Businesswoman Marcela Aldaz-Matos immigrated from Colombia to attend Simmons. Since receiving her MBA, she has made a profound impact on the business community, human resources, talent management, the Latinx community, and healthcare.
Marcela Aldaz-Matos wears several professional hats, but first and foremost she considers herself a business woman. She is the co-founder and CEO of Arka HR Solutions, which offers talent management strategies and human resources solutions to small and mid-size organizations. "We can help them outsource those services," says Aldaz-Matos. "We work with them on hiring, onboarding, recruiting, training, and development, compensation analysis, and so forth." Many of Arka HR Solution's clients are colleges, universities, government agencies, midsize businesses and corporations. Currently, the company has about twenty-three employees.
"We are the only company of this kind in Massachusetts," notes Aldaz-Matos. As a Latina-owned organization, she and her colleagues are extremely passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion. "That is at the heart and center of Arka. We are a diverse organization and we help our clients mirror this. DEI implementation should be an integral part of any organization. We help organizations unlock their potential for diversity."
Moreover, Aldaz-Matos explains that collaboration is central to Arka HR Solutions. The name Arka refers to an arch, or the top of a circle. "This aligns with the values of Arka," says Aldaz-Matos. "This is how we represent ourselves to our clients; we are the other half of the circle and we help their organization come full circle." Arka HR Solutions officially launched on May 1 of this year. "This was deliberate," says Aldaz-Matos, "May 1 is a day for workers [International Workers' Day]."
Aldaz-Matos is also the Chairwoman of ALPFA (the Association of Latino Professionals For America). ALPFA, which is now 50 years old, is the largest Latinx professional organization in the country. It has about 100,000 members and 150 chapters nationwide. "We are a very impactful leadership organization," says Aldaz-Matos. "We advance Latinx leadership, and many of our members belong to Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. We offer a number of networking and advancement opportunities that cater to top executives and college students, alike."
In addition to business and HR, Aldaz-Matos is very interested in healthcare equity and access. "This is very dear to my heart," she says. Aldaz-Matos used to work in the healthcare system, specifically as the director of DEI. "With my colleagues I created strategies around healthcare inclusion and equity. One of the key outcomes was to elevate health equity in the state of Massachusetts and nationwide as well."
Since 2017, Aldaz-Matos has served as an inaugural member of Governor Charlie Baker's Latino Advisory Commission. "As a commissioner, I help advise the Governor on strategies to advance the Latinx community in the state of Massachusetts," she says. Recently, the commission has worked to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates among the Latinx community. Aldaz-Matos will continue this work during Maura Healey's governorship.
Reflecting upon her career, Aldaz-Matos credits Simmons for giving her a lifechanging experience. "When I first moved to Boston as an immigrant, I did not have an established community. But once I entered Simmons, I felt that I found a family. I found Simmons to be very unique and I felt embraced." She was impressed by the leaders and guiding principles of the University. "Principled leadership was a philosophy I learned at Simmons, and as a woman and as a Latina, this very much resonated with who I am." While at Simmons, Aldaz-Matos also started the first diversity organization for women of color at Simmons.
Aldaz-Matos finds her work transformational and rewarding. "I design strategies and solutions to help organizations and people move into the next level of their company or careers. I help them achieve something that they may not have realized they can achieve."