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Celia Ruiz
Tomlinson
Celia Tomlinson is the President &
CEO of Rhombus Professional Associates, an extremely rare
American engineering firm founded, owned, and operated by an
immigrant female Asian engineer. Coming to the United States in
1968 by herself with only $300 and a civil engineer’s diploma,
Celia had to overcome nearly insurmountable obstacles of absolute
poverty, gender bias, racial discrimination, and language barrier
to achieve success. In 1970, she became New Mexico’s first
registered female professional engineer and in 1983 the first
female engineer to serve as member of the State Board of
Registration of Professional Engineers and Surveyors. Her firm
has been in continuous operation for 19 years and has completed
projects in Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York,
Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Celia was named 1992 Minority
Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Park Service.
Celia is the author of
“A Woman’s Guide to a Successful Career in Construction” (PPI
Publications) and a house inspection program called Computerized
Evaluation of Lived-In Areas (CELIA), which has been used by
Native American housing authorities and government agencies. She
has published articles, and has been featured, in People on
Parade magazine and Civil Engineering magazine. She was on the
cover of the Woman Engineer magazine.
The recipient of New
Mexico’s Outstanding Woman and Trailblazer Awards, Celia is a
woman of many interests and pursuits. She speaks four languages
including American Sign Language. She is a co-founder of the New
Mexico Affordable Housing, Inc., a non-profit organization. A
mentor to upstart businesswomen and to engineering students, she
is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners,
Society of Women Engineers, and National Society of Professional
Engineers. She served as president of the Filipino American
Association of New Mexico. In 2000, she received the Rio Grande
Filipino American National Historical Society Pamana Award for
Personal Achievement. She is the 2002 winner of the Asian Women
in Business Entrepreneurial Leadership Award, which she will
receive in New York in October.
Celia has merged the diverse experiences that she gained into
entertaining and compelling speeches. Her self-deprecating humor,
powerful message, and down-to-earth delivery helped her reach
the semi-final of the 1998 Toastmasters International’s Humorous
Speech Contest.
Contact address: RHOMBUS P.A., Inc., 2620 San Mateo NE, Suite B,
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110. Web site:
www.rhombuspa.com
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