Teresa Vazquez-Dodero,East Somerville Main Streets new Executive Director.

East Somerville Main Streets is excited to announce Teresa Vazquez-Dodero as its new executive director. The selection was made after an extensive regional search. Vazquez-Dodero brings a wealth of local knowledge and experience from her previous position as the Community Liaison for the East Somerville Community School. Vazquez-Dodero will begin her new position at East Somerville Main Streets on February 17, 2015.

“On behalf of the board of East Somerville Main Streets, I am truly excited to welcome Teresa as our new executive director,” said Board Chair Renee Polcaro. “We were looking for a unique individual to guide East Somerville Main Streets as the organization continues to grow its impact. Teresa brings a rich mix of demonstrated leadership in engaging the community as well as a background in cultural development. We are lucky to have her on our team.”

As executive director of East Somerville Main Streets, Vazquez-Dodero will oversee an organization that impacts all of East Somerville through its mission to build the life of the community by creating investment, connection, and pride in our main streets. Throughout the year, East Somerville Main Streets engages thousands of individuals in building a rich community life in East Somerville’s business districts through advocacy, initiatives and events and models successful neighborhood based cultural, and economic development for the entire region. Vazquez-Dodero will help to shape the vision for the organization’s next steps.

Vazquez-Dodero shared, “I am so excited to join the East Somerville Main Streets team. Over the past years I have had the privilege of building strong relationships with the residents and families of East Somerville. I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to deepen the partnership with the residents and businesses, and together to make a real difference for East Somerville’s future.”

Vazquez-Dodero has been a resident of Somerville for the past five years, and has three children in the Somerville Public Schools, including the East Somerville Community School. She came to the United States in 1993 after working for the Olympic Games in Barcelona, settling in Chicago where she managed a theater and exhibition space – and worked in a myriad of other roles in small businesses while working her way through college. Vazquez-Dodero was granted scholarships to Smith College and then to Simmons College, where she completed her Masters Degree in Gender and Cultural Studies.