BART Director Melissa Hernandez, BART’s first Latina board member, brings a wealth of expertise to her leadership
BART Director Melissa Hernandez in the BART boardroom after her appointment to the BART Board of Directors.
This Hispanic Heritage Month, BART is proud to celebrate members of the BART District of Hispanic and Latino heritage, who enrich our organization and the community at large. Over 15% of BART's workforce identifies as Hispanic and Latino, and we have been celebrating them throughout the month with stories, gatherings, and acknowledgements.
Read a profile of BART's new Director of the Office of Civil Rights Rudy Garza here and a profile of Aileen Hernandez, BART Interim Manager for Grants & Funding Advocacy Division here.
Director Melissa Hernandez is becoming accustomed to being “the first.”
She was not only the first Latina to be elected Mayor of Dublin, making her the first Latina mayor in the history of the Tri-Valley, she is also the first Latina to serve on the BART Board of Directors following her appointment as BART Director of District 5 this spring.
“Wow, BART, it took fifty years,” Hernandez said with a laugh. It was five decades too many, but Hernandez, a working mom from an immigrant, working-class background, is already bringing her unique experiences to make BART more responsive and accessible to every one of its riders.
“It makes me emotional. Neither one of my parents graduated high school,” she said. “To have gotten where I am now is really important for my family, for the girls who feel they will not get anywhere because they’re struggling in school and don’t have the right resources. I want to continue to uplift the future generations of women leaders and make certain that all of our institutions are meeting the needs of our region’s many constituencies.”
Director Hernandez (second from left) is pictured at BART’s Project Doneway fashion show with the judges Charleston Pierce, Mary Campbell, and Randy Wells.
Hernandez grew up in a large, loving family with solid working-class roots. She still remembers her parents waking before the sun rose to work in the fields and them returning in the afternoon to take care of the children.
“That is where I get my work ethic and drive for leadership,” said Hernandez.
She continued: “As someone from the immigrant tradition and a working mom myself, these early experiences drove me to support our public schools, improve our communities, and make certain that all working families have access to jobs. And part of that access means being able to get to a job on time, through a reliable, affordable transportation system!”
Director Hernandez with Transit Ambassadors Nequavis Brown and Kingsley Odiurho at Hayward Station.
Hernandez has made championing public transportation the core of her professional life. She has served on numerous transit boards, including as the chair of the Tri-Valley Regional Transportation Authority and the Tri-Valley/San Joaquin Valley Regional Authority.
You might say transportation runs in Hernandez’s blood. For the majority of his life, Hernandez’s father worked as a truck driver. In fact, at 74 years old, he is still at it, though he's driving small hauls now.
“My father has the strongest work ethic I know,” Hernandez said. She remembers taking her dad’s old 18-wheeler for a spin – a memory that has stuck with her now that she’s embedded in the transportation industry.
From left to right: BART board members Mark Foley, Melissa Hernandez, and Rebecca Saltzman are pictured at the BARTmobile's 20th Birthday Party at Orinda Station.
“It is so difficult to drive those things,” she said. “It takes a ton of practice. The same goes for driving those big city buses and BART trains!”
Much like her father’s ever-shifting truck routes, Hernandez’s life has had its twists and turns.
In her teens, she worked at small businesses, including scooping ice cream and working as an office manager at a dental office. Those early work experiences at small local businesses drive her philosophy as a BART board director.
“COVID was a wake-up call for BART,” she said. “It gave the organization time to get back to the basics of quality service, safety, and cleanliness for our customers.”
From left to right: BART Chief Transportation Officer Tera Stokes-Hankins, Assistant Chief Maintenance Officer Greg Lombardi, Deputy General Manager Michael Jones, Director Melissa Hernandez, BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin, BART Police Lieutenant Jaswant Sekhon, Assistant Chief Transportation Officer Eric Matthews.
Being a Latina in a position of power has not always been easy. As Hernandez wrote in her application for the BART Board: “I am well acquainted with being the only person who looks like me, or who has my experiences, in any room I enter.”
Rather than shrinking when she walks into those rooms, Hernandez is focused on elevating her unique experiences and building common ground in these polarized times.
Director Hernandez with Alameda County Supervisor Elisa Marquez at Marquez’s family’s restaurant in Hayward.
“It is important to have many diverse groups of people at the table – and not just different genders, orientations, and ethnicities, but people from different upbringings,” she said. “Much of who we are stems from our childhoods and how we were raised. I am always trying to bring forward the values my parents imparted.”
One such value is mentorship.
Director Melissa Hernandez with her son.
At the dental office where Hernandez began working as a teenager, she learned the impact a consistently supportive role model can have on your life.
“The solo dental practitioner really took me under his wing, and it spurred my first career in the health services,” she explained.
“Really, it was the folks—whether my parents, small business owners, and other women in leadership— who helped me along the way and made me the person I am. And now that I am here, I want to give back to the communities I serve and most importantly, allow my daughter and other little girls to dream about all that they can accomplish and contribute.”
Director Hernandez with her daughter in San Francisco.