Marlene Manzo is the current President of the Board of Directors of The Cooperative at 1477. She is the first President of the Limited Equity Housing Cooperative, responsible for providing leadership to the residents’ transformation into co-owners making collective decisions for the benefit of the whole and taking care of their building, which can be their forever home if they wish. Marlene was born and raised in a small rural and agricultural town in Washington state. She grew up in a trailer park where neighbors were supportive of each other like one big family. Although her parents did not have an opportunity to go to school in their native Mexico, Marlene went to college, which opened many doors for her a first-generation college-educated Mexican American young woman from a modest background. She visited D.C. for conferences. When she had a chance to come live in D.C., she took it and she has been grateful ever since for D.C. opening the doors to things that she never imagined she would experience, such as becoming the President of a housing cooperative dealing with the nuts and bolts of managing a whole building, as well as learning to be a D.C. community leader. As a D.C. transplant, she likes to show respect for the community that has been making the city their home for a longer time and she is thankful to be learning from those who came before her.