Our people: Optimist believes in the best of us

Constance Williams, of Pampa, Texas, is no stranger to adversity. As a young child, she witnessed her parents' divorce. As a teenager she spent time in a domestic violence shelter with her mother and the separation from her older siblings. In high school, the small-town Texas girl became a big city-transplant to Dallas. Those formative experiences have all shaped her world view and perspective on her own life. But Williams considers herself -- above all else -- to be an optimist.

When her older brothers were enrolled at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales during the early 2000s, Williams decided to join them and enjoyed that opportunity to reunite after their separation as teenagers. After singing the National Anthem at an ENMU basketball game, Williams was approached by her now husband.

The couple now has three children and is raising a family in Clovis – a place Williams believes to be a land of great opportunity.

Williams is now a social worker who serves on U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan's Constituent Services team as the Behavioral Health state lead. She's also the vice chair of the Clovis Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission as well as a committee member for the Clovis Senior Services.

Williams also serves as part of the Community Development Council.

Q: If you could describe yourself in one word, what would you choose?

A: Optimistic. I try to see the brighter side of things. There's always things that can bring you down, but if you hold on to the good and recognize the realities (of it) -- that's the goodness of life to me. ...If I looked at all the bad stuff, I would be hopeless. And I don't want to be like that at all. 

Often my husband calls me Pollyanna but I'm not; I just believe in the best in people.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your position working with Sen. Lujan?

A: I'm a field representative for Sen. Lujan, on the constituent services side of things. Basically, I can help people if they're unable to get through an application when trying to access government services like Medicare, Social Security, or whatever other basic federal agencies that they're trying to get through to. We can also help when someone feels like, "Hey, maybe these policies aren't fair." Our office tries to bust through that red tape to get official answers, or get access to help.

On policy issues, if someone is wondering why something is the way it is – we will contact that agency and ask them. All we need is a letter from the individual in need, and a release saying they're giving us permission to contact that agency on their behalf. And then we can get responses as to why policies are the way that they are. Because sometimes not knowing is what gets people frustrated.

Then, on the other side of things, when something's not right we try to figure out how to fix it. As a social worker, I'm super glad that I'm here, in this position. I remember working on my master's degree, and even during my first job at Child Protective Services, I just remember recognizing that policy impacts people.

Sometimes it was unfair. I didn't feel like it was equitable across the board. I just had certain cases where I had to stand up to my supervisor and say, "Hey, this is not right," because social workers should advocate on behalf of the clients. It was disheartening to recognize disparities in agencies. So I've kept that knowledge base and when I went and got my master's degree, I focused on learning how we can fix some of these problems in New Mexico.

It's through policy. And through policy engagement -- civic engagement.

If we can make small policy changes, it will make mega changes for people.

So that's kind of how I decided to get involved in the policy world. Because sometimes there's a huge disconnect between policy and how it affects people.

Q: What is your favorite thing about this area?

A: I would really say the people. You can't go to other parts of New Mexico and necessarily get the welcome that you get here. Other parts may be smaller, they may be larger -- but I feel like here it's kind of like Goldilocks.

It's just right here in Clovis. I know that there are things that we can improve, but the people are genuine, generally speaking, and welcoming. So that's exciting to me.

There's so many great things about the community. I feel like eastern New Mexico – Clovis, specifically – has so much potential. It has the ability to grow, if only we let ourselves. There is opportunity here, so we have to find out how to take advantage of that to the best of the community's ability.

Q: What's a little-known fact about you?

A: I was in a roller derby. It kind of eventually fizzled out, but I still keep in touch with some of the members. The workout was amazing.

Another little-known fact is sometimes I randomly will sing something out. If I'm explaining something to my kids, I'll make it into a song.

Q:

Do you have any heroes?

A: Maya Angelou. I was so fortunate to actually see her speak in person, in Amarillo.

Seeing her speak in person and seeing her poise and elegance and presence, was inspiring. She's definitely somebody that I look up to. She faced a lot of injustices, and trauma in her life, and to see how she came out on the elegant side of life is admirable.  

I also love Teddy Roosevelt. He was somebody who during a transitionary time in society tried to ensure that the people were still lifted up through policy.

That's where I like to come from. I believe that policy should be toward the benefit of the people. It shouldn't be really for government first thing. Policy needs to be something people can navigate through and it's not oppressive.

So I like Teddy Roosevelt for that. He championed the anti-trust laws, and believed that corporations shouldn't do certain types of actions because it goes against the people. So he's somebody that I really, really like.

I have a lot of other people that I feel have really influenced me in some way or another, but I would say that those two probably stick out the most.

Q: What is the best advice you've ever received?

A: Listen more than you talk. Somebody said, "You've got two ears for listening, and one mouth to talk." I really think that that's important. Especially because if you want to understand other people, then it's not just about getting your point across. You just really have to listen to other people to see where they're at.

In social work, our goal is to meet people where they're at. Just listen, and people will generally tell you what's going on.

Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?

A: I think maybe I was 8 years old when my birthday fell on Easter. It was like a mega family gathering. My dad was there, my aunts, my grandma -- and I remember it was one of my best memories. At that time I thought, "Oh, I was born on Easter," so every year I thought my birthday would fall on Easter.

I remember my dad was sitting down and my mom had given me an egg to crack on his head. It was supposed to be a hard-boiled egg, but then she switched it out for a raw egg. So I cracked it on his head. My dad was very upset; he was cool with me and he was cool with my mom, but he was like, "No! It's raw!?" It was so fun. Everybody was laughing and having a good time.

I just remember as a kid kind of hoping that my birthday would fall on Easter again.

Q: If you won the lottery, what would you do?

A: I would make sure we're good financially. I would like to build a compound for all my family to have a house, or something like that. But what I would like to do also is basically turn the money into some agencies and do some different self-investment in Clovis. Maybe starting some agencies, because I feel like there's some good stuff going on, but we need more in order to take advantage of the different options that are out there.

Q: What's your dream vacation?

A: Take our kids and go to South America. Our kids are doing bilingual school right now, so it would be great to have them be immersed in that type of culture and community. Even if for a little bit, to kind of see life outside of the United States.

Q: If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

A: Tacos. I love chili rellenos, but I'd have to go with tacos -- with a good sauce.