Ana "Yayo" Aparicio Calderon, MSW

Program Operations Manager

Yayo (she/her) is the Program Operations Manager at NMILC where she supports the team on contractual services, deliverables, and programming. Born and raised in Mexico, Yayo migrated to the United States with her family in 1999, settling in New York. There, she became the first of her family to receive a degree, Masters in Social Work, determined to serve the underserved and overrepresented.

Yayo began her career in the NYC Child Welfare system providing support and guidance to Queer, Indigenous, POC, and Immigrant youth aging out of the foster care system. As a public servant, she granted monetary awards to local providers continue providing services to their communities that alleviate poverty and increase opportunities to flourish. Yayo moved to New Mexico to work for Children Youth and Families Department with the commitment to reform nationwide broken child welfare system. It is here where she focused on the intersectionality of migrant politics and the Foster Care & Juvenile Justice systems. Yayo joined NMILC in March 2024 with great joy to continue supporting migrant communities on their path to safety and security.

When not serving as an activist, Yayo can be found cuddling her two cats, Miguel and Frida, tending to her extensive plant collection, camping, fishing, playing softball, building piñatas & alebrijes, or traveling back home to her indigenous roots and land.