Alma Castro

Alma Castro grew up in Santa Fe, the child of a Salvadoran refugee and working-class songstress. She graduated from Santa Fe High School in 2005, then received her bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College in Ohio. Castro worked as a volunteer for AmeriCorps and a community organizer in Chicago, and she returned to Santa Fe in 2019 to take over her family’s restaurant – Café Castro.

Alma's talk will draw on her life experience honoring generations of valued tradition while creatively reflecting new thinking -- whether in her family business, in her role on City Council as the youngest councilor elected to this position, or in the Mariachi music she learned as a young girl. “The lessons of our forefathers can inform the progress we are making today,” Castro notes. “When life gives you chile, you make enchiladas!”