Críticas Magazine

Loida García-Febo

Conversation with Mario Ascencio, REFORMA President 2008-2009
June 12, 2008

Mario Ascencio joined REFORMA in 1998 and almost immediately became the Chair of the REFORMA Los Angeles Chapter Website and a member of the REFORMA IT Committee. Around the same time, he served as the Co-President of the ALA Student Chapter at UCLA. Nine years later, Mario was elected REFORMA President serving as its 2007-2008 President.

This June Mario ends his successful term as REFORMA President. He is a good friend of mine and I thought about having a conversation with him about his year as President.  I thought this would be particularly good for when I am President of REFORMA (2009-2010).  

Mario loved to be President. “This year as REFORMA president has been truly wonderful and I've enjoyed it. It's really pushed me to constantly think as a leader...it's allowed me to advocate for and represent REFORMA,” said Mario. “Every single move that I have made in this past year, has been with the following thought "how will this benefit or sustain the work that reforma and Reformistas do?" added Mario.

Lessons learned included the use of diplomacy. “Prior to my presidency, my statements and actions were a reflection on me, but as president of REFORMA, any statements and/or actions may be interpreted as a reflection of the organization,” continued Mario. In fact, the one thing that Mario advises to anyone who would like to be President of a group or organization is “to keep in mind that they will be representing an organization, and diplomacy and tact are very important.”

Mario felt very proud of being able to continue the great work of his predecessors in making REFORMA more visible. He mentioned that his “active role within the general library profession has enabled me to represent reforma at a national and international level with library professionals, library associations, and even the media.”

Mario served as REFORMA President at the same time that Loriene Roy served as ALA President. That was an opportune moment. “There were times when Loriene would visit ALA Chapters and REFORMA members were present, she would pick up the phone and we would have a quick conversation with REFORMISTAS from various parts of the country. REFORMA members were just as excited to speak to the REFORMA president as they were with the ALA president...it was very cool,” said Mario.

The fact that Mario lives in Washington, DC, provided specific opportunities such as holding receptions for ALA President Loriene Roy, and new ALA President-Elect Camila Alire. “Not only did I host receptions for them, but I got to dance with them, which is a great networking tool, if you dance!” continued Mario. He loves to dance and it has become an important part of who he is. It is a way for him to personally connect with people. Those who know Mario knows how much he enjoys dancing.

What’s next for Mario? He would like to take a bit of time off and maybe go back to school to obtain a second masters. But in the meantime he has work to do. He will continue working with advocacy, particularly with ALA incoming President, Jim Rettig’s  Ad-Hoc Advocacy Committee. In the future, Mario would like to run for ALA Council. He also dreams of dancing with Madonna and invite her to be the keynote speaker when he is president of another library association!

Posted by Loida García-Febo on June 12, 2008 | Comments (0)