Ask The Corporate Latina

Just recently, I delivered a speech at the HOPE National Latina Action Day Conference in Los Angeles, CA. This was a wonderful conference with over 850 women in attendance! It was such an impressive group of women that it almost brought tears to my eyes and I felt an immense pride swelling in my chest. The organization kindly asked me to help them unveil the results of a ground breaking study ” Missing in California- Latinas in Corporations”. As this topic is just right up my alley, I gladly accepted. The study results showed that of the 400 corporations that are headquartered in California, none have a Latina at the C-Level. With California being the most Hispanic populous state in the country, those are certainly hard facts to digest. Sadly enough, the statistics are not much better for the rest of the country. With this background, the organization asked if I could share with the audience:

-why do we need Latinas to consider pursuing corporate executive positions,

-how can Latinas help their communities by achieving leadership positions in Corporate America and

-share some tips and strategies to succeed in reaching leadership roles in Corporate America.  

As I delivered the presentation, I could not help but look into the 100 or so women in the audience- highly motivated, intelligent and prepared women ready and willing to take over the world! And I asked myself: how can I help create more awareness of  the need for Latinas to enter the suites of Corporate America? Why would we want to do so?  So, here we go: the top 10 reasons why Latinas should consider participating in Corporate America (in reverse order):

10) We can become much needed ”role models” for the rest of our community.

9) As Latinas, we already possess unique innate leadership and managerial qualities that make it easy to assume managerial roles in large organizations- we come in with “built-in” managerial and life skills..just look at our “familias”…

8  )  We bring instant diversification to an organization on many levels- we are women and we are Latinas of diverse cultural and racial backgrounds- and this brings value to the organization.

7) We can influence corporate decision making concerning where goods and services are manufactured, bought and sold- we can and SHOULD sit at the table where decisions are made concerning job creation, loss or economic activity. In this sense, we have broader impacts than even with a well-deserved and important political position.

6) We can influence corporate philanthropy to directly benefit our communities- we can help ensure corporate philanthropic parity for our communities.

5) We bring immediate value to the organiation by helping it achieve much needed globalization.

4) We can help eradicate commonly held stereotypes and biases concerning our community with our professional example.

3) We can raise awareness of social and economic issues affecting our community.

2) We can help the organization attract, recruit, mentor and nurture other Latino employees who will later become our peers and followers.

AND THE NO.1 Reason is……

1) We represent the largest minority group with the largest purchasing power and with the largest labor muscle in the United States!

 These are only some of the reasons! I encourage you to submit your own reasons of why we need  Latinas to participate in Corporate America!  Let’s have our voices heard!