Gricelda Calzada
Gricelda Calzada began her career 27 years ago in AEP Texas’ 24-hour, seven-day-a-week call center, which gave her the chance to learn the business from the ground up. Early moves through customer service, billing, operations, regulatory and community engagement provided a well-rounded understanding of how the work touches employees, customers and communities. Those experiences laid the foundation for a passion for external affairs and relationship-driven work.
Key steps that brought her to her current role included working across departments, taking on development opportunities that pushed her outside her comfort zone, and listening to mentors who saw her potential. Cross-department experience taught her to adapt quickly, communicate across diverse teams and view challenges from multiple angles. Those lessons built confidence and leadership skills and prepared her to influence larger initiatives and represent the company externally.
Her advice to women aspiring to leadership is to embrace your voice, trust your capabilities and take roles that challenge you; those moments often accelerate growth. Build relationships, seek mentors and be a mentor. She is most proud of a 27-year career that reflects dedication, adaptability and a commitment to AEP Texas and the communities it serves, including leading initiatives, strengthening partnerships and helping open doors for others.
Yvonnilda Rodriguez
Yvonnilda Rodriguez is a Customer Service Account Representative in Customer Services South with 11 years of service. She joined AEP Texas after seeing an administrative assistant opening on a job site, taking the role when her previous position stopped offering professional challenge.
She spent about eight years as an administrative assistant and by her fifth year knew she wanted more. Already assisting customers in that role, she applied several times for the CSAR position that opened; the third application was successful and she moved into the customer service role she holds today.
With encouragement from her supervisor and support from AEP Texas’ tuition benefits, she returned to school, earning an associate degree and then a bachelor’s in business management in just over two years. She says being a woman in the electrical industry means learning something new every day and using that knowledge to empower herself. She recharges by spending time with loved ones — a day at the beach, an outdoor concert or a movie at home. movie at home.
Felicia Avila Salgado
Felicia Avila Salgado is a senior engineer in Distribution Planning at the San Angelo service center with eight years of service. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University–Kingsville and began her career as a contractor for AEP Texas, working as a design engineer at the Lipan service center in Corpus Christi. Encouraged by the company’s culture and coworkers, she joined AEP as an employee in the SCADA department in Transmission before transitioning to Distribution Planning and relocating to San Angelo.
She says she enjoys continuous learning, new technologies, improved methods and cross-department collaboration. The Distribution Planning team’s practical, supportive approach keeps her motivated and helps improve outcomes. Her interest in math and science, curiosity about how things work, and encouragement from her parents led her to pursue engineering as a way to solve real-world problems.
Outside work, she spends time with her husband and their two dogs, taking neighborhood walks and traveling when possible. They are expecting triplets this spring.