Frankie Hermosillo is an ambassador of sorts for New Mexico, and Albuquerque more specifically — so much so that she's inspired several acquaintances to pick up shop and relocate to the Duke City.
Much of Hermosillo's ambassadorial work over the past decade and a half has been in the realm of commercial real estate. She's held sales, marketing and strategist positions at firms like Colliers International, RIO Real Estate Investment Opportunities and, most recently, NAI SunVista, since the early 2010s.
But a little over a month ago, she's taken those marketing skills into the world of venture investment as a development associate at New Mexico Angels, an angel investor membership organization founded near the turn of the century.
Drew Tulchin, a venture capitalist with previous experience that includes leading investments for Santa Fe immersive art and entertainment company Meow Wolf, heads up the angel membership organization as its president, and it also recently brought on Tatianna Pavich as its director of business operations, another professional with Meow Wolf experience.
Hermosillo's goal with the New Mexico Angels, in her own words, is to help expand the organization's membership and sponsor bases — to be, in a sense, an Angels ambassador.
Albuquerque Business First recently sat down with Hermosillo to hear about how her time with the Angels is going so far and more about her goals for the long-time New Mexico venture organization.
This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Albuquerque Business First: Why did you want to go from real estate to an angel membership organization? What was that decision like?
Frankie Hermosillo: I believed in what the Angels were doing. I had known what Drew [Tulchin] was doing, the change and the growth that he is about. So I desperately wanted to work with them, and I just felt like I could bring a fresh perspective to people who didn't know about the Angels and bring that trust that people have in me, that I've developed over the years, to share the story of the Angels.
You hear that all the time with marketers, 'You're going to tell the story,' but really they have a story to tell. They've done some great work for New Mexican companies and are really helping not just give money but helping in every part of the business for the companies that come to us. That is really what drove me to want to be a part of that.
What are you most excited about in your new role with New Mexico Angels? I'm excited to meet more people in New Mexico that are building businesses, helping businesses start and really getting to know new businesses and people and what they're doing and how they're changing New Mexico. I love New Mexico and I'm so excited for the change, and I just want to see what these people are going to do here.
Do you think that your background in commercial real estate transitions nicely into the work you're doing now? Being in business development, yes. I've had the experience over the past 13 years of meeting incredible people in everything from brokerage to finance to construction to every avenue, so it's lent me the opportunity to meet so many people.
I think it's definitely helpful in being able to talk about the things that are going on, and loving the community. I can sell Albuquerque to anybody. I've actually got three people to move to Albuquerque, because that's how much I love it. That's what I did, I sold the city.
What is your pitch, then, about Albuquerque to people? They came here once and they saw it, and that was it. But mostly it's the lifestyle, the open community, the willingness to help and put you in a place where if you don't know somebody, we'll get you in touch with that person. It's that community feel. As big as this city is — and it's just going to get bigger — it has not lost that small community feel, and that's what's different.
It's really the community, how progressive we are, how willing to grow we are.
How do you want to help the Angels, specifically, grow in this new role? I want to show that everybody can be an investor, big or small, and that you can be a part of the Angels even if you're not an investor. We have a bunch of membership opportunities. That's my goal, is to help to get more members.
And more sponsors. We love our sponsors. We treat our sponsors very well, and to have a business be known with the Angels is very important because when you're a sponsor of the Angels, people know that you're sponsoring growth in New Mexico.
