For Crystal Mariscal, receiving the Athena Young Professional Award doesn’t mean as much as what it could mean for those who want to follow in her footsteps.

Mariscal’s intense experiences through the first 21 years of her life shaped the Colorado Mountain College marketing and community relations strategist into a strong and resilient woman who knows she serves a greater purpose. 

She explained that the Athena Young Professional Award means more to her than words can say, but it could never compare to the pride she takes in her last name. She said that her grandfather instilled in her, from a young age, what it meant to be a Mariscal, and she’s dedicated to living up to the legacy he created. 

“My grandpa always used to tell me, ‘If you’re going to do something, do it for the right reasons,'” Mariscal said. “He used to say, ‘If you’re doing something with your right hand, don’t let your left hand know, because then you’re going to start applauding yourself.’

“The last name Mariscal is something that I take very seriously, and I carry my grandfather’s name with a lot of pride,” she continued. “My grandpa was a man of integrity, and he loved being involved in the community. I think that’s something he passed down to me.”

Born in California but raised in Mexico, Mariscal was already married and pregnant with her second daughter when she returned to the United States. 

“I got married really young. Sometimes people ask me if that was the norm — no, it was not the norm,” she explained. “When I was 21, I became a homeless single mom.”

She knows that her story doesn’t represent every Latina, every single mother, or every CMC graduate. Mariscal explained that she represents only her own story, and if you’re trying to please everyone, you’ll please no one. 

“First and foremost, you have to be honest and true with yourself,” she explained. “You’re not going to please everybody, because you don’t represent everybody. Just because I’m a single mom doesn’t mean I represent all the single moms. Every single mother has her own story; I have mine. I represent my own voice.”

Mariscal, the first Latina elected to the New Castle City Council, was among the community members recognized during the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association’s annual awards banquet and gala in February.

Mariscal said that although she still feels some imposter syndrome, the most important part of the recognition is that it proves to her she’s doing important work that serves a bigger purpose, as well as the opportunity it offers for further connections. 

“I bring my heart, I bring sincerity, and a deep connection with God that proves everything that I do serves a bigger purpose beyond me,” she said.  “We are one community in this valley, and I’m always looking at how we can connect with each other, how we can embrace each other, how we can support each other — especially in times when the world feels so divided.”

For Mariscal, opening doors for others is deeply personal.

“For me, it was really hard to open the door and walk the path that I had to walk,” Mariscal continued. “I’m always trying to encourage connections, so I really love the opportunity to open the door for other people and be able to say, ‘You don’t have to struggle the same way I did.’ I had to be the first Latina to do a lot of things, which brings a lot of pride, but it was also very painful.”

Mariscal said she has gotten this far by being willing to do the work, even when she felt isolated and without a sense of community. She recalled seeing the CMC Steamboat Springs campus for the first time and believing she could never attend because “college is for rich people.”

Now, a CMC graduate and employee — she knows that’s not true, but only because she dared to dream of stepping out of her comfort zone, and has a burning desire to learn. 

“I remember telling my younger sister, ‘I want to go (to CMC Steamboat) and she was like, ‘You’re crazy, college is for rich people,'” Mariscal explained. “Obviously, I know now that’s not the case, but at the time I was like ‘Ok, I guess I’m not going to college.'”

She continued to explain that after she moved to Rifle and became a single mother, she wanted to get involved with her daughters and the school community, but initially struggled because the community felt foreign. 

“When I got here, I didn’t really have anyone,” Mariscal explained. “Even though I was born here, I still feel a little bit strange because it isn’t the culture I grew up in. I learned the language by working ‘in the field’, which was incredibly difficult when I first got involved.” 

Her desire to learn and her continued efforts to expand her comfort zone initially led her to community service. Since then, she said, it has become central to her life.

“I wanted to get involved with my daughters and the school because I wanted to learn and socialize,” she said. “All of this started because I wanted to learn how to become a better mom, and that opened something in my brain that was like ‘Now that I have this information, how can I pass it to someone else?'”

She explained that even after becoming an established and valued community member, she sometimes still feels lonely and ostracized. Mariscal said that in those times, she turns to her faith and tries to remember that there is always a bigger purpose.

 “When we talk about God, it can divide people,” Mariscal said. “When I’m talking about God, I’m not talking about a specific religion. I’m talking about relationships. I want to make sure that everything I’m doing has a purpose. I want to be guided to see that, and sometimes emotions can get in the way. 

“When you do things, you’re never doing it thinking of someone noticing what you’re doing,” she continued. “Sometimes, it feels like I don’t know what I’m doing, but after receiving the recognition and if people think that I deserve that, I think that means I might be doing something right.”

She wrapped up her thoughts the same way she did her acceptance speech in February at the Hotel Colorado: with a call to action.

“We have to stop seeing things as a competition, and we can’t be scared of other people being better than us,” she said. “I don’t see this as a competition, I see this as how can this person help. It’s about knowing we’re not perfect and asking for help if we need it.”