The Colt Balok Company
Secretary Casados - Spotlight Feature
Secretary Casados - Spotlight Feature
Teresa Casados is the Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD). Before she was confirmed with bipartisan support in February she served concurrently as Chief Operating Officer until November 2023 in the Office of the Governor. All state agencies reported to her, and she created a system of interagency cooperation and support. She served as COO since the beginning of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration in 2019 and is one of the most tenured civil servants in the State. In her service as the right-hand woman of the Governor, Secretary Casados took the vision of the Executive and developed the Early Childhood Education and Care Department – the first of its kind in the country. Before her time with Gov. Lujan Grisham, Secretary Casados served as the Deputy of Workforce Solutions in the Richardson administration where she addressed challenges related to unemployment building off her previous work with Santa Fe County to build and manage programs for seniors.
EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY
One of the first things Secretary Casados told me was “everyday is a good day - it gives us an opportunity to make change.” I was thrilled to hear this, because the Secretary is someone with massive responsibility and stress, and learning from someone like her about how to maintain a positive outlook is so impressive. She went on to say “there are days where you let all that stress get to you and you get stuck in a mindset that won’t allow you to move forward. When that happens, the trick is knowing how to go to others for help.”
ASKING FOR HELP = GETTING UNSTUCK
Secretary Casados knows that she is a bit of a perfectionist, and has a tendency to keep projects out from under her close oversight. She told me: “With my personality type, I often feel like if I’m not doing it, it won’t get done right. But I have to remind myself that this problem I’m dealing with will not be fixed in the next five minutes, or in the next five days... Because I’m really driven and really hard on myself, I have the same expectation on others, and have to remind myself to have faith in them, and allow them to help me.”
TIP: BE SOMEONE WHO GETS THINGS DONE
When I asked the Secretary what the Governor’s favorite thing about her is, she responded: “Probably that I get things done.” She expanded: “I’m just so hard on myself. I think people think I’m hard on them as employees, and it's probably true, but I’m very hard on myself too. When someone gives me a project I don’t like to fail, so I just keep at it until I get to the finish line.” I love this attitude. I felt a lot of magnanimity from her, and she’s passed that virtue on to her kids too: “I’ve taught my kids that whatever you do, do it really well. It takes so long to get really good, so you should find something you’re passionate about.”
BEING A YOUNG MOM
I asked the Secretary if she thought this is what she would be doing when she was in college, and she explained that she didn’t go right into college, actually. She became a mother when she was 18 and returned to school later. “At the time, everything was not about what I wanted to do, but what I felt I
needed to do – which was to be a good mother.” In retrospect, it’s not surprising that the Secretary is so right for spearheading CYFD – she knows the value and impact of creating a stable presence in a child’s life at a young age firsthand. Now she’s taken that experience and applied it to helping others. Talk about being called to greatness. I asked the Secretary if she thought this is what she would be doing when she was in college, and she
explained that she didn’t go right into college, actually. She was becoming a mother when she was 18, and only went back to school later. “At the time, everything was not about what I wanted to do, but what I felt I needed to do – which was to be a good mother.” In retrospect, it’s not surprising that the Secretary is so right for spearheading CYFD – she learned the value of being present to a child’s life first-hand at a young age. Now she’s taken that experience and applied it to helping others. Talk about being called to greatness.
This fierce commitment and sense of responsibility, unsurprisingly, came from the Secretary’s mother. She explained: “My Mom raised six kids at home and she was very driven, and instilled a very good work ethic in all of us.”
THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR PARENTS
“Just be present in your kid’s lives. We all have so much going on in our daily lives that we feel so rushed we don’t take the time to be present, and it can be super simple. It can just be letting them know you’re there. When kids are separated from their families, it can be very traumatic. They feel like no one is there. That’s what we need to preserve, that feeling of connectedness - especially at such a young age... Also, I think we need to remember to teach our kids forgiveness. We’re not seeing as much mercy in the world anymore.”
BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY
Secretary Casados has a very full family life schedule. She has three kids of her own and is currently staying with her mother to give her assistance at home. She manages to keep a handle on that hectic family life while having had not one, but several very tough and challenging positions in public office. The Secretary confessed that she recently realized (now in Spring) that she still had Christmas decorations up in her bathroom because she is so busy. I found this so relatable, but also am in so much awe that people can balance so much and stay afloat. She told me the key to maintaining this balance is making sure she spends routine time with her kids, just hanging out, playing games, etc.
