MYPros aims to prepare NMI youth to become leaders

The Marianas Young Professionals sees the role of the youth sector in the CNMI’s developing economy and that’s the reason they are looking to assist them to become the future leaders of the Commonwealth.

Connecting young professionals to the community is one of MYPros’ missions.

“There are lots of opportunities available for the young professional with a lot of development that is happening. We want to help them to have better planning so they could benefit from it,” said MYPros director Matt Deleon Guerrero.

“Our goal is to help develop younger professionals. Help them identify what resources are available for them in the public and private sector. We want all sectors benefit from the economic growth since a large percentage of the CNMI’s population is under 30 years old.”

MYPros vice president Nola Hix added that they are looking for the experiences of those who are ahead of them to help them in challenging young professionals to take more risks to become future leaders.

“We don’t have all the answers but we want to connect to our elders who are successful members of the business community and government. To learn from their experiences on doing things, to work with others, and know what to do for our community,” said Hix.

MYPros, who also has members on Tinian and Rota, is also extending its membership to Guam especially to those who were born on Saipan. They also plan to include high school students where they would act as mentors,

MYPros is also looking into increasing the percentage of female professionals in the CNMI labor force with only 38 percent of them holding management positions. They also hope to encourage students to take up courses in the fields of health care, engineering, and architecture.

According to MYPros, there are only six female engineers in the CNMI with treasurer Nicolette Villagomez—a water/wastewater engineer at the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.—being one of them.

They would also encourage CNMI-born students who graduated in U.S. colleges and universities to consider coming back to the Commonwealth to start their career and help with the economic development.

Bo Palacios is the MYPros president with Jacqueline Che as the group’s secretary, while Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan) and Kaitlyn Neises-Mocanu are the two other board directors.