Carmen A. (Mely) Torres Rodríguez
Impacting Lives through Grants Management
Carmen Amelia “Mely” Torres our Founder and Chief Visionary Officer is a “Boricua” from Morovis a small town in the north of Puerto Rico. She is a product of the public education system, and while she tells her story she reminiscences about her childhood and her parents and the influence this had on who she is today as a leader and an entrepreneur. Her mother was a teacher and her father a sports leader, while her family owned the Morovis basketball, Los Titanes. And that is where it all started.
While working with her family Mely, as many call her, learned how to make proposals, find the right sponsors, conduct contract negotiations, and much more. Although she started working at the age of 13 at a local supermarket, what she remembers the most was attending business meetings with her father. Where without knowing it, she saw all his negotiations, selling and buying products, equipment, and marketing opportunities.
As she recalls, “It was so thrilling and exiting to see how much money we could raise for the team and hiring the best players that brought joy to our town. Thinking back, I believe that without knowing, my dad was planting the entrepreneurship seed on my head and in my heart.”
Both of Mely’s parents were very committed to their community. They always helped everybody in any way possible. From community’s outdoor cinemas, fundraising for people in need, and even a study-work grant; still today. Mely shares the impact that had on her as well as how she still does not understand how they did that much. Service was a value that was lived at home. She does remember the number of students her parents helped in the process that today are great professionals.
She grew up as a leader, from an early age she made her mark, being the youngest president in the home economics program, representing Puerto Rico at the national conference in Chicago at age 15. She was involved in everything from speech contests, church activities, representing students in Congress speaking about the impact on the transition from the Department of Instruction to the Department of Education and many more topics, ana lengthy list.
Mely studied at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. There she experienced a great shock and cultural change; she went from being a hero to being a nobody. She remembers that it was a "good and hard experience". She wanted to be a lawyer and studied interdisciplinary studies (pre-law and languages) and liberal arts in the Humanities department.
Without knowing, she was building the foundation of her work today. Her first formal job after college was at Celulares Telefónica at the dealer division. She worked with all cellular dealers who were entrepreneurs. She eventually went to the United States and never became a lawyer, she has no regrets. After that, and coming back from the US, she started working with the US Department of Justice (USDOJ), as a Program Manager for the Community Liaison Office (CLO), a project that she loved and that helped her build her professional career.
Life comes and goes, says Mely. And while working at the CLO and raising her four children, her daughters played basketball and her son decided to do cycling. Thus, she ended up being the first woman president of the Puerto Rico Cycling Federation and the third in the world. She won a scholarship from the International Olympic Committee to complete his master's degree in sports management in Spain.
While finishing her master, the project with the USDOJ ended, and she started working as an independent consultant in compliance and grants management. Her experience with the federal government helped her build that capacity, as well as her master’s degree. Later she joined the National Grants Management Association and from there she has been a Grants Management Specialist (GMS). She worked for many firms until 2016 where she had the courage to start her own. At that time, she was out of work, without money, which gave her the strength to undertake. Her Christmas gift in December 2016 was On Point Strategy, a new opportunity to give to her family, help others, and begin to focus on becoming a federal government contractor. She remembers that all of that "was an act of faith."
OnPoint was born out of her mother's passion for education and her father's discipline and perseverance to find solutions and make things happen in innovative ways. Mely worked hard to make OnPoint a boutique consulting company and SME in grant management. With her dream and vision of being a federal contractor, she worked hard and earned SBA 8a certification. The same day the letter was received, another great news arrived On Point won the first purchase order, which today is a five-year contract, to develop and implement the new Community Liaison Office in Puerto Rico. Yes, the same project that she managed, loved, and that helped her raise her children and become a better professional, was the Firm’s first federal contract.
It has been five years since OnPoint was born. Mely shares that being an entrepreneur has been the best thing that ever happened to her. She enjoys every minute, not only in her firm, but also helping other entrepreneurs.
God has blessed her with a family that instilled in her values that she has passed on to her children and OnPoint.
