Women in Business are excited to honor Macarena Tamayo-Calabrese (Rena Calabrese) of Naper Settlement a 2024 Gottfried Woman of the Quarter.
Macarena Tamayo-Calabrese
Gottfried Woman of the Quarter Q&A
Q: Describe your business and what you do.
President & CEO of Naper Settlement, an award-winning, and the only nationally accredited outdoor history museum in Illinois. The museum offers visitors 13 acres of exploration and connection to the community and national histories though education programs, exhibits, tours and special events.
Q: What do you love most about your work?
Creating and implementing a vision and plan for growth firmly planted on the expectations and outlook of the community. The museum serves as the community’s memory—a high honor and even greater responsibility. Watching a talented staff develop programs, communication strategies, exhibits and events around the goal of gathering our community and sharing the evolving American story through the Naperville-regional experience is simply magical.
Q: What led you down your career path?
Initially, I was tired of traveling all over the world to make an impact. I wanted to be closer to my daughters and husband, so I looked for jobs only in Naperville. After dismissing this job several times, I read the job description and realized that they were not looking for a museum expert, but an expert in non-profit management, philanthropy, advocacy, ambassadorship, community relations, visionary and program expert. My previous experience in the legal field was applicable in every respect.
Q: What advice do you have for other women in business?
Do not focus on the “who is doing it;” focus on the “what do you have that makes you the best for what the client needs.” At the end of the day, customers/clients want results for the time and money they have invested. They care less whether who does it is female or male. Having said that, be realistic. In my experience, it is true that to be noticed for the job, a woman will have to fight more, learn more and be stronger, faster and wiser than a male counterpart, but this is a challenge that can only enrich your life, business and the individual you become. As for price, never, ever settle for earning .80 cents on the dollar for the work you do. Command the price your work merits. You will always find that one client or customer who will become your best marketing strategy.
Q: Name someone in your life who inspires you and tell us why.
Adele Meyer. Addie was my co-worker and one of the brightest, most enlightened, soulful—yet pragmatic individuals I have ever met. She had incredible self-awareness and even humor about the qualities she needed to improve. She taught me how to research, understand, plan and strategize before writing one word on a page. She kept my feet to the fire as I reached for visions of change in the legal profession. She was a true magnificent friend and mentor.
Q: What other passions and hobbies do you have?
My greatest passion is to leave the world and the spaces I occupy in my personal and professional capacity better than I found them. Today, this includes fighting to have culture take its rightful place in education and the make-up of prosperous communities. Culture is the essence that spills out from the identity of who we have become and who we aspire to be. Leaving recorded knowledge of what we did years before to plan and deliver the community people live in now, and to plant nuggets of wisdom along the way as guides for the future of what we will become makes me feel that we deliver a little bit of immortality to past and present generations.
As for hobbies, I love to become educated about anything I find interesting. I need more lifetimes to fulfill my interest… and I like to dance.
Q: Aside from the Chamber, how do you stay connected within the Naperville community?
The chamber has offered me such wonderful opportunities to make personal friends and develop connections beyond our work life. Naper Settlement is lucky to partner with many other community-wide institutions from local businesses, clubs and nonprofits to schools, park districts and experts in varying fields that there is never a time when I am not reaching out to someone.
Gottfried Woman of the Quarter Bio
Macarena Tamayo-Calabrese (Rena Calabrese) is the President and CEO of Naper Settlement. She is a lawyer with over 30 years of experience in private practice, not-for-profit and association management. In her position, she oversees a leading history museum, focused on telling a whole history delivered through innovative experiential learning. She has successfully completed two concurrent capital campaigns raising over $20 million in the last five years, including first time seven figure gifts by private donors. During her tenure the institution has surpassed all-time records in membership, attendance, and revenue. As a practicing lawyer, she was a successful litigator for immigration matters. She spent 15 years with the American Bar Association, where she held the highest leadership position for any Latina and began rule of law initiatives in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Macarena is a proud Latina immigrant, advocate for women, who served as the Executive Director of the National Association of Women Lawyers. As such, she was one of only six Latinx to head a national association and served as a special guest-speaker for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. She is a contributing author to several publications, speaker and presenter.
Macarena Tamayo-Calabrese, President & CEO, Naper Settlement
calabresem@naperville.il.us