Mall Manager Puts Health of Community 1st
Hanging out with Louise Marquez for an hour is like walking into the eye of a hurricane: Although there is calm in the moment, you know something big is brewing.
Between conference calls and brainstorming sessions with colleagues, the tall, fast-talking general manager and marketing director of Panorama Mall is pitching her newest community improvement proposals to City Hall. And that’s before 10 a.m.
“She’s like the hub of the wheel,” said friend and fellow activist Leslie Yamashita. “I’ve never known anyone as courageous, generous, motivated, determined and truly inspirational as Louise. She’s helped so many of us have the opportunity to make a difference in society.”
Marquez isn’t called the Queen of Panorama City for nothing. The single mother of three is currently serving on the boards of nine community committees and councils, not including the many projects, foundations and associations she heads.
“I just care about how people perceive [Panorama City],” Marquez said. “There are wonderful business folks, kids and families here. This is a healthy community that needs recognition.”
If Panorama City is alive and well, Marquez helps provide the life support. A longtime Van Nuys resident, she is an active volunteer in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Jeopardy program, which offers counseling, tutoring, after-school sports and drama and other activities to at-risk students.
Marquez’s pet project is the World Book Encyclopedia-sponsored spelling bee, held at the mall each year. Through Marquez’s efforts, the contest--whose top five spellers recently won a trip to Washington, D.C.--has attracted hundreds of young participants from the Los Angeles Housing Authority’s community service centers, where the preliminary competitions are held.
Marquez, whose office wall is covered with commendation plaques from civic organizations, says she hopes her activism rubs off.
“I like to instill my values in the people around me. I want them to believe in people and to help people. That’s what life is all about.”
Marquez jumped into community service in the early 1980s, when she worked for several Valley chamber of commerce offices. In 1990, she was the office manager for former Valley Assemblyman Richard Katz.
Marquez joined the marketing department at Panorama Mall in 1993. By 1995 she was promoted to general manager of the complex, the same year Wal-Mart started scouting Panorama City for a site for its first Valley store.
Seeking to bring jobs and increased business to the mall, Marquez spent months lobbying the retail giant to take over the abandoned Broadway store that once anchored the mall. Last month Wal-Mart opened its doors, with 346 community-based employees on the payroll and 10,000 shoppers on the first day of operation.
Although seemingly invincible, Marquez faced her greatest challenge last October when she found she has advanced-stage lung cancer. Despite five months of chemotherapy and a poor prognosis for remission, she continues to run the mall and maintain her community ties, vowing to be active as long as she’s able.
“There are so many wonderful things to be done,” Marquez said. “We all have to hold hands and just do it.”
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