Al Grano - La Primera

A love letter to every trailblazer carrying family dreams, cultural pride, and their own fierce intuition into rooms they were never “meant” to enter and choosing to stay anyway.

Transcript

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Hello, hello. How are you? How's everybody doing? Welcome to El Grano con Nora, Real Talk and Power, Power and Possibility Without the Fluff. I'm Nora Vargas, and for 30 years I've been on the front lines navigating crisis and breaking barriers. I love to share that I started off as an executive assistant, community organizer, became a CEO. 12 years I was an elected official. Yep. 12 years. I was making decisions, got elected. And really carrying responsibilities and navigating it all from a very different perspective. And I always say, really without a playbook, right? So many of us that has been first have been carrying this work and this load without actually having a playbook. And that's really what this podcast is all about. It's a real conversation about leadership, power, responsibility, and the possibilities and what it means to keep believing and redefining the American dream despite it all. I really want to have a conversation about what it means to bring a different lens to leadership because the reality is the world doesn't look the same for everyone. And it definitely doesn't look the same for Latinas or for women of color. And we need to talk about that. We need to talk about the power of what Latina leadership looks like. And more importantly, I want to talk about leadership from a different perspective because I think most of us have been told, you know, like uh lean in andor um you know be your authentic self, um, make sure that you, you know, you know, you let them and all of these different concepts that come from a very different lens and different perspective, all are good and we can take pieces of it. But the truth is that uh for us as Latinas and as women of color, we really look at leadership from a very different lens. And for me, it's important that we talk about it because for a long time leadership has been defined in a very specific way, specifically around individualism, around hierarchy, and it has focused on outcomes, and all of that is key. Um, and I understand that it's important, and also the idea of titles, authority, and position. Of course, all of it matters, but it's not the full picture. Because there's another way of leaning, and for many of us, it's how we lead, and we lead differently. We lead differently because, not necessarily because we're trying to, but it's because of how we've been raised and what we've been exposed to. And we've had to figure out systems that were never designed with us in mind, and what that has produced is really a different kind of leader. And when we lead, we really think about family in mind. I think about projects or initiatives that I worked on that I'm really, really proud of, like the Promotora programs, right? Promotora programs are a beautiful, beautiful reflection of who we are as a community. And there's a lot of history, and I won't go down my rabbit hole about what promotoras are because I think most people know, but these are folks from our communities that are working in the communities, and they're the best messengers. And it was interesting to me, and one of the many jobs that I've had, that the promotoras in those roles uh only spoke Spanish, and yet uh the folks, even though many of them uh you know were managing them, didn't understand the importance of making sure that we translated the documents for them, that we made sure that they were engaged, that we made sure that they um that their their schedules were different because of who they were trying to reach and how they were trying to reach. And so that's an example, a really small example of how coming from the community, understanding the community, and really knowing the community made a difference in the leadership style of how we did the work, so that we were able to really ensure that these promotores had the tools that they needed to be able to do that they need they needed on the ground, right? So, what I mean is we adjusted as an organization to ensure, uh, and we weren't playing favoritism or anything like that, but we adjusted to make sure that we were providing the training and the resources and the schedules that they needed so that they could do the job the best that they could, which meant they were going to be meeting people where they're at. And if you looked at a model of how to do community engagement or how to do that work from a typical non-person of color way of doing this, it would have been, you know, set up meetings between nine and five. It would have been, you know, um a whole different way of reaching out to the community. And I think one of the things that was beautiful about organizing promotores and being able to create some of the first programs, like in the county of San Diego, that were official, uh, was really this idea that we were leading with family and community in mind. And to me, I think that's where the power of Latina leadership comes because it's not just ourselves or our careers that we're thinking about. It really is how we decide and how we decide on how these policies and these initiatives work. Because we think of our not only about people, the households, but we're thinking about the real lives. And so leading with community in mind is really something powerful because we understand that leadership doesn't happen in isolation, that what we do really affects others, that we lead through collaboration and not needing to be the only voice in the room, but knowing how to make sure that we're bringing those voices together. And you know, the truth is that I've never believed that leadership is about being the loudest. There are some people who love that, right? Um, but really for me, it's really about being clear and bringing people with you and caring. And caring sometimes gets misunderstood. Caring um doesn't mean that you're too soft or or care. Caring really is being responsible, and caring is doing the extra work that you have to do at times to understand what the impact is, to listen longer, to think beyond what's easy for you. And to me, that really is what leadership is. And so I think part of how we lead comes from our need or how we have had to survive by navigating these very complex systems that weren't created by us or for us, right? And talking about public health, human services, public safety, all these systems that all don't always talk to each other but impact some so many of the same people. And what that teaches you very quickly is that leadership isn't just about making a decision in one lane, but it's also about understanding how that decision has a ripple. How across departments, if they don't talk to each other, right, and across communities and real lives, if we don't do that, we don't really um understand the needs of our communities and what that looks like. And so you have to learn to ask different questions, not just do the work and not just check off boxes, but really understand who does it impact? What