Influential Woman · Grant writer specialist Exec Dir NPO
Johanna Guillen
Executive Director of NPO, Grant Writer Specialist, NPO
El Paso, TX
Her Story
About Johanna
Johanna Guillen is Executive Director of NPO and Grant Writer Specialist based in El Paso, Texas. She began her career in El Paso at the Bernalillo County Mental Health Center performing clerical duties for a small re-entry organization serving ex-offenders, which led to deeper involvement in social work and grant writing. After moving to Albuquerque following marriage and returning to El Paso, she became a HUD-certified housing counselor helping families avoid foreclosure during manufacturing plant closures linked to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Guillen later contributed to housing programs for people with disabilities at United Cerebral Palsy and provided HUD counseling through another agency before joining the El Paso Collaborative as a project coordinator supporting Colonias and low-income immigrant families with housing needs. She advanced through roles including grant writer and ultimately executive director. Never completing college after accumulating roughly eighty hours of coursework, she describes herself as a self-starter whose path reflects twists and turns guided by a pre-birth contract to assist others, with God positioning her where she could help the most people. Guillen values integrity, honesty, and genuine care for those served and colleagues, while prioritizing presence for family when most needed.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Johanna
01What do you attribute your success to?
I believe that we make this journey to Earth, we have a contract on what we want to do, and my contract involved where I was going to live, how I wound up in El Paso after being born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens and winding up in El Paso, but I believe that in that contract, to help people, God put me where He needed me most, and where I could do the most good for the most people. So I think that's been the inspiration that I've been being led. Like, I'm tagging along for the ride. I chose pre-birth.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Life takes many twists and turns, and your paths, like, some people's paths are very straightforward, and they know exactly what they're going to want to do, and how they're going to get there, and other people kind of take lots of different turns and tours along the way until they get to where they feel that they're comfortable. And some people may be comfortable where they are for a while and may change and do something else, and all of those different paths are good, but I think it's to follow what makes you happy at the time and makes you feel fulfilled, because if you're at work, and you're feeling unfulfilled, and you're not happy, you're not good to yourself or anyone else, really. So you really have to find what makes you feel fulfilled.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think integrity is one that I would definitely... I think if you don't have integrity, even if you're the most highly skilled person, you're not someone I would want to hire. Because I think that that's what counts the most to me. Honesty and integrity, and also caring about the people that you're going to serve. And the people you work with, you know, respecting and caring for and about. Those are the things I value the most. And in my family life, I value being there, just being there when you're needed the most.
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