BETHLEHEM, Pa. — “Somos fuertes, poderosas, inteligentes, únicas" — we are strong, powerful, intelligent and unique.
Those empowering words set the tone for the second annual Pennsylvania Latina Women Conference Tuesday evening at the Univest Public Media Center on the SteelStacks campus.
The event, emphasizing unity, confidence and strength, drew Latina leaders and entrepreneurs from across the region.
Organized by the Pennsylvania Latino Convention, or PALC, and held in partnership with Lehigh Valley Public Media, the evening featured conversations focused on leadership, identity and opportunity.
Lehigh Valley Public Media is comprised of PBS39, 91.3 WLVR, and LehighValleyNews.com — all nonprofit media based on the SteelStacks campus.
The event was organized by committee members from the PA Latino Convention, which will celebrate its eighth year in Pittsburgh on Sept. 25-27.
Guest speakers on Tuesday included Olga Negrón, executive director of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs in Pennsylvania, or GACLA, and vice chairwoman of PALC; Easton City Administrator and LVPM board Treasurer Luis Campos; LVPM Chief Executive Officer Hasanna Birdsong; and Norman Bristol Colón, founder of PALC and the commonwealth's chief diversity officer.
Strength in numbers
PAWLC members said the Latino population is among the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the state.
In Allentown, the third-largest city in the state, half the population identifies as Latino.
In Bethlehem, Latinos comprise almost a third of the population on the city's South Side. In Easton, the Latino population has grown 25% over the past decade.
"Every day, Latina women break barriers, challenge stereotypes, and build bridges, not just for yourselves, but for future generations."Norman Bristol Colón, founder of PALC and the commonwealth's chief diversity officer
Colón said that nearly 20% of women in the United States identify as Latinas.
"Latina women carry the power of heritage, culture and strength, passed down to generations," he said. "You are leaders, caregivers, innovators, entrepreneurs, educators and warriors of change.
"Every day, Latina women break barriers, challenge stereotypes, and build bridges, not just for yourselves, but for future generations."
According to Colón, the number of Latina-owned businesses have increased 87% in the past decade, and Latinas inject $1.7 trillion a year into the American economy.
Yet, he said, Latinas face some of the most severe economic disparities in the country and face health inequities.
"Latinas are increasing advocacy for community health, yet you are facing the highest health disparity," Colón said.
"So we need to do some work there if you want a nation that is directed by wellness and healthy communities. We must begin by addressing that.
"If you are in the business of improving the life of 30 million Pennsylvanians, you can never forget to have a strong Latina agenda, because if you don't, we are failing as a state.
"That is the message that you should take back to your communities."
Obstacles not fully addressed
The Lehigh Valley Latino community is expanding, but obstacles have yet to be fully addressed, said Marina King, an assistant director for Steel Cities Best, a summer camp for children, and a volunteer at the Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley.
"I love volunteer work, and I pride myself in doing so, and I would say that there are plenty of barriers that we have today," said King, an Allen High School graduate and student at Lehigh University's College of Health.
"But I would say the largest one is the gentrification that is happening in the Lehigh Valley," she said.
"You ask me how is the scene and how it affects us, and I can say that it's taking over our local businesses and our local public spaces, our local nonprofit spaces.
"And it's making it harder for people like me, people like all of the women that are sitting in this room, to find themselves in those places and to see themselves represented."
'Support and defend'
Dr. Damary Bonilla-Rodriguez of the PLWC Planning Committee moderated the first panel discussion, which focused on defying odds in leadership, specifically in the public service and non-profit sectors.
She was joined by Delia Marrero, executive director YMCA Bethlehem; Aurea Ortiz, host of the NPR radio show "Charla Comunitaria"; Allentown City Council President Cynthia Mota; and Bethlehem City Councilwoman Rachel Leon.
The group discussed the challenges they faced working in the public sector.
According to Latinas Represent, an initiative of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, Latinos account for nearly 20% of the U.S. population but hold just 2% of elected offices across local, state, and federal levels.
That's a stark disparity that highlights ongoing underrepresentation in political leadership, the group says.
Leon, who served in the military, expressed her feelings of not wanting to appear vulnerable amid ongoing fears within the immigrant community in Bethlehem.
"I need to support and defend, and I need to support students from my community," she said. "The decisions I make are a reflection of my community, so all those things make me feel [like] I cannot ask for help.
"But the truth is, asking for help is very difficult when you're the person that everybody turns to for answers, when everybody comes to you...
"And the reality is, in the time we are serving now, the answers don't work, because we're not playing by the rules here."
'It starts at home'
Mota, who moved from the Dominican Republic to Allentown with her family as a child, has served on Allentown City Council since 2012.
She offered advice to Leon.
"No one said that it was going to be easy as a Latina," Mota said. "It's hard. There is a lot of stigma, but the reality is we're strong, and you don't need to know all the answers.
"We are allowed to make mistakes. In politics, you are allowed to make mistakes. In life, period."
Mota said it's important to have mentors — "people you can speak with and that you can trust. One of the things I do when I'm stressed and overwhelmed I look to my niños, my sons, and my beliefs.
"Politics is important, community is important, but it starts at home."
A balancing act
The second panel discussion — which focused on building business confidence— was moderated by Lehigh County Assistant District Attorney Isis Negrón.
Panelists included Elizabeth Strong, GACLA commissioner; Michelle Laureano, executive director of Mujer Lehigh Valley; Angela Capeles, founder of the Capeles Agency; and Dr. Nadia Alicia, founder/chief executive officer of The Language Project and Spanish Immersion Learning Center in Allentown.
Alicia addressed the balancing act of entrepreneurship and motherhood.
"All of the mothers that I've known as a Latina woman have been at-home mothers, working sometimes, having to juggle both and having to take care of the kiddos," she said.
"I wanted to do that, I wanted to be a career person, right? And so that barrier that I had inside of me to say, you know, 'This is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to do what my grandmother did: Be home to hug me, cook for me, and do all of that.'
"That image of my grandmother or my aunt or my mother, and the way that they were and the way that I was raised, is not the image that I am currently.
"Because I decided very purposely to take a path of starting a business, which hasn't been done, and getting education, which hasn't been done before, and dividing my time between that and being a mother."
'Honoring your culture'
Toward the end of the evening, a shared sentiment among the crowd was the importance of authenticity.
"It's about being yourself, it's about honoring your culture and your heritage and your community and the things that make you you."Angela Capeles, founder of the Capeles Agency
"Whether you're Latina or not, you're not going to be able to grow in life, you're not going to be able to build your community, you're not going to be able to back people in the way that you want to if you're not yourself," Capeles said.
"But it's about being yourself, it's about honoring your culture and your heritage and your community and the things that make you you."
On Thursday, PALC also will hold a summer soiree and networking event in Philadelphia as part of the conference.
For information on the PA Latino Convention, visit the website.
