Early daybreak at Calhoun Flower Farms out in La Mesa, NM, was abuzz with singing birds and chatter between Creative Director Christina (Tina) Ballew and Photographer Sam Palm planning the morning photo set. Senior Video Specialist and the day’s Photo Assistant, Ralph Diaz, had already scouted the location and guided the team to the best spots on the spacious farm.
Prados Beauty was already set up with palettes and colors galore in a workroom off to the side of the farm, waiting for their moment to pamper and prim the models for the day. The catch was that most of the models had never been on a professional photo set, let alone have their makeup done professionally. These models were selected just for the Local Heroines photoshoot, a campaign that highlights local women that promote hope and healing in the Las Cruces community. The project consisted of public nominations managed by Success Partnership, who, with other collaborators, had to pick only five women to include in the photo series. It was not an easy feat, as every single woman nominated has earned her place for her story to be shared and her efforts proudly celebrated.
As the day progressed, the models started to trickle in, nervous but excited about what was to partake. Once the clean and glowy makeup with pops of graphic eyeliner was complete, the onset Stylist, Myra Rommes, dressed the models with a mixture of their clothing and selected pieces to capture the models’ personalities, maintaining a balance of softness and strength.
“We were immediately inspired by the idea of hope and healing and came up with an aesthetic that was earthy and subtle yet powerful in the confidence we portrayed with each model. Calhoun Farms was the perfect spot as they hadn’t quite had their spring growth except for a couple of rows of daffodils. It lent to the narrative of hope, growth, and mother nature,” says Tina.
The set Art Director Dana Apodaca added, “The flowing fabric in the background of the portraits represents a connecting thread between all of the women; A softness with power behind it, an ever-flowing force that rises and falls with the tide. Hope as a dream, a vision to restore; And healing- the action of mending and restoring.”
NMCO Video Specialist, Aaron Waltershied, moved around from location to location, capturing interviews and cinematic scenes for bite-size content to help portray the reality of organizations working together and the model’s delight when seeing their transformations.
The Ngage NM and Success Partnership team, who sponsored the project and provided food to the creative team and models, stopped by the set to lend a helping hand.
Ralph Diaz, “It was great to see all the collaboration come together for this project. Meeting everyone from Ngage, Success Partnership, and Prados in the early morning was nice, and everyone was so eager to help in any way. It made things a lot easier having so many helping hands and allowing a voice for everyone’s creativity, and I think the end product reflects this.”
Photographer Sam focused on the subjects and mindfully posed the models amid farmland and floral props. “I’m humbled to have been able to work alongside so many talented people and honor a selection of notable women who’ve made great strides in their contributions to the City of Las Cruces. The rich landscapes of Calhoun Farms during the early morning hours provided a fantastic backdrop, and everyone involved was incredibly skilled and helpful throughout the shoot.”
Congratulations to all the inspiring women that help shape our community. Meet them. Know them. Be inspired by them.
“I feel like a lot of social workers do a lot of behind the scenes work, and we don’t really ever think of ourselves as having to be in the forefront for getting any credit, so that has been really nice to feel that a lot of the efforts that go on behind the scenes that we cant share, teachers can share stuff, social media and stuff like that sometimes, we can’t as a client to a provider, so a lot of it is knowing what I’m doing in the background ….Late nights and early mornings, and so it’s just really and honor to know that a lot of those efforts are recognized by community members especially, so whoever nominated me, so thank you so much.”
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Chantelle uses education and mental health interventions in her job to help young students as well as with her audience of social media followers. She continues to advocate for many groups through in-person work, emails, and phone calls. She regularly guest speaks to share her experiences as an Indigenous woman and how her art is used to give voices to those who need to be heard. She is part of several boards of directors and works tirelessly everyday. She needs to be shown some love! What she doesn’t necessarily know or see is just how much she’s helped members of the LGBTQ community, Indigenous folks, her students and her family!”
“I’m really honored, and also just being nominated among so many other strong community leaders and women and indigenous women, means so much to me in this community to be a part of this.”
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Jane has been a force in promoting hope and providing healing for the last 20 years or so in this community. She has a masters degree in counseling and educational psychology and practiced as a therapist for 17 years with postpartum moms, the early childhood community, college students, and families. It’s healing and hope that prompted Jane to start Dwell Yoga Studio, a Collective with a vision to offer services in a way that feels equitable and sustainable for students and teachers. Working as a therapist and a yoga instructor, she would see individuals come to the same mind-body realizations in just a few yoga sessions as it would sometimes take years of therapy to accomplish. Jane merged her substantial experience in mental health and counseling with movement and meditation as co-director of Dwell Yoga Studio. She creates an environment of kindness and healing where everyone can feel welcome and supported, and even offers free yoga classes. Dwell gives back and supports this community in other ways too, offering sliding scale payments so the classes are accessible to more practitioners and even supporting local nonprofits’ missions such as the Friends of the Organ Mountain Desert Peaks. Jane has volunteered her time for various convenings and gatherings to bring peace and grounding at partner events.”
