2019 Executive of Influence | Marklem Valdovinos Sr. Community Impact Director, American Heart Association (AHA)
Hispanic Lifestyle is pleased to recognize Marklem Valdovinos Sr. Community Impact Director, American Heart Association (AHA) as a 2019 Executive of Influence. Marklem will be recognized along with his fellow honorees at BizCon 2019 during our lunchtime program on June 12, 2019 at the Ontario Airport Hotel and Conference Center, Ontario California.
Marklem Valdovinos is a Sr. Community Impact Director for the American Heart Association (AHA), a non-profit 501 (c) (3) the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Marklem began her career at AHA as an intern and was soon after hired as a Cause Coordinator. Now in her 11th year at AHA, in this span, her efforts have been recognized numerous times. Marklem has been promoted several times within her tenure at AHA and has served in a wide range of roles where she has established an impressive track record in brand marketing, detailed project management and excellent community and business relationships in areas across the state of California such as: Los Angeles, Monterey, Gonzales, Salinas, Santa Barbara, Coachella Valley, and Orange County. Marklem has also assisted in special projects in Portland Oregon where her expertise proved invaluable to the growing Latino communities there.
With her enthusiasm for meeting people where they are to improve health equity, she collaborates with community and business partners in a collective impact approach to identify health priorities in counties, cities and neighborhoods. Marklem manages the development and execution of community health programs including one of the market’s most mission critical multicultural initiative, the AHA, Go Red Por Tu Corazón movement. Her work is focused on health equity for the Latino communities and on clinical work addressing chronic disease management within diverse populations and policy, system, and environmental (PSE) changes.
Marklem’s greatest achievement, a project close to her heart, has been the creation of the AHA Legacy Leader Internship Program. The Legacy Leader Internship Program is a one-year position for college-level students to apply classroom learnings through research methods, health communications, and community engagement to help drive community transformation and healthy living opportunities. The program expands students understanding of public health by increasing their awareness of cultural needs, and challenges of connecting resources to diverse populations.
In the community, she serves as a co-chair for the Orange County Health Improvement Partnership (OCHIP) Social Determinants of Health work group. In addition to this, Marklem also serves as a dedicated mentor and champion for greater diversity and inclusion as the AHA Events Officer for the Latinx Employee Resource Group (ERG).
During her career at the AHA she has received multiple recognition awards including the prestigious National Rome Betts Award of Excellence, National Multicultural Initiatives Achievement Award, Health Equity National Achievement Award, Health Strategies Trailblazer Award, Simple Seven Champion, and Support Star Award. Marklem has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations from California State University, Fullerton.
