Women's History Month: 1-on-1 with Claudia Aguirre, the CEO of BakerRipley

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- In March, we're celebrating women in Houston who are making history. Claudia Aguirre is the president and CEO of the state's largest social services nonprofit. She specializes in building pathways to success in our underserved communities.

"There is no place like Houston," Aguirre said, describing the city that shaped her story.

When she was 7 years old, her family moved to Texas from Mexico and started over in a new country.

"That courage is just what drives who I am. It infuses everything I do," Aguirre said.

Aguirre's career began in the public sector where she first formed her personal philosophy about nonprofit work.

"My commitment started then to really think about my mission in life, which was to support people in a way that low-income people don't get," she said. "We usually see low-income communities as we're the saviors. We're not the saviors of their story. They're the heroes of their own story."

Working in education also firmed up that perspective, which now drives the culture at BakerRipley. Aguirre leads a staff of 1,400 people in connecting underserved communities with opportunity.

It's a role Aguirre said she brings her full self and unique style to as an immigrant and as a woman.

"You start to realize that you might be different, and you might be the only one different. So you start getting OK that you're a little different, and that's OK," she said.

That difference has helped distinguish Aguirre in the community, where she's been recognized as a Woman of The Year, a Woman Who Means Business, and a Woman on The Move.

"I'm one of many. This isn't just me. So, when people see me on that stage getting it, it's on behalf of all of them. It's on behalf of all the little girls that need to see me up there. It's on behalf of them," Aguirre said.

Aguirre also represents the nonprofit sector on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and the Greater Houston Partnership. She said she's passionate about using her leadership, her ideas, and her skills to shape the future of the very place that shaped her.

"I may not be remembered directly as Claudia," she said. "But driving around these communities, the entrepreneurs who have businesses now, I'm a little part of that. I'm OK with that, and I'm OK being remembered by that spark and not by name."

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