Mrs Mendez was formerly a secondary school teacher for seven (7) years after attaining her Bachelors of Arts Degree from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine in 1981. Mrs. Mendez was appointed to the Central Training Unit Personnel Department in 1987 as a Training Officer and was responsible for developing and implementing training courses for all categories of staff in the public service.

 In 1994. Mrs. Mendez was assigned to the Job Evaluation Project office, Personnel Department and performed as a Job Analyst in the job evaluation exercise for the teaching and protective services.

Mrs. Mendez was promoted as a Human Resource Adviser II in 1997 and served as Dean for the Human Resource Management programme on the Promotions Course for entry into the Administrative Class in the public service. In 1997, Mrs. Mendez obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management (with distinction) from the Institute of Business, UWI, St. Augustine

During the period January 1999 to August 2000, Mrs. Mendez was Human Resource Manager, on contract at the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and was responsible for the designing and obtaining approval for the structure for the Human Resource Management Division, developing a training plan for the ministry, collaborating with Divisional Heads for the preparation of a strategic plan and assisting the Permanent Secretary in change management initiatives for  the transformation of the Youth Facilities.

From September 2000 to April 2001, Mrs. Mendez held the position of Human Resource Manager, on contract in the Ministry of Public Administration and was involved in establishing an interim structure for the Human Resource Management Unit, performed functions relating to the delegated authority and devolved functions, collaborated with key stakeholders  in respect of the implementation of a knowledge management system for the Ministry and provided technical advice/guidance to the IT Unit  regarding training proposals for strategic information technology planning, knowledge management and executive development training.

In April 2001, Mrs. Mendez was promoted to the post of Director, Human Resources, in the then Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs and was responsible for managing the Human Resources Division in the implementation of HR functions and activities for legal and non-legal personnel. Mrs. Mendez was involved in change management and strategic management initiatives, establishing and restructuring various units/sections to be more aligned with the strategic priorities of the Ministry, acquiring and building the HR capacity of legal staff in the various legal departments. Mrs. Mendez was also a part-time lecturer in Public Sector Human Resource Management at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

From March 2007, Mrs. Mendez was assigned to act as Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mrs. Mendez provides managerial support to the Permanent Secretary in coordinating and managing the support services of the Ministry.

Mrs. Mendez also holds a Master of Science in Human Resource Management and Development from the University of Manchester and has certification in alternative dispute resolution techniques, project management, monitoring and evaluation of projects, organisation development and consultancy skills.