Teresa Casados is the Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD). Before she was confirmed with bipartisan support in February she served concurrently as Chief Operating Officer until November 2023 in the Office of the Governor. All state agencies reported to her, and she created a system of interagency cooperation and support. She served as COO since the beginning of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration in 2019 and is one of the most tenured civil servants in the State. In her service as the right-hand woman of the Governor, Secretary Casados took the vision of the Executive and developed the Early Childhood Education and Care Department – the first of its kind in the country. Before her time with Gov. Lujan Grisham, Secretary Casados served as the Deputy of Workforce Solutions in the Richardson administration where she addressed challenges related to unemployment building off her previous work with Santa Fe County to build and manage programs for seniors.
EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY
One of the first things Secretary Casados told me was “everyday is a good day - it gives us an opportunity to make change.” I was thrilled to hear this, because the Secretary is someone with massive responsibility and stress, and learning from someone like her about how to maintain a positive outlook is so impressive. She went on to say “there are days where you let all that stress get to you and you get stuck in a mindset that won’t allow you to move forward. When that happens, the trick is knowing how to go to others for help.”
ASKING FOR HELP = GETTING UNSTUCK
Secretary Casados knows that she is a bit of a perfectionist, and has a tendency to keep projects out from under her close oversight. She told me: “With my personality type, I often feel like if I’m not doing it, it won’t get done right. But I have to remind myself that this problem I’m dealing with will not be fixed in the next five minutes, or in the next five days... Because I’m really driven and really hard on myself, I have the same expectation on others, and have to remind myself to have faith in them, and allow them to help me.”
TIP: BE SOMEONE WHO GETS THINGS DONE
When I asked the Secretary what the Governor’s favorite thing about her is, she responded: “Probably that I get things done.” She expanded: “I’m just so hard on myself. I think people think I’m hard on them as employees, and it's probably true, but I’m very hard on myself too. When someone gives me a project I don’t like to fail, so I just keep at it until I get to the finish line.” I love this attitude. I felt a lot of magnanimity from her, and she’s passed that virtue on to her kids too: “I’ve taught my kids that whatever you do, do it really well. It takes so long to get really good, so you should find something you’re passionate about.”
BEING A YOUNG MOM
I asked the Secretary if she thought this is what she would be doing when she was in college, and she explained that she didn’t go right into college, actually. She became a mother when she was 18 and returned to school later. “At the time, everything was not about what I wanted to do, but what I felt I
needed to do – which was to be a good mother.” In retrospect, it’s not surprising that the Secretary is so right for spearheading CYFD – she knows the value and impact of creating a stable presence in a child’s life at a young age firsthand. Now she’s taken that experience and applied it to helping others. Talk about being called to greatness. I asked the Secretary if she thought this is what she would be doing when she was in college, and she
explained that she didn’t go right into college, actually. She was becoming a mother when she was 18, and only went back to school later. “At the time, everything was not about what I wanted to do, but what I felt I needed to do – which was to be a good mother.” In retrospect, it’s not surprising that the Secretary is so right for spearheading CYFD – she learned the value of being present to a child’s life first-hand at a young age. Now she’s taken that experience and applied it to helping others. Talk about being called to greatness.
This fierce commitment and sense of responsibility, unsurprisingly, came from the Secretary’s mother. She explained: “My Mom raised six kids at home and she was very driven, and instilled a very good work ethic in all of us.”
THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR PARENTS
“Just be present in your kid’s lives. We all have so much going on in our daily lives that we feel so rushed we don’t take the time to be present, and it can be super simple. It can just be letting them know you’re there. When kids are separated from their families, it can be very traumatic. They feel like no one is there. That’s what we need to preserve, that feeling of connectedness - especially at such a young age... Also, I think we need to remember to teach our kids forgiveness. We’re not seeing as much mercy in the world anymore.”
BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY
Secretary Casados has a very full family life schedule. She has three kids of her own and is currently staying with her mother to give her assistance at home. She manages to keep a handle on that hectic family life while having had not one, but several very tough and challenging positions in public office. The Secretary confessed that she recently realized (now in Spring) that she still had Christmas decorations up in her bathroom because she is so busy. I found this so relatable, but also am in so much awe that people can balance so much and stay afloat. She told me the key to maintaining this balance is making sure she spends routine time with her kids, just hanging out, playing games, etc.
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