Voices in Our Heads
Michelle Molina Has Earned Every Day of Her Life
It was a simple question for Michelle Molina. I asked her to describe herself.
“Willing.”
I laughed.
“It’s not meant to be funny. I suppose it’s one of those words that describes people who, when given opportunity which may to other people appear to be a negative opportunity, I am willing. I’ll give it a shot, I’ll think it through. I’ll do my homework. I’ll ask around. I’m willing to do that.”
It doesn’t mean that she doesn’t eventually come to the no. It just means that she’s willing to take that chance.
Michelle Molina (Photo by El Imagenero)
I’ve known Michelle Molina for more than ten years and I can definitely testify that’s the person that I know. She is not afraid to have an opinion and not only express it but also put it into practice. Michelle Molina is a leader with a vision who doesn’t just talk about that vision but works her butt off to make it a reality. I’ve also learned to never underestimate her. Trust me, she’s earned every day of her life. Just ask her. I thought I knew a lot about Michelle Molina. I found out there was a lot I didn’t know during an interview at MADE by Millworks on Pine for Voice in Our Heads on PalacioMagazine.com.
You Think You Know Michelle Molina
Here’s some advice to start. Don’t think you know Michelle Molina based on her last name or the Porsche that she drives.
“I’ve had people call me trophy wife…in fact this morning, somebody called me moneybags. I think it’s easy to jump to a conclusion without knowing who somebody is or know where they came from.”
She doesn’t believe she has a tragic story to tell but it is a good story that has helped define who she is today. Michelle Molina was born in Fort Collins, Colorado, elevation 5,003′, with a population back then of probably a little more than 25,000 people.
“My mother was very young when she had me. She left freshman year [of college] …lived with a baby and the baby’s father, who was then her husband, in a construction trailer in the Rockies where he was building a water electro plant.”
Her brother is born and the single mother with her two children move in with grandparents in Colorado Springs.
“And we move to California and we lived in the beautiful city of Hawaiian Gardens…then we moved to Garden Gove.”
There was move to Illinois in between. Her mother remarried. And they moved to Buena Park.
“I went to college at Fresno State because that was my new stepfather’s alma mater and I love the man. I mean who marries a single mom with two teenagers? A brave, brave man.”
Fast forward to a major in radio and television and working for a production company in L.A. followed by a side trip to the Bay area to work for the Sports Talk radio station for the Giants baseball team. That’s followed by volunteer work at a school and Michelle Molina finds one of her callings.
“And I liked that so I went back to school to become a teacher.”
But Before I let Michelle Molina Go On
…with the rest of that teaching story, I wanted to know who were her teachers at a young age.
“When you live in a multigenerational household…later, my great grandmother came to live with us…so I lived with my great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother. My poor brother didn’t have a chance. But, you live in a household with so much female power, it really influences your life.”
Not that the males in her life didn’t influence her, explains Molina.
“But, both of my grandmothers lost their husbands early and so it was taking on the role of the grandfathers and fathers and great grandfathers. So, you have a different perspective.”
Life became a learning experience. There was the learning how to mow one’s own lawn and operate tools.
“And you begin to appreciate men in a totally different way. Honestly, more as equals and so I think I was a very young feminist just by being raised by all these women who appreciated and loved men but didn’t rely on them necessarily, couldn’t rely on them.”
Back to the Volunteer Gig at a School
…in San Francisco and the thought that Michelle Molina could be a teacher.
“It gave way to a thought that maybe I had always been a teacher my whole life, I might as well see if this is something I loved and I really did love it. I studied at San Francisco State and then I transferred to Long Beach, got my credentials, went to work in Paramount.”
She went on to teach grades 4-8. There was Algebra and Science. But, there was an important lesson learned by Molina. It was how not to teach to students. Learn with your students. She describes it this way.
“They say, the term for that is ‘Guide on the side, not a sage on the stage.’”
Molina would use the experience of teaching as an important launch pad for PeaceBulders, a curriculum that teaches skills to young people “… for managing conflict in their own lives by understanding what creates opposition and how to solve problems without violence.”
Fast Forward to Today
…and Michelle Molina, as she calls it, a community developer at Millworks.
“I am a community developer. I’m using PeaceBuilders as my strategy so it sort of works for grownups. It’s the same thing. It’s about building resilience in a community and the skills are the same. I’m still a teacher. It just isn’t so defined.”
There was the former Press-Telegram Building on Pine and Seventh Street. That turned into 12-hundred jobs. Now, there’s the Packard Building on Anaheim. That has seen nonprofits, art and music events, and this week, will be one of the sites for PUMP (Public Urban Multisensory Presentations).
“But, next door we have a whole transformation of what had been an auto body shop to the brand new home of Trademark Brewing. Brand new LA brewer coming in transforming about 17,000 square feet into a brewery and tasting room.”
There’s Viva Learning Space at 927 Pine Avenue. Then, there’s the property in the 1600 block of Long Beach Boulevard with Centro CHA and a charter school. Of course, there’s that property at Fourth and Pine, formerly the Vault. Listen to the podcast to get her take on the status.
With all that’s going on, I had to ask Michelle Molina which project made her the proudest. This answer also surprised me.
“My proudest project is twenty-two years of marriage to John [Molina] and two incredible kids. The truth is you ask any of my girlfriends as I was in my twenties and thirties, I’m not getting married, I’m not having kids.”
You can’t help but see her face become expressive with pride as she talks about more than twenty years of marriage and their two children who are growing up quickly, one in college and the other one in High School.
“If you want to know about Millworks, my favorite project is every way I can contribute to other people’s projects…If you ask me what’s my talent, what’s my skill, I would say that I am very good at putting teams together and then, getting out of the way so they can do their job.”
A Final Word on Peace
This is how Michelle Molina ends the bio she sent me:
“Peace. It does not mean to be a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.”
Amen.
If You Want to Find Out More
…Millworks, visit HERE and MADE, visit HERE
