Andrea Isabel Quijada is the Executive Director of the Media Literacy Project. With more than a decade of experience as a media literacy trainer, and more than 15 years as a community organizer, Andrea has a deep passion for media justice. She serves on the Coordinating Committee of the national Media Action Grassroots Network, is an advisory board member of KUNM Youth Radio, and is on the Board of Directors for Enlace Comunitario. Andrea has also co-founded various organizations in Albuquerque, including Young Women United, an organization by and for young women of color. She is particularly interested in media as a tool for self-determination and movement building. Andrea has strong cultural and community ties to the Southwest. Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, she has happily made New Mexico her home for the past 15 years. She is a proud tía, daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, and cousin to her family. Andrea earned her M.A. in Art History from the University of New Mexico with a focus on Chicana feminist art and art of social movements.
Jessica Collins
Program Director
Jessica Collins, originally from Kansas City, has been an Albuquerque resident for over a decade. She has a passion for film, digital storytelling, and working with youth. Jessica joined the Media Literacy Project in 2003 as an AmeriCorps VISTA. As a VISTA, she produced Challenging the Debt Industry, a documentary and media literacy resource on predatory lending. She was also a GED tutor for low-income youth and adults at SER de New Mexico during her VISTA service. Jessica has trained hundreds of educators and community leaders in media literacy and has developed several multimedia resources on a range of media justice issues. She likes deconstructing TV shows, music videos, marketing tactics, and bad modern art. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, knitting, as well as being creative and organized in all capacities. Jessica is a graduate from the University of New Mexico and holds a B.A. in Media Arts.
Denis Doyon
Media Production Coordinator
Denis Doyon is a multimedia producer and media educator. Before joining MLP in 2000, he was a local and national organizer in the peace and justice movement, and worked in newspaper and book publishing, radio, and film/video production. He received a B.A. cum laude in Political Science from Williams College and an M.F.A. in Film & Media Arts from Temple University. He is the co-founder of Ecovila Cunha in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil. He enjoys organic gardening and making music with friends, and is the father of two children, a drummer and a flamenco dancer.
Christie McAuley
Community Education Coordinator
Christie McAuley was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana and has lived in New Mexico for the past 12 years. Prior to joining MLP in 2003, she taught middle school students in Rio Rancho where she discovered that using media to teach reading and writing was more effective than traditional methods. Before moving to New Mexico in 1996, Christie taught English as a foreign language to college students in Nowy Saçz, Poland, and taught ESL in Indianapolis to refugee and immigrant youth and adults. Christie’s passions in media literacy focus on justice issues for youth and teen girls, the LGBTQI community, and underserved communities around New Mexico who experience health disparities. In her spare time, Christie enjoys hiking and camping with her dog, traveling, visiting family, knitting, and silversmithing. Christie attended Indiana University and University of New Mexico where she earned her M.A. in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies.
elisa guadalupe pintor
Campaign Coordinator
elisa g. pintor was born and raised on the southwest side of Chicago. elisa comes to MLP with over 8 years community organizing experience that includes non-partisan electoral work, immigrant rights issues, youth organizing, facilitating and coordinating after-school programs, and managing a collaborative artz community center. She has a B.A in Anthropology and Philosophy from the University of New Mexico and is working on her Master's degree in Community and Regional Planning in the School of Architecture and Planning. elisa is active in student organizing on campus with Movimiento Estudiantíl Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) and is the Communications Director for the Raza Graduate Student Association. elisa believes in organizing to disrupt the systems that keep underrepresented communities in the margins, is passionate about social justice, and loves to laugh.
Candelario Vazquez
Media Justice Organizer
Candelario Vazquez is a queer farm worker activist and Jaranero of Mexican descent born and raised in Immokalee, Florida. From early childhood his parents instilled in him a passion for social justice. Candelario witnessed firsthand the injustices brought upon his family and farm worker community through the death of his father to cancer from pesticide exposure and the continued abuses by company bosses. These experiences led him to actively participate in many of Immokalee's direct action efforts. Upon arriving in Albuquerque 8 years ago during a Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Tour, he found a great affinity to New Mexico. He was thrilled to have an opportunity through Digital Arts Service Corps and Media Literacy Project to work here as community organizer. His hope is to continue a career in education and become a radical teacher—integrating the skills and experiences he’s learned throughout life into his teachings.
Cultivating critical thinking and activism in our media culture. Building a healthy world through media justice.
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