Contributors

She helps writers get published by providing developmental editing of manuscripts, critiques of book proposals, and strategic advice on how to launch and manage a successful writing career. She works with writers of all backgrounds in fiction and nonfiction, and specializes in helping Latinos get published. She was formerly an editor at Simon & Schuster where she acquired and edited the bestselling authors Karen Rauch Carter and Dora Levy Mossanen, as well as oversaw the award-winning Spanish language imprint Libros en Español. Marcela serves on the board of Kweli, a literary journal for writers of color, as well as the Brooklyn Literary Council which helps organize the Brooklyn Book Festival. In addition, she is a member of the Women’s Media Group, Editorial Freelancers Association, and Las Comadres. She speaks frequently for organizations such as the New York Round Table Writers’ Conference, Columbia University, and National Hispana Leadership Institute. A graduate of Barnard College, she has been a Peer Panelist for the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture Fund for the Arts, on the Literature Panel for the New York State Council on the Arts, and was a judge for the Beyond Margins Award for PEN and the Latino Book Awards. The media, including The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, and Writer’s Digest, often quotes her as a publishing expert. To read articles for which she has been interviewed, please visit: Articles.
Marcela is one of the few Latina editors in book publishing. To find her resume, visit: Resume. She can be reached by visiting: Contact.

Other stories, poetry, and nonfiction have been published in literary and academic journals, textbooks and other books, and various regional media through the years. Thelma also writes the blogs American Latina/o Writers Today and LatinaWriter99 . She also contributes to the One Community blog for the city of Pasadena.
Thelma is the owner of The Writing Pros, a nationwide writing/editing consultancy for authors, researchers, university students, and other professionals. You can visit her website at www.TheWritingPros.com for writing tips on essays.
She received her Ph.D. in Educational Administration from UCLA; an MA in Administration from California State University, Los Angeles, where she is currently an adjunct professor; and two degrees from Texas A&I (now A&M) University in Kingsville, Texas: a BA in English and Journalism, and an MA in English. Thelma has also taught at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, in their Educational Administration program.
She has served as a City Commissioner in Pasadena, California, for a number of years, presently in the Northwest Commission and previously in the Human Relations Commission and the Charter Reform Task Force. Active in her community, she engages in volunteer work and serves on the One Pasadena Committee, seeking to help transform Pasadena into a greener city.
She was a high school English teacher in Pasadena, California, for 16 years before entering school administration, including being a high school principal in South Pasadena, California. She served as the chief personnel officer in the South Pasadena school district before taking early retirement to pursue other interests: namely, publishing, starting a business, and teaching at a university! She considers herself very lucky to be living the life she envisioned, including having a caring, supportive family whom she loves dearly and who nurture her dreams while they pursue their own, socially-conscious, worthy goals. Her family is her greatest treasure!

For the last three years, she has traveled to several state and national conferences, sharing her professional experience in reading strategies with professors from across the nation. Prior to her arrival at Miami Dade College, she was an elementary school teacher in the Miami-Dade County Public School system for eight years, where she taught grades 1-4 and Spanish as a Second Language.
Sylvia mentors several students on and off campus which include being a faculty co-advisor’s to Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) and participating in the Communities in School’s program of Miami- Dade County.
In her leisure, she enjoys training and running half marathons for the Leukemia and Lymphoma’s Team in Training program. As a part of her membership in this team, she not only trains physically, but she is responsible for raising money, and has raised over $3,000 for the organization.
Sylvia earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Florida International University in Elementary Education and dual Master of Science degree from the University of Miami in Reading and Exceptional Student Education.

Her work covers all environmental programs such as waste, air, water, emergency preparedness, environmental health and enforcement. These activities include strategic planning, policy development and implementation, binational negotiations and coordination, and Regional contact for border stakeholders.
Ms. Weber has been with the EPA for 20 years, starting in the EPA Region 5 office in Chicago, were she held several positions including Program and Management Analyst, Community Relations and Environmental Justice Coordinator, which included responsibilities in the areas of policy development and strategic planning for the Regional Administrator.
Ms. Weber received a Master degree in Public Administration and also a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/International Relations from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois. She is a 2010 graduate of the National Hispana Leadership Institute Executive Leadership Program, and of the Leadership Development Program of the Mexican of the American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Chicago.
Ms. Weber has received numerous awards including EPA Gold Medal for Commendable Service for work on the U.S.-Mexico border, Superfund Team of the Year, Civilian Award of the Chicago Combined Law Enforcement Committee, and the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives Foreign Affairs Service Recognition Award, among others. She is on the Board of Directors of Teatro Dallas, mentors several young Latinos, and is very active in helping Latino organizations in the Dallas area. Ms. Weber is the proud mother of her 10 year old son Max.

She is in the program Academy Of Business and Technology, which has helped her get prepared to pursuit a career as an accountant. However, one of her passions is dance. She has been dancing since she was a little girl, and does everything from contemporary to typical Mexican dances.