“Well this nomination really surprised me, I feel honored to have received the award for work that I love doing. It’s no effort for me to work with expecting families, especially the ones having their first babies, and I feel like it plants the seed early in life to help parents work together in raising their firstborn.”
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Dr. Morales made a difference in our community as a professor at the School of Nursing. Dr. Morales has been a strong advocate and supporter of maternal child health. For many years she volunteered her time by providing Lamaze classes to expectant parents from Memorial Medical Center, Mountain View Regional Medical Center as well as from hospitals in El Paso. She continues to serve our community in a variety of ways. She currently serves as co-chair of the Las Cruces New Mexico Breastfeeding Chapter, Parish Council member at Holy Family ANCC, and provides referrals to the birth worker community.”
“Wow, it’s such an honor, I wake up every day and go to work, and I and just really dedicated to the mission and to be recognized for that work, is…I feel very honored and I also just feel very blessed to do this work so then to be recognized for it is nice.”
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Daisy’s work in the Colonias of Doña Ana County brings to the forefront the often forgotten and overlooked populations of the county. She has been an advocate for community programs and organizations that put people at their center and shift power to those most impacted by unjust systems. Her grassroots approach to systemic change challenges society’s ideas about immigrant populations and the contributions that Colonias play in community leadership. Her work uplifts and equips people with the tools necessary to lead and voice their concerns. Her work significantly creates hope for the next generation of our community.”
“It was just rewarding to know that others are watching you and looking at the work you do. When we do the work that we do we aren’t really thinking about who is watching, those are things you don’t really think about. So to be emailed/notified that you were nominated for the women’s month for local heroes that was just very rewarding to know that others are watching or following and others are contributing and just being involved in the community and events and everything that we do.”
“I think that this experience was really good and knowing that other people help others makes me happy to know.”
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Heidi’s Helping Hands is an Initiative that was started by a Mother and Daughter here in Las Cruces. Throughout the year HHH organizes community events, such as a community yard sale. The initiative collects donation items throughout the year from the community and organizes a yard sale where our community can get clothing at no cost. HHH also has a Facebook group where community members can post donation items and people in need can get those donation items. The only rule to receiving a donation item from the page is that you must first donate something. On April 9th HHH will be holding their annual Easter Event!”
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I would like to nominate AJ and Heidi who are founders of Heidi’s Helping Hands. For the last 3-4 years they have been providing hope and kindness to our community. They do yearly community events which help those in need. One of the events they do is the yearly donation event where the community does their free shopping. They have also provided the community with a Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas events. They due their annual adopt a Family which provides families with a Thanksgiving meal. They also take in donations to be able to give it toward families that need the help. They also do hygiene kits and pass out the kits to the homeless. They contribute much of their time to our community. Their page is also open for members to donate items directly to others that can use them. This mom and daughter team is amazing and to be able to see their events is so rewarding to see the community come together. They have made an impact on many families and individuals around our community and surrounding areas.”
Creative Director:
Christina Ballew
Photographer:
Sam Palm
Asst. Photographer:
Ralph Diaz
Art Director:
Dana Apodaca
BTS & Video Editor:
Aaron Walterscheid
Collaborator:
Myra Aida
Collaborator:
Prados Beauty Team: Cece Meadows, John Canas & Hannah Manuelito
Collaborator:
Calhoun Flower Farms
Success Partnership and Ngage:
Sommer Mitchell
Cesia Gillard
Lori Martinez
Michelle Simon
Candace Cichuniec
Kahlo is our gentle, friendly, office pup! He loves his belly rubbed, sniffing absolutely everything, and hasn’t found a treat he wouldn’t eat! Be sure to say hi, he loves the attention!
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Dana’s journey with NMCO has been nothing short of impressive, starting as a design intern and progressing to become a designer who now plays a pivotal role in assisting with art direction. Her dedication keeps our graphics department on track and ensures our processes are efficient and business-ready. Dana’s knack for creating identity systems has resulted in some of our most recognized work. And, if you’re fortunate enough to listen in, she’s consistently voted the best playlist in the studio.
When you have a wealth of creative content, you need someone like Lucky with 18 years of business experience to guide you on where to put it. He’s our media placement guru, with the expertise and know-how to maximize your impact. Whether it’s digital banner ads or broadcast TV, Lucky can take any budget and transform it into impressions and conversions. He’s dedicated to finding solutions for your unique challenges, making him an invaluable asset to our team.
Tina, as a co-founder of NMCO, has been on a relentless mission to redefine creative services in the southwest. Building a creative studio from the ground up was a formidable challenge, but her vision and determination have transformed NMCO into a beacon of professionalism and innovation, known for its people-centric approach and out-of-the-box thinking. While she’s taken on nearly every role in the studio, Tina’s next ambition is nothing short of global. She’s poised to take on the world with her creative endeavors.