Meet the Coaching and Mentoring Leadership Academy Participants 

In January 2023, NYCHA launched its first-ever Coaching and Mentoring Leadership Academy (CMLA). Participants in the 16-week program are receiving training and coaching in areas such as strategic communications and crisis management, and they get the opportunity to enhance their leadership and management skills through mentorship.    

Read on to learn more about a few of the mentors and mentees participating in the Leadership Academy.      

Gloria Lopez, Assistant Housing Manager in the Leased Housing Department, and Zoby Martinez, Assistant Director of the Management Services Department  

Gloria Lopez has been with NYCHA for over 25 years. She served in various capacities in the Applications and Tenancy Administration Department (where her duties included processing resident transfers) and as a coordinator for a program that assisted formerly homeless families. In her current role as Assistant Housing Manager, she supervises the staff involved with the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) conversions to Section 8 funding.  

Ms. Lopez joined the CMLA to become a better leader, expand her skills, and learn from others: “I am a seasoned employee, but in my new role as an Assistant Housing Manager these past couple of years, I am now directly supervising staff. The transition was not as smooth as I had anticipated…[but] this program has given me the tools that I needed. I have received so much feedback, advice, counseling, and training to become a stronger, more conscientious leader. I feel empowered in my role, and many people (including my manager) have commented on the positive effect the program has had on my work. The program instills confidence, practical theory, critical thinking, and the ability to analyze to make informed decisions and choices.”  

Zoby Martinez, who is Ms. Lopez’s mentor, has been a City employee for 28 years. A graduate of Hunter College’s School of Social Work, Ms. Martinez’s work over the past two decades has focused on connecting families in need to supportive services. She also promotes domestic violence prevention awareness. In her current role as Assistant Director of the Management Services Department, Ms. Martinez oversees the Tenancy Administration and Reasonable Accommodations Unit.  

Ms. Martinez said she hopes to use her CMLA experience to teach, guide, and advise her colleagues: “It’s been a true privilege to be a part of the Academy. As a social worker and a public servant, I have lived my life to be a mentor – and to be mentored – constantly. I’ve been fortunate to have had great mentors throughout my career at NYCHA, and I’ve learned that every piece of knowledge is something that has been shared by someone else. In essence, if you understand it as I do, mentoring becomes your true legacy. It is the greatest inheritance we can give others. It is why I enjoy paying it forward every day – to teach and be taught. The Academy has created this environment where staff from all levels are able to express, understand, and grow professionally and intellectually…an amazing experience!”