Meet Maria Castro of Comcast

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Castro.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Maria. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Born and raised in Chicago’s Pilsen community, I am the youngest of 4 and brag at every turn that my parents saved the best for last. My parents, Jose & Oralia Maltos are 2nd generation Texans. My siblings Joe, Alma & Dora were all born in San Antonio, Texas. My father was a migrant worker early on and worked extremely hard to make ends meet and knew he wanted a better life for his family.

Eventually, he became a printer’s apprentice and made the bold move to the City of Chicago seeking employment with a few dollars in his pocket, three children and my mother. He worked long and hard and provided a good life for us all. He took a leap of faith and eventually opened a very successful printing company in Pilsen. He and my mother were married for 50 years before his passing 16 years ago.

Like my parents, I married my high school sweetheart, Martin Castro III. We have two amazing sons, Martin IV and Phillip (both are successful entrepreneurs). I have three grandchildren, Savannah (14), Martin V (12) and Amaya (2). We live in the quaint and beautiful Village of Riverside; and love taking long walks to enjoy its beauty. We are not typical empty nesters, as we have helped to raise our two older grandchildren, after the passing of their mother.

One can never prepare for such a premature loss of life, but you figure it out as you go along. Running to school meetings, soccer games, martial arts, swimming and dance classes, meals, homework, vacations and prayer time is all part of our day. The return on that investment is absolutely invaluable. I feel blessed a million times over to have them in our lives and to have helped shape the young people that they are today.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Smooth road? Is there such a thing? For me, not really. Throughout my career, I faced incredible challenges. When I started out, I worked at a local Spanish radio station as an account executive. I started out at a time when Hispanic media was not popular or in great demand. I had to fight for the few dollars I was granted by media agencies. They couldn’t see the power of the Hispanic community. Fast forward working in marketing for shopping centers around the country, and still having difficulty trying to get dollars allocated for Hispanic media and marketing.

Needless to say, as the years went by it became clear to people in the general market that there was significant buying power among Hispanic households. Therefore, the dollars became easier to garner. This marketing shift created a path for me to plan, coordinate and manage large-scale Hispanic events around the country for Proctor & Gamble, Citibank, American Express, Kraft and others who were clamoring to gain market share. My past experiences have helped to shape the work I do now.

My role in the community service industry is – and always has been the most rewarding work. Being able to see the ROI that I make in the community through my work with Comcast, surpasses everything else. I believe that when you invest in the communities with the much-needed resources available, you help to change the trajectory of the future. So to those who are challenged by where our country is heading today, I say “if you don’t have a seat at the table, bring your own chair”.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
My area of professional expertise is planning large-scale corporate events and developing corporate social responsibilities activities. In my 13 years at Comcast, I have been able to bring much-needed resources back to my old stomping grounds. Organizations such as El Valor, PODER, Gads Hill and The Resurrection Project, all located in Pilsen, have been among some of the many organizations I have partnered with during my tenure.

I am proud of the work I do today. It has real purpose and can be measured by the many people and communities impacted daily. I am committed to helping change the trajectory of our country, state, city and communities by lending my voice and talents to things that matter to me. To further share my talents, I serve as the Chairwoman of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Chicago Chapter, which enables young Latino students to further their education and pursue their dreams. I serve as a member of the Advisory Council for the Women’s Business Development Center because women entrepreneurs are growing by leaps and bounds. Women are playing a vital role in fueling the economic engine of this country.

I also serve on the Telemundo Chicago Action Board committee, which helps local area Latinos tell their amazing stories of triumph and success in their respective communities. With so much negativity being portrayed in some of our communities of color, this enables us to feature and highlight these neighborhood gems. I truly believe that to those who much is given, much is expected.

What were you like growing up?
As the youngest of 4, again, because they saved the best for last, I was very confident and loved the limelight. I loved music, writing, sports, drama class, and most of all, dancing. I loved our car trips to San Antonio to visit my grandparents and cousins every year. It was always an adventure along the way, stopping at the Native American depots and purchasing my favorite moccasins. There wasn’t a seat belt law in place, so all four of us piled in the car and slept across the seat on each other all the way there.

My mom would prepare taquitos of chorizo and eggs, potatoes and eggs and some drinks to keep us quiet. The ride was long so we spent a lot of our time staring out the window counting the VW Beetles and slugging each other to death. Our other favorite place was Los Angeles where my cousins had moved to from San Antonio. The first time we visited them we went to Disneyland which was magical. We grew up loving the Mouseketeers (who didn’t?), so mouse ears were a must and in most of our photos.

We also frequented the local amusement parks like Riverview and Adventureland every summer and rode the rides over and over until we made ourselves sick. My favorite was and still is cotton candy. So I would overdose on it each and every time we went to any kind of amusement park. For many years my dad would hire a neighbor to dress up as Santa and come to our house to deliver our Christmas gifts. It was his favorite holiday, so he decorated the outside and inside with lots of lights and nativity scenes as the holiday music played daily. Our house was small but always filled with cousins and grandparents visiting from out of town.

Our house was the house that most of our friends would gather at. My brother had a band and would practice in our basement every week. They were incredible and I got to listen to them practice all the time. My mom always had dozens of fresh tortillas and lemonade ready for us after we came home from school and we would spread butter all over them, our friends loved them!!

I thought it was strange that we were the only ones whose mother made tortillas, rice and beans frequently. And that everyone would beg to come over to have some. We would come home from school at lunchtime every day and mom always had a great meal prepared for us and of course one of our friends who would manage to tag along. She never complained even though her food bills were probably more than what she budgeted for. I thank God every day for the parents I was given.

My dad worked so hard and was an amazing provider. My mom was a stay at home mom that was obviously very resourceful. She sewed a lot of our outfits growing up. She was an amazing seamstress. Putting four kids through private school and feeding the whole neighborhood couldn’t have been easy. I owe them both a HUGE debt of gratitude for teaching me to be a great parent to my children and now my grandchildren.

Contact Info:

• Email: maria_castro@comcast.com
• Twitter: @mariacas1

Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.