Long before Audrey Hartley mastered the “jack-of-all-trades” career, she first came to New Mexico State University and developed the skills she would need later in life.
Hartley graduated with her bachelor’s in Mass Communications from NMSU in 1985 and stayed to complete her master’s in Communication Studies in 1987.
During her time at NMSU, she participated in many activities including ASNMSU, the Round Up and KNMS (then, the radio station), Dancers Unlimited and Blue Key Honorary Fraternity. She also served as president for Zeta Tau Alpha.
Shortly after her collegiate days she dove into a whirlwind of a career.
She has done everything from being a marketing director at a hotel in Colorado to working in broadcast. The majority of her career has been working in hospitals and assisted living centers, where she helped struggling organizations improve their functionality.
“I think NMSU set me up for lifelong learning,” she said. “I gained self-confidence and the knowledge that every experience is an opportunity to grow. I could not be where I am now without NMSU forging a solid foundation for me.”
After moving back to Las Cruces from California because her father-in-law became ill, she found herself working for MountainView Hospital when she received the offer to become the Executive Director of Jardin de los Niños.
“I decided at that time that I needed a change,” she said. “I said yes, and have been here for a year and a half. I love this job more than any other I have had.”
As the Executive Director of Jardin de los Niños, Hartley works with homeless and near-homeless children on a daily basis, providing them food, shelter, an education and love.
Her commitment to the community has not gone unnoticed. She has been awarded many honors including “Las Cruces Mover and Shaker” by the Las Cruces Sun-News and Educational Non-Profit of the Year in New Mexico for 2015. But she said her biggest personal achievement is her family: her husband and two daughters, who she said are all-around incredible people.
“While I cannot take the credit for all of their successes, these three people are what I get up for in the morning.”
As for the future, Hartley said she envisions herself staying at Jardin de los Niños for a very long time. She said she wants to develop new programs and open centers for communities where assistance for homeless children doesn’t exist.
She said above all, she just wants to put 110 percent into everything she does.