She's a soldier, commander, chemical engineer, educator, wife, mother and natural-born leader.

Maj. Melinda Zapata-Kalainoff is one of the featured speakers in the Killeen Daily Herald's Women in Business Expo.

"I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to participate in the Central Texas Business Women's Expo, not only to tell an Army and personal story, but also to meet and learn from other professional women in the community," Zapata-Kalainoff said.  "I will share my story, speaking about key experiences and challenges, both positive and negative, that have defined my personal and professional life," Zapata-Kalainoff said.

Zapata-Kalainoff said she was honored to be asked to participate in the business women's expo, and hopes her story positively influences others.

"When you are a leader, you influence the lives of others in ways that you can't imagine.  You should strive to become the leader that your subordinates and your organization deserve," she said.

The value of education runs deep in Zapata-Kalainoff's veins.

The daughter of educators, Zapata-Kalainoff was born and bred in Kingsville.  Her mother, a first generation Mexican-American, was an elementary school teacher, and her father, a second generation Mexican-American, was a middle school teacher.  She has an aunt and an uncle who were school superintendents and numerous cousins who are educators.

Growing up, there was never a question whether Zapata-Kalainoff would go to college.

She went to school, produced good grades and believed what her mentors told her -- "Don't limit yourself."

"I brought my experience to (cadets) in the classroom.  I developed the leaders who will develop soldiers." Maj. Melinda Zapata-Kalainoff

It's no surprise that Zapata-Kalainoff holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and two master's degrees--one in engineering management from the University of Missouri at Rolla and a second in chemistry from the University of New Hampshire-Durham.

Soon she will begin working toward a doctorate degree.

"Once you believe (in not limiting yourself) and decide what you want to do in your life, then you plan out how to go about doing it, and you get there," Zapata-Kalainoff said.

With that no-holds-barred attitude, Zapata-Kalainoff paid her way through Notre Dame by earning a four-year scholarship from the Army.

"It was a way to achieve my goals," Zapata-Kalainoff said.

The military was never a career she considered, but the scholarship served as a means to an end.  "But I loved (the Army so much after I was commissioned) that I'm now nine years over my five-year obligation," she said.

For Zapata-Kalainoff the Army was a place where the things she valued came together.

As a company commander, she feels that she's affected soldiers on an important level.

After command and two years of graduate school, Zapata-Kalainoff was selected as an instructor at the U.S. Military Academy, where she taught chemical engineering.

"I brought my experience to (cadets) in the classroom," she said.  "I developed the leaders who will develop soldiers."

At the academy, Zapata-Kalainoff became a significant contributor.  She developed a systematic method used to solve equilibrium problems in general chemistry--a method that has now been used for three consecutive years to better instruct chemical engineering majors at the academy.

The significance of her contribution earned her an award from the academy, which she will receive in July.

Additionally, she was recognized for her achievement by the Hispanic Engineer Achievement Awards Conference and was presented with an award in October 2007.  She was also named as their Role Model of the Week in March.

Not only is she an engineer who works on West Fort Hood with the Operational Test Command as an analyst, she's also a mother of two.

"There's never going to be a question whether they will go to college," Zapata-Kalainoff said of her children, Sarah and Jacob.  "It doesn't need to be drilled in them.  I won't mandate it.  That's just what you do," Zapata-Kalainoff said, referring to the way in which she learned to value education from her family.