Bridging the gap between cultures requires skill and empathy, a combination that comes naturally to Deyse Lopez.

Add strong leadership skills to the mix, and it’s easy to understand why Lopez found her niche at Alabama Power and in the Birmingham community.

As project analytics team leader in Economic Development, Lopez manages a team that provides workforce data analysis and GIS support to help attract new industrial business to the state. She also is a rising leader in the Magic City, helping provide guidance to the Latino community through her service as a junior board member to ¡HICA!, the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama.

In only three years, Lopez has made a positive difference by helping execute successful ¡HICA! fundraisers with Barons Baseball and other groups, in projects that strengthen the Hispanic community.

Deyse Lopez, a projects analyst in Economic Development for Alabama Power, enjoys giving back to the community through organizations such as the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama and the March of Dimes. (Phil Free / Powergrams)

“Deyse is fantastic. She is an engaged and passionate leader,” said ¡HICA! Development Director Sylvia Espinosa, who has worked closely with Lopez since 2019. “Deyse has been engaged in ¡HICA! and is so helpful. During our Open House on Cinco de Mayo, she talked with so many people, providing them with information about housing and other needs.”

Espinosa said that Lopez, in her second year as vice president of the ¡HICA! junior board, has planned and executed several big events, such as the group’s annual Tamale Festival. Lopez was integral to the success of ¡HICA!’s Birmingham Pig Roast, merging Alabama’s passion for good barbecue with a rich Latino influence.

A United Way agency, ¡HICA! depends greatly on its volunteers, Espinosa noted. “We appreciate Deyse’s ongoing leadership.”

Lopez enjoys volunteering at ¡HICA! – it is her way of giving back. “The staff of ¡HICA! is amazing and really has a heart for the community,” she said. “They never stop moving forward, and I want to give back because someone did that for me and my family.”

With a focus on developing a new recruitment process for ¡HICA!’s junior board, Lopez desires “to bring in young professionals from all walks of life – among many different facets of Latino cultures – wanting to give back to the community.” Junior board members hail from Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico and the U.S.

Lopez also serves on the March of Dimes of Greater Birmingham Executive Leadership Team, advocating for policies to protect the health of mothers and babies. Lopez and her team took part in the Walk for Babies, held this past spring at Birmingham’s Railroad Park.

Thriving at work and home

Lopez was 3 years old when her family moved to Rome, Georgia. Speaking Spanish while she was growing up, Lopez learned early the importance of navigating outside one’s culture. An excellent student, she flourished during high school and was offered numerous scholarships.

However, life took an unexpected turn when, during Lopez’s junior year, her mother, Rosalina, became ill with breast cancer.

“It was a difficult, life-changing time,” said Lopez, who was eager to begin her future but decided to postpone enrolling in college until her mother’s health stabilized. Lopez was 17 and a high school graduate when she received her U.S. Permanent Resident Card, or green card.

Deyse Lopez was 3 years old when her family moved from Mexico to Rome, Georgia. She became a U.S. citizen in 2015. (Phil Free / Powergrams)

After battling the illness, her mother was in remission for a year. Lopez attended Georgia Highlands College in Rome – allowing her to be at home with her parents and brother – and earned an associate degree in accounting. When the disease reoccurred and her mother required chemotherapy and radiation, Lopez took time off from college to help with her care.

“My mother never spoke English. I know what it is like to be the translator for your family,” said Lopez, who explained medical treatments to her mother. “I know the challenges that children face. It is a lot to put on a child. That’s why I love supporting my ¡HICA! community. In 2015, I completed the whole process of obtaining citizenship, which was so important to me, and I try to help others.”

Her mother’s death was a devastating blow. Lopez married and moved to Alabama, where she attended Jefferson State Community College. She received a scholarship to UAB, where she completed her accounting degree in a year and a half.

“I did my first internship in Internal Auditing at Southern Company Services as part of the curriculum,” Lopez said. “And I didn’t have any school debt because of the scholarship.”

The internship was the springboard to her first job. Lopez worked for Southern Power, then moved to Southern Company Services, working in roles within Internal Controls and Compliance, Risk Control and Operations Compliance. She transferred to Marketing at Alabama Power, moving to her present job in Economic and Community Development.

Alabama Power Delivery General Manager Andy Short said Lopez is extremely dedicated and wants to make a positive impact on the company, personally and in dealing with her co-workers.

“Deyse strives to increase her value that she brings to the company through learning about the differences in people so that she can help grow those that she works with and, in turn, grow herself,” said Short, a mentor to Lopez through the company’s Leadership Development program. “She wants to help others continue to add to the company by understanding their diversity and skill sets, by understanding what they bring to the table and also helping grow those individuals.”

A fundraiser with the Birmingham Barons has been among the successful projects Deyse Lopez has worked on with the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama during the past three years. (Phil Free / Powergrams)

Family traditions 

Lopez believes it is important to learn and understand the differences in all people.

During Thanksgiving 2021, Lopez shared a beloved family tradition of her Mexican culture by handmaking tamales for her team. She got the idea while helping ¡HICA! during the nonprofit’s annual tamale sale, a popular fundraiser that begins the last week of November.

“I let my team know that this is a family event, making tamales,” Lopez said, with a smile. “It’s special – it’s the meaning of family. The tamales are so different – it is a very special thing to make them for people you love.

“Now my team asks me to bring tamales, so they can eat them whenever they want,” she added, with a laugh. “I taught them to make tamales, and they’ve gotten really good at making them.”

These traditions are part of what Lopez and her husband, Guillermo, are teaching their three children, who are first-generation Americans. The Mexican culture highly values family. “Our children will also always be Mexican,” she said. “We want them to always remember their culture and our heritage. I want them to know and understand that family comes first. My husband is my biggest supporter, and I support him.”

The couple shares the responsibilities for caring for their youngsters, employing a “divide and conquer” strategy while coordinating sports, activities and events for Alex, 8, David, 6, and Rosalie, 5. Between her husband running his company and her busy job, Lopez admitted it can be “near impossible to always have that perfect home and work-life balance.”

Church activities are another big part of their lives.

“We put God first,” Lopez said. “And for us, family and community is the tie that also binds, through it all.”

This article first appeared in the July-September, 2022, edition of Powergrams, Alabama Power’s employee magazine.