are we missing? Who's not at the table? Because so many times I've seen what happens when decisions are made in silos. They may look really good in paper, but they don't hold true in uh in real life. And when you're responsible for large systems, you don't get to make easy decisions. You know, you balance urgency with resources, competing priorities, and then you have to think about the real human impact and what does that look like? And that changes really how you lead. And of course, looking at data is critical because you see this in action, but data has not always included us, right? As a community, or it hasn't been really used to make the decisions that need to be made. We know for a fact that Latinas make about 10% of the population in this country. We're the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs. Latina-owned businesses have grown nearly 90% over the last decade. Our purchasing power is over a trillion dollars, and yet we're receiving less than 2% of the venture capital funding. We make up nearly 10% of the workforce, but we only hold about 2% of executive leadership roles, not to mention corporate boards, right? Not just the C-suite, but also the corporate boards. And in politics, Latinas are, you know, we're 10% of the population, but we only hold about 2-3% of elected office nationally. So let's be clear: this isn't about potential, this is about power, and what we're really seeing. It's not that there's a leadership gap, it's a re recognition gap. And that's what I want us to remember. What we're really seeing here is not a leadership gap, but a recognition gap. And so we cannot talk about how leadership works in our communities. We need to talk about it how leadership really centers people and family. So in our no manches segment, I want to talk about this. I want to talk about family, community, and care. Sometimes folks may see it as less strategic, less like somehow if you're thinking about impact, you're not being tough enough, right? But in no manches, this is really strategy because leadership that ignores people doesn't hold, right? We need to make sure that when we're thinking about our community strategically, we are really thinking about us long term, right? How is it possible, right, that as soon as as the more we are faced with some of these big challenges, we are not asking why are Latinas not at the table? Where is that one Latina who can give a different perspective? And it's okay, right? It's okay when we are on the front lines, but somehow ensuring that we're getting tapped for those jobs as we're moving forward to the executive level and the senior levels, it's not happening. And so for me, I think it's really important to think about that. You know, I've seen a number of Latinas, and this is just this is not an actual poll, but this is like the work that I have been uh watching, and particularly as a coach, the number of Latina executives that are given sort of that, which is really not a golden handshake because no se van con muchos recursos, but they are asked to exit, right? Uh, because uh they either um need to restructure or things need to work a little different. And so what happens is when these things are happening, there really isn't a concertive effort from our community to say, wait a second, why is this happening in this organization? Why is it that if you're serving mostly Latinos, your Latina executives are nowhere to be found? And I believe, right, that this is a no manches moment where we as a community need to be asking, why aren't Latinas, they're okay to be the managers, they're okay to be the entry-level positions, which is fantastic and fabulous, but how are we coordinating them so that they could be the executives who are managing the budgets, who are having the impact, who are making sure that things are happening on a day-to-day basis because they're supporting, but we need them to be in those positions. And so to me, I believe that um it's critical that we think about Latinas in those strategic roles in order for us to be able to continue to move forward as a community. And so what I want to leave you with today, when el grano de oro, is el granito de oro is the way that you lead matters, and the way you've had to lead has really shaped you, not just to survive systems, but to expand them. As a Latina, um, I think it's really important that we really think about and reflect on where you are already leading, right? And ways that you are centering family, community, collaboration, and care. Where have you been minimized, right? Because I think one of the biggest challenges for Latinas is that it's sometimes we don't feel seen because we don't fit the traditional definition of leadership. And it's important that we shift that. We shift that by starting to name it as leadership, number one, because leadership isn't just what is visible, but what we carry. I think it's important to ensure that you have those allies that can be your champions, right? Not just mentors, but champions. They're the ones that are speaking about you when you're not in the room. Because it's extremely important that as this country, as this country is moving forward, in order for us to ensure that Latinas are at the table and that we're making decisions, is that we own the power of Latina leadership. Because it isn't just what we do, but it's how we do it. We have the awareness, the responsibility, the connection to people, and many times in two or more languages, right? Plus the cultural understanding, the understanding that leadership doesn't exist in isolation. Maybe leadership isn't just about power. And I really believe that that's where Latina leadership really is critical and important. Maybe it's about the responsibility that we have to people, to community, and to impact. And the fact that we are in the state that we are in this country, I really believe that what we need is for more Latina leadership because we've been leading all along and the system hasn't just caught up to us yet, but it will, because we are the leaders and we are what leadership looks like now. I really believe that we are the corazón of this community and this country, and our heritage, our knowledge, our expertise, and our caring for community was gonna, it's what's gonna make a difference in the day-to-day and how we're gonna resolve some of these major, major challenges that are impacting our communities nowadays. And so, as you think about leadership, think about Latina leadership, think about what it looks like, think about um how you promote, how you talk about it, and how we ensure that there's a value in the leadership that we're bringing to the table. And so, with that, I'm grateful for you being here. I'm grateful for you listening and for sharing this podcast. Um, this is El Grano, the American Dream, Despite It All. I want to make sure that we're continuing to have this live live um conversation around redefining leadership and what it looks like, particularly for Latinas. And um I thank you. Make sure you leave a comment, share it with your friends, and I will talk to you soon. See you on El Grano, the American Dream Despite It All. Thank you.