Monica Andrade is a trailblazer, a community problem-solver and a college student, seeking to keep on learning.

Monica Andrade is a Salinas native who found her home in Soledad, where she has lived for the past 12 years. During this time, she has become an advocate for equity and social justice. Last year, Andrade and the Soledad Committee for Voting Rights challenged the City Council’s decision to approve a five-district map with a rotating mayor. They collected enough signatures for a referendum. In March, voters rejected the measure by a massive margin, with over 80 percent of the votes, instead favoring four districts and an at-large mayor. (Andrade’s husband, Fernando Cabrera, is a councilmember.)

But there’s much more to her community engagement than politics.

As a child, Andrade loved playing soccer. Her mom signed Andrade and her sister with a boys’ team, as there wasn’t a girls’ league in Salinas at that time. “We felt like we had something to prove to them – that we belong, that we can keep up,” she recalls.

Andrade has worn different hats throughout her life. She served in the Army for over seven years, helped create a girls’ soccer league in Salinas and was a referee. She’s currently a parent educator with Door to Hope, a nonprofit that provides a variety of behavioral health and substance abuse recovery services, including a treatment center for women struggling with alcohol and drug addiction.

In March, Andrade was recognized as State Sen. Anna Caballero’s 2024 District 14 Woman of the Year for the Salinas Valley.

When she isn’t working or volunteering, Andrade studies human development and family services at CSU Monterey Bay.

Weekly: Woman of the Year. That’s a high honor.

Andrade: When I received the call, I honestly thought they probably wanted me to give them a couple names.

What do parent educators do?

My job is basically to help parents connect with their children in meaningful ways, where they get to play with their child, get to know their child. It might seem trivial to others, but that’s a child’s first experience in school, and how are parents prepared for that journey? [I enjoy] seeing the learning that takes place with just the simple act of playing.

Did it cross your mind to run for council instead of your husband?

We debated that. I wanted to go back to school, and it wasn’t so much that you need a degree to be in the city council, but finishing my degree is a personal goal and it needs my entire attention. In a certain way, I can do more away from the dais.

You started a girls’ soccer league.

The president of the boys’ league said, “You guys are getting older and I think that Salinas is ready for a girls’ league. Let’s hit up all the high schools.” We made flyers. We were spreading the word. We were the first team to be registered.

We needed to make sure that this worked, because we needed to have our space and we knew that there were other girls and women who just wanted a space to play. The only time that we could play soccer was during the high school season. That was three months out of the whole year. Ten teams were formed. It was pretty amazing.

Do you attend Monterey Bay F.C. games as a spectator?

Yes. My husband doesn’t know we are season ticket holders [laughs]. He was like, “No, it’s too expensive.”

But we all have to have a hobby. Something that distracts us, something that brings us joy. Soccer has formed a lot of who I am.

Were you also accomplished in the Army?

I went into logistics in the military, 92-Alpha, and we basically worked with trucks of all sizes – ordering and making sure that all the vehicles were up to standards. At the end of our deployment, we got a recognition that our unit was the one with the least amount of vehicles down for the entire deployment. Our motivation was that our friends are going to be in these vehicles. Our mentality was as if our family was riding in them, because they needed to come back.

Where do you see yourself in the future?

Helping make policy or develop programs or making our services more effective toward [meeting] the needs of our communities. Those ideas have to come from the people who live in the community, who work in the community.