Last week, the National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) Annual Conference and Latino Family Expo took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center. From July 19th to July 22nd, Latinos and supporters of Latino organizations from throughout the United States convened to discuss various issues afflicting the Latino community—from hyper-incarceration and low educational attainment to media portrayal of Latinos and immigration reform.
Not only were CEOs, VPs, and directors from essentially every significant Latino organization present, but some big names showed up as well. I had the opportunity to meet with former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, editors from Latina Magazine, and musician and activist Mike De La Rocha. Actors Tony Plana and Eva Longoria, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and current LA Mayor Eric Garcetti were also present among several other big names. Even Dora the Explorer and Minnie and Mickey made an appearance!
Being a California native, celebrity sightings usually don’t faze me (that’s not true, I totally almost fainted when I had a super cas dinner with Dirty Heads lead singer, Dirty J, last year). But, being in the presence of so many powerful, passionate, and amazingly intelligent people was overwhelming. Although not in the media spotlight as often as Kim K, these people are participating in some of the most significant legislation reform and initiatives for Latinos and ethnic minorities in the U.S.
Apparently, Dora the Explorer is ten years old now.
I left the conference with a reassurance that there are great things going on in the Latino community and impactful strides being made to bring us into a new generation of successful young people. Not only that, but I got lots of cool sponsor swag too—my favorite was probably the bottle of Tapatio Sauce in our luncheon bags—no shame.
A big part of the conference is a “Latinas Brunch,” in which several different individuals from different realms of work speak on the importance of Latina empowerment, which is essentially synonymous with female empowerment.
Watch the entire Latinas Brunch here.
Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles branch AFL-CIO, gave a fire-starting speech on the fact that 810,000 workers are earning poverty level wages, which she notes represents 46% of the glamorous city’s population. It’s difficult to recognize these inequalities when what we know best of L.A. is LC hanging out in The Hills and the Fresh Prince’s life in affluent Bel-Air. She encourages women in all fields to use their education and power to aid the labor movement and help our low-wage and struggling middle-class workers—of all races and ethnicities—to attain the American Dream that we know all of our ancestors strove for at one point. She concluded her speech with ¡Viva la mujer!—“Long live the woman!”
In between keynote speeches, sponsors gave empowering speeches to the audience. One of the most emotional happened to be the Argentinean Coca-Cola commercial below. I’ll admit I cried in front of a table of strangers I hardly knew.
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, gave an empowering speech on her book Lean In (Which I hear it is AMAZING!). She starts off with some disheartening statistics. Sandberg states, “The world is still run by men, mainly white men, and I’m just not sure how well that’s going.”
Though joking, her statement has a lot of validity. According to Sandberg females only hold 24% of Fortune 500 CEO positions and 17% of board seats. As for Latinas, only 1% hold board positions and ZERO CEO positions.
Sandberg emphasizes that women are constantly held back in all societies. They are taught to put themselves second and be selfless. Women are taught to abide to rules of gender and race stereotypes, to try harder, speak when spoken to, and embrace that lack of self-confidence ingrained in our minds as young girls. Instead of abiding to these rules of society, she urges women not to remain stagnant in roles of mediocrity, but to aspire for greater things.
SO inspiring!
She asks, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” and “What would you do with the power of your own voice?”
So, when thinking about the future, take these questions into consideration. When you’re afraid if studying abroad in Spain all alone for a year, or Polar Plunging into St. Joe’s Lake in the middle of winter, or asking that guy or girl on a dining hall date, ignore your fears and just do it.
The last part of the brunch consisted of a panel of entrepreneurs, moderated by Nely Galan, founder of the Adelante Movement (Which translates to “Move Forward!”). The panelists included CraftyChica Founder, Kathy Cano-Murillo (Check out her stuff at Michael’s), GNI International Founder and CEO, Giadha Aguirre De Carcer, and Vine star Rudy Mancuso—whom all spoke about the struggles and positives of branding themselves and creating an image and company.
Rudy Mancuso took Sheryl Sandberg’s words, and instead of thinking about what you WOULD do if you were not afraid, he asks, “What are you doing” RIGHT NOW, not tomorrow, not next week, NOW.
Other panelist took this in and agreed. Don’t let your fears hold you back, because you will just be stuck in a cycle of passivity. So, don’t be afraid, don’t hesitate, and just live your life right now and take a risk, no matter how scared you are.
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