LAKELAND, Fla. — Longtime Lakeland resident Teresa Martinez is dedicated to making her community a better place.
In recognition of her dedication, she was recently named Lakeland’s November 2019 CityMaker.
- Award recognizes service to city, ability to county to global community
- Martinez also an author, radio show host
- More Polk County news
“I am rooted here. This is my city, this is my county,” she said.
The award recognizes her dedication to serving the city and her ability to connect Polk County to the global community.
She’s lauded as a champion of the Hispanic community on the City of Lakeland’s website.
Martinez is Chair of the Polk State College District Board of Trustees, having served in that role since 2009.
The Cuban native was a student at Polk State College herself. She enrolled in 1973 shortly after her family left Cuba.
“I hardly knew any English and there were very few Hispanics here at Polk State College. But they gave me the infrastructure to go on in life,” she said.
And go on, she did. She's an author, hosts a radio show, and serves as editor in chief of Viva Polk Magazine.
It’s all these contributions to her community that made her this year's CityMaker.
“CityMaker. I really can’t even believe that myself,” she said. “Who would have thought so many years ago when I was moving to Lakeland and I was a scared person, thought that I couldn’t … I get emotional.”
It's important to note that along with everything else she's involved in, Martinez does her best to set an example for the next generation of Polk State College students. Twenty-four percent of Polk State's population is Hispanic.
Martinez is working with Polk State president Angela Garcia Falconetti to help the school become a designated Hispanic Serving Institution.
This would make all Polk State students eligible for federal grants to help first-generation and low-income students.
As Lakeland’s newest CityMaker, she hopes to be a good role model for students who may have similar life stories.
“I think that when Hispanic students see me walking around here and they see that I have been on the district board for so long, they see someone that has made it a little bit in life and I think they admire and they can see that could be them one day,” Martinez said.