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Nora de Hoyos Comstock, Ph.D.

 
Nora de Hoyos Comstock is the national and international founder of Las Comadres Para Las Americas. She served as the organization’s President and CEO, since it’s founding.  She built the organization to over 20,000 women in more than 100 cities and 28 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada.
 
In 1989 Dr. Comstock formed a business development consultancy known as Comstock Connections which she continues to the present day.
 
Nora Comstock received her Ph.D. (1982) from the University of Texas at Austin in Educational Administration with an emphasis on community college management and a B.A. in History (1974) with a specialty in Latin America.
 
She was selected one of twenty Latinas in the U.S. to be a 2000 fellow of the National Hispana Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C. Dr. Comstock also was selected as one of fifteen Hispanic leaders to participate in the 22nd Seminario Fundacion Solidaridad, Mexico City and Michoacan in October, 2003.
 
She received an award in recognition of lifetime commitment and achievements in serving the Hispanic Community from the Hispanic Professional Women’s Association in July 2006. In 2007 Dr. Comstock was selected as one of the 25 top Hispanic Influencers in Austin, Texas for 2007. She is the recipient of a Maybelline 2008 Beauty of Education Award for her dedication to serving the community. She was honored as one of the 25 Mujeres del Año 2011 by Sucesos: El Periódico de la Comunidad Hispana in Houston, TX. She has served on numerous local and national boards.
 
In 2011 Las Comadres Para Las Americas was named a Community Leadership Award honoree by the University of Texas at Austin for commitment and dedication to promoting social justice, increasing opportunities for inclusion, and/or improving access to education.
 
In July 2012 Nora de Hoyos Comstock was selected for the Austin Women’s Commission/Austin, Texas Women’s Hall of Fame for 2012. The award honors the city’s most accomplished women. She is the first Latina to be so honored.
 
In February 2014 Nora was selected to be honored by the Con Mi Madre non-profit organization as a  Latina in the Austin, Texas, community who is living out the mission of empowering and supporting women and children (Latinas and their moms).
 
Dr. Comstock was featured in the April 2015 Family Circle magazine  in their “Influential Moms” article. She shares the honor with a few other amazing women.
 
In May 2015, she was honored as a Woman of Distinction (one of twelve) by the Texas Mexican American Chambers of Commerce and in 2015 the National Womens’ Political Caucus, selected her as a Woman of Courage.
 
The Austin City Council, the Texas State Senate  and the Willacy County Commissioners Court created resolutions in appreciation of her work for the community.
 
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 
Las Comadres members meet in face-to-face gatherings monthly in many of the network cities. In addition daily email messaging provides member with information about events relating to book signings, performances, health and other events, as well as job opportunities both locally and nationally.
 
The following programs were initiated under the leadership and guidance of Dr. Comstock.
 
In 2007 Dr. Comstock created the Texas Public Policy and Civic Engagement Institute (originally named Texas Public Policy and Candidate Training Institute), part of the programming under Las Comadres Legacy Institute. The program meets six Saturdays during the last six months of each year. Currently the sessions take place at the Texas State Capitol and the classes graduate from the Lt. Governor’s Conference room. The TPP-ACE accepts applicants from throughout the state. To date eighty-nine Latinas have graduated from this program and nineteen have been accepted for the 2016 class. The program is being considered for implementation in several other states at this time.
 
In 2008 Dr. Comstock and several colleagues created the Las Comadres and Friends National Latino Book Club and Teleconference Series. The teleconference series started in 2006 and the book club in 2008. This activity provides exposure for many of the Latino authors who are striving to be recognized. The book clubs meet in fifteen cities and the monthly teleconferences with the author of the selected book of the month take place on the last Monday of each month. And on September 4, 2012, a Las Comadres Para Las Americas authored anthology was published by Atria, A Division of Simon and Schuster. This edition is available in both English and Spanish worldwide. The book is entitled Count on Me: Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships/Cuenta Conmigo: Conmovedoras historias de hermandad y amistades incondicionales, edited by Adriana V. Lopez and authored by Las Comadres Para Las Americas. In 2013 the English version won the International Latino Awards Awards, First Place in Best Nonfiction: Multi-Author category.
 
In 2014 the National Book Foundation awarded the Las Comadres and Friends National Latino Book Club the Innovations in Reading award for 2014.
 
Comadre University, a non-credit informal class program, was created by Dr. Comstock in 2010. These special informal courses provide Las Comadres members with timely learning experiences dealing with various topics including issues about  book publishing, book reviewing, foundations of wealth, youth entrepreneurship and more.
 
Empresarias Entrepreneurship Training was a program piloted in 2012. The first class was graduated in May 2012. Eight low-income, Spanish dominant women were selected for the pilot which was funded by State Farm. They learned about starting their own businesses. Through the  ESL component they also practiced speaking and listening to presentations in English thereby improving their understanding and speaking of the English language.
 
Beyond Financial Literacy was created this year by Comadre Julie Stav to teach building wealth to our Latino community and to young people. This is not the basic financial literacy skills but the advanced building wealth concepts.  This program was created for Las Comadres and was expanded to anyone who could benefit from the learning.
 
Nora Comstock, with Adriana Dominguez and Marcela Landres created The Comadres and Compadres Writers Conference in 2012. It is in its fifth year and continues to grow with writers coming from Mexico, England and the U.S.A.
 
On September 22, Nora Comstock will be honored by the ESB-MACC with an Award of Excellence.