Crystal Saavedra
Crystal Saavedra is a strategic sales and marketing leader serving as Director of Sales & Marketing at La Nube STEAM Discovery Center, where she leads efforts focused on revenue growth, partnership development, and community engagement. She brings a strong entrepreneurial mindset to her work, shaped early on by helping manage her family’s logistical trucking business and developing a natural passion for operations, systems building, and growth strategy. She thrives in environments that require creation and problem-solving, often taking initiative to design processes, identify opportunities for expansion, and build programs from the ground up. In her current role at a globally recognized yet still emerging STEM museum, she is deeply involved in strengthening its presence in the El Paso community while advancing its mission to expand access to education and innovation for youth and families.
Her career foundation was built in high-impact public service, including senior advance roles at the The White House and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she supported complex, high-profile operations for national and international leaders. She later served as Deputy Assistant to Mayor Renard Johnson, contributing to initiatives that strengthened economic development, civic engagement, and cross-sector collaboration throughout the region. Across these roles, she built a reputation for precision, adaptability under pressure, and the ability to execute large-scale initiatives with efficiency and purpose.
Crystal is an alumna of The University of Texas at El Paso, where she earned both her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and Human Resource Management and her MBA in Health/Health Care Administration/Management. Her professional journey is grounded in a commitment to purpose-driven leadership, with a focus on expanding access to opportunities for youth and women, particularly within Hispanic border communities. She is deeply motivated by building meaningful impact through her work and remains guided by a belief that true success is found in contributing to the growth and trajectory of even one person’s life in a lasting way.
• Graduate REALIZE Board Training 2021 cohort
• United Way Of El Paso County
• Oct 2021 - Nov 2021
• The University of Texas at El Paso - MBA, Health/Health Care Administration/Management
• The University of Texas at El Paso - BBA, Marketing and Human Resource Management
• Who's Who Among American Colleges and University
• Delta Sigma Pi International Business Fraternity
• Sigma Psi Eta Woman's Fraternity
• The Hospitals of Providence Millenial Advisory Board
• Tri Girls - Training organization for women in triathlons
• Community educational access initiatives for youth and women
• United Way Of El Paso County
• Mija, Yes You Can.®
• Archer Fellowship Alumni Association (AFAA)
• Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church
• Delta Sigma Pi
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
• EL PASO HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
• The Hospitals of Providence
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the women in my life. I attribute it to my mother, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother, who was the one who took that step to immigrate over from Mexico to El Paso, and just give us, give our family a chance here. Everything I do, I do keep that in mind as the women that paved the path before me. They're the ones that really did that, because without them kind of setting those small stepping stones, they all kind of surpassed each other a little bit, whether it was graduating from high school, graduating from college, immigrating, and then myself getting my master's degree as the first person in my family to get my master's degree. I took, I went all the way to the White House, working at the White House as one of only 10 Latinos on the staff of the vice president at the time. As a Hispanic woman here in El Paso, a border town, we're the little brown girl that kind of made a name for herself out in places that we only used to see from pictures of the White House. I was able to bring my family from Mexico to walk into the Oval Office. I attribute a lot to the women and the family that broke those barriers before me, and they showed me, even in baby ways, those steps, that I could go even beyond that. I would also attribute it to my El Paso border town community, because we're known to be underdogs, and it's what pushed me to say, no, we can do, I can do more than this.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would advise them to remember what is your story, and what is your why, because that can look different for so many different people. Everyone has a story behind them, and so when you're approaching this work, it's always about learning what people have gone through or are going through, and that's how you're going to best be able to figure out how to help them when you're going into the communities. I never try to go in thinking I know the solution, it's all about observation, learning, listening, and then you can build a plan to help whatever organization, community, or company that you're going into. Everywhere I go, I try to make space for women, not just for myself, but for other women, to be able to see an example of it may be male-dominated, but it's not impossible for us to enter these spaces. Always try to figure out how to give back. Always try to figure out how we inspire and include others to see a version of themselves. It won't be exactly like me, but it will be a version that fits them.