Nora Tocci of Contrast, Inc. talks about her company’s investment in the future of Albuquerque

We’ve all heard about the dreaded “brain drain” that haunts Albuquerque: young people tend to get their degrees in-state, then leave for cities with (supposedly) more and better job opportunities. This perception hurts the economy by both convincing young professionals that there’s no work for them here, and by convincing companies and recruiters that all those young professionals are already gone. It’s a vicious cycle. 

But Nora Tocci knows that those professionals are here. 

Nora and her husband, Mike Tocci, founded the tech company Contrast, Inc. in Albuquerque in 2005. They started the company with their patented high dynamic range (HDR) video camera—the first of its kind—and have since created dozens of custom hardware and software imaging systems for industrial, commercial, military and consumer sectors. This year they were voted one of Albuquerque Business First’s 2019 Fastest Growing Companies, and won their fourth Flying 40 Award, a recognition for tech companies in New Mexico that are contributing to the state’s economy and growing their profits. From the very beginning they’ve kept the company locally based, intentionally small and have focused on hiring only the best talent they can find. 

They’ve found that talent in Albuquerque.

In 2012 they hired Chris Kiser, an Albuquerque native who earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Mexico for his real-time HDR video work. Kiser is now the Senior Engineer at Contrast, with 20+ years of industry experience and a couple dozen patents for aerospace engineering and optical designs to his name. 

But finding talent like Chris’ in Albuquerque doesn’t happen every day, which is why Nora feels a responsibility to contribute to education and workforce development in Albuquerque in the ways that she can. Contrast helps to grow talent locally by hosting science experiments with young children, offering internships and directly supporting STEM programs in schools. Their outreach efforts demonstrate the profound ability that the private sector has to influence the future of our city.

Contrast regularly hires interns at high school and college levels—they recently had a high school student spend a week in the offices to shadow and learn about the daily operations at the company. “Mentorship is something I think a lot more companies should try to do,” Nora says. “It can be difficult, but I think there are rewards that come back. I hear a lot of complaints from other companies that they can't find people, and there's nobody here in Albuquerque and all these kinds of things… [but they’re] sort of starting at the wrong place. You need somebody who's [working in science and tech] but you haven't actually helped to foster that at a low level here.” She hopes to create a more formal internship program in the coming years.

Mentorship at high school and college levels helps young people learn more about their potential career paths, and whether or not they want to go in a certain direction. Of the students she’s mentored at Contrast, Nora says, “Some of them may go into engineering, and some of them may realize that it’s not for them. And that’s ok. I mentored a young guy at Boeing who wanted to be a mechanical engineer… and when he was done and he was like, ‘Yeah, I don't like this at all.’ It wasn’t anything personal; the work just wasn’t for him.” But that student then went on to get his master's as a certified public accountant and then work for a Fortune 500 company. “He just moved back to Albuquerque,” Nora says. 

At Contrast, partnering with Escuela del Sol and Harwood Art Center is another part of their continuous workforce development efforts. Each year, Nora, Mike and several employees from Contrast volunteer to create a science project for the junior high students at Escuela. One year they helped the students build a room-sized pinhole camera. Another year they lead a workshop series all about drones. “When kids are learning, if you can't give them something tangible that they can touch or give them a great reason why making triangles is useful, then they're not going to want to learn it,” says Nora. By working on scientific projects from start to finish, kids learn that science and tech aren’t as daunting or unapproachable as they might seem.

Nora and Mike also recognize that the education offered at Escuela del Sol—which is a private Montessori school—isn’t accessible to everyone. Which is why they contribute to Escuela’s tuition assistance program. This is a practice that Nora encourages other companies to think about, as well. “There’s a lot of people here who want [STEM] education but can’t pay for it. So maybe make certain outreach programs that sponsor a scholarship for that. And the winner of that scholarship gets an internship with you. You know, these are not new ideas.”

Of course, working with Escuela isn’t a totally selfless act—Nora and Mike’s daughter Francesca is in elementary school there. But it does go to show that investing in the community now helps to ensure a better future for Albuquerque (and, by extension, for Francesca). 

Nora sees Contrast’s combination of mentorship and education outreach to encourage talent development in Albuquerque as a part of her responsibility to her adopted home. This shouldn’t be thought of charitable giving but as paying it forward—by investing in their community, companies are investing in their own futures, too. Education outreach is an easy, immediate way for companies to get involved, Nora says. “Other leaders of other companies, they all have employees and their employees have kids, and their kids go to school somewhere. They already have a connection to the community. So foster it somehow.”

Connecting the Dots...

Through City Alive, Albuquerque leaders collaborate to ensure that entrepreneurs have the connections, resources and programs they need to succeed right here in Albuquerque. We believe that there’s a better way to build jobs — start local.