Why Powerful Latinas are Important!

First of all, I’m Latina. I would be lying if I didn’t admit some degree of self-interest. I care about who I am as a Latina, and how I’m seen by others. I care about what happens to my family and my community. I enjoy learning more about where we are as a Latino community and where we’re going.

But even if I weren’t Latina, I would care about the Latino community in this country. There is a huge demographic shift in the US, and it affects everything — from our food, to our media, to our politics. The future of our country lies in the Latino community.

When we look at the workforce, the economy, and the political situation, we know that Latinos will play pivotal roles in these shifts, and I want to support the notion that we can play a self-directed, thoughtful, meaningful role.

I believe we, as Latinos, need to be prepared to take on leadership. We need to be prepared to step into positions of power, and authority.

This means focusing on leadership skills, developing and learning what works, and sharing our stories with each other. We have to grow ourselves and develop into the role.

Taking on leadership also means confronting the issues head on, and addressing the challenges, and the real needs of our communities. Our hermanas and hermanos need us to take these issues seriously and work to address the concerns that sometimes they can’t.

Being ready to lead also means taking time to heal. For many of us (myself included), healing means growing through our own experiences and our pain.

As we do this for ourselves, we can also see the wounds in our community more clearly, and help to heal them as well.

However, often as professional Latinas, we are thrust into roles of leadership and responsibility whether we’re ready for them or not. We often are required to lead and support others when we’re barely ready to do so for ourselves because of our situation.

Perhaps we’re the first one in our household to go to college – so everyone looks to us for help navigating certain systems and structures. Or perhaps we’re the one who makes more money, so we take on financially supporting our family members.

Whatever the source, we often learn to help others before we help ourselves. But I know through my own struggles, that it is worthwhile to heal, and it allows us to leave behind a whole lot of baggage we don’t need. Healing brings with it clarity and understanding of both our own situation, and that of others.

And finally, it gives us freedom and peace. So the healing work, while still somewhat uncommon to discuss in the Latino world, is so important.

For all of these stages, I offer tools, resources and support. I have gathered stories, leadership tools and research, information on where we are now, and support for growth and healing.

I hope you’ll join me in the new direction of PowerfulLatinas.com as I share more with you about what I’ve found out, and why I do what I do.

Do YOU believe Latinos need to be ready for positions of leadership? If so, how can we prepare?