Just recently, a social media post reminded us that it was as recent as 1971—we had already been on the moon—that women needed a man’s signature to get a credit card. But, and especially for today’s younger women, this only scratches the surface on a reality that makes our heads spin.
In 1971, a woman could be fired for getting pregnant; could not serve on certain juries; could not enroll at several Ivy League schools; could not get health insurance at the same rate as a man. Really. That was 1971. In America. The place we live today!
But as we mark Women’s Month, there’s been a seismic shift—for the better—for women and especially young girls. “It amazes me that we’ve made this progress,” said Denver attorney, law school professor and political activist Cecelia Espenoza. But progress for Espenoza was, perhaps, even a bit more problematic.
Growing up in Utah as part of one of the few Latino families in her community Espenoza also dealt with religious diversity. Back then Utah was nearly 75 percent Mormon, and she was usually the only Latina, non-Mormon in her classes.
But her parents, both working class—her father a barber, her mother, a homemaker—stressed education, and Espenoza took it almost preternaturally.
She took advantage of federal summer programs aimed at steering more Latinos into college. Then, at the University of Utah she did well, earning both undergraduate and law degrees.
Espenoza and her law degree have taken her to high level positions in the Department of Justice, to faculty positions at law schools in Texas and Colorado. She was the first Latina law professor at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law. She has also published articles in some of the country’s most prestigious law journals.
Still, said Espenoza, “Of all the work I’ve done, the most important work is being a mentor and sponsor for young people. Giving generations coming after us the opportunity for success is a passion of mine.”
Espenoza is also a Democratic candidate for the Colorado State Legislature.
The future is also the focus for Joelle Martinez, President and CEO of the Latino Leadership Institute. The LLI was launched in 2014 by a group of Latino political and business leaders, including former Denver Mayor and Cabinet Secretary Federico Peña.
In just ten years, LLI has touched the lives of scores of talented and imaginative young Latinos who have taken their experience gleaned and demonstrated leadership abilities across a wide swath of politics, business and entrepreneurial endeavors.
LLI’s team, recruited from these same disciplines, said Martinez, is a key part of building for the future. “Many have changed their careers to join our cause, while others have eagerly acquired new skills to contribute to our success.”
With a straight-line focus on the horizon, the LLI chief executive says recognizing and empowering new generations of Latino talent is key to not only LLI’s success but also—and more importantly—that of younger Latinos whose talent and potential is evident yet untapped.
“We recognize the immense potential within the Latino community,” Martinez stressed, “and have designed programs to facilitate career advancement and entrepreneurial success.” True strength, she said, lies in fostering a community of Latino professionals who not only recognize but have an unbridled desire to nurture the dreams and aspirations of not only the next generation of Latino talent but also those who’ll follow.
For Adrianna Abarca, Founder and Board Chair of Denver’s Latino Cultural Arts Center, art remains a driving force. It is, to her, what French artist Edgar Degas once said. “Art is not what you see,” Art, he said is “what you make others see.”
Abarca grew up in a family where, she said, “I was fortunate to be exposed to Chicano, Mexican and various Latino art at a young age and I’ve been involved in this journey for the past forty years.”
After college, Abarca took her degree in Latin American Studies from Boulder and the University of Colorado to San Francisco where she worked in art galleries, artist management and also at the city’s Mexican Museum. “I was in San Francisco during the height of the Chicano Arts movement.” Working around art and artists every day, she said, “I got to see some of the top talent…and wanted to bring back some of that inspiration to Denver.”
Today, Abarca owns Hijos del Sol at 2715 W. 8th Avenue in Denver. It’s an “appointment only” venue that sells “clothing, accessories, