving of being a Forty Under 40: 

  • 2020 Caucuses: In my first caucus ever after becoming a U.S. citizen, after petitioning the Iowa Democratic Party, I successfully helped lead the creation of one of six bilingual satellite caucus sites in Iowa.

  • I led the team that provided Spanish interpretation on Iowa PBS during Gov. Reynolds’ COVID-19 daily press briefings during the pandemic, while also assisting the Iowa Department of Human Rights with written translation and recorded summaries in Spanish.

  • After gaining leadership skills through the 2014 Latina Leadership Initiative and 2015 New Leaders Council program, since 2020, I have served as the board chair of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, a statewide organization providing free/low-cost legal immigration services and advocacy for migrants across Iowa (I’m on my second term).

  • I received the 2014 LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) Iowa Latino Leadership award for my work as a community organizer with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement in defending worker and immigrant rights.

What's your biggest passion, and why?

Using my abilities to do my part to create a community with more justice, compassion and communication. These core values have been my North Star since I can remember, and these values were affirmed in my work as a social justice advocate. 

What are your goals in your role at work?

I'd like to keep giving visibility to the importance of multilingual spaces, facilitated by professional interpreters, and for language accessibility to cease being an afterthought. I'd like to keep showing that effective communication with U.S. populations must include standards of accuracy and readability for languages other than English: that means keeping humans in the mix. 

What are your goals in a role outside of work?

I'd like to see the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice’s advocacy program grow and see the organization make strides toward being the place that immigrants and refugees in Iowa see not just as a legal services provider, which is huge, but also as their place to build community, to learn how to be community leaders and, ultimately, as the organization that will empower us to create a more welcoming Iowa. If we had an event with over 100 attendees from these communities this year, I'd be happy.

Tell us about an experience or memory that influenced how you see the world or what you want to do in life.

In my native Venezuela, I had a privileged existence, but when I immigrated to the United States, it didn't matter. At a grocery store, a man heard my mom and I speaking Spanish and muttered to us, “Speak English, we're in America.” My mom depended on my rudimentary language skills for handling day-to-day life. This culture shock instilled an undying solidarity with all excluded people.

What are your aspirations for the future?

I think Iowa needs a language access strategy, starting with a statewide language census that helps identify the needs and the prioritization of multilingual spaces. I'd like for the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice to grow and increasingly become a space to gain a sense of community and belonging.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to a young professional?

Seek out structured leadership development opportunities such as New Leaders Council, Latina Leadership Initiative, One Iowa Leadership Institute, African American Leadership Academy, among others. Seek out mentors in the things that interest you. Start contributing to your 401(k) as soon as possible, even if there is no match, but especially if there is. Build and take care of your credit. 

What is one thing you would like to see Central Iowa leaders address, and why?

Improvement of standards of living for all and eliminating inequality. When I visit my brother in Vienna, Austria, I see a government that invests tax revenue in the public good: health care for all, affordable housing, excellent public infrastructure and public transit, support for families/elderly/people with disabilities. I see businesses that (because laws demand it) pay living wages, provide paid sick leave and sufficient time off for people to enjoy life, instead of working two or three jobs just to make ends meet. Why can't we strive for this in Iowa?

What's one fun fact about you?

I love trance/techno/electronic dance music. When I do go out to a place that has a live EDM DJ, I'll dance all night. Dancing EDM is my happy place. Thank God for Platform in downtown Des Moines! 

Hobbies: Amateur photographer, bourbon and rye snob, Francophile and Francophone.

One word that describes you: Bohemian.

What is your favorite local restaurant? It's a tie between Simon's and Wasabi Chi.

Name one book, podcast, movie or show you love. Book: “Historias de Cronopios y de Famas” (Julio Cortazar), Movie: “Before Sunrise” (Richard Linklater).

What is your go-to activity to do in Central Iowa in the evenings or during the weekend?

Movie, dinner somewhere and drinks at Hello, Marjorie; public pools in the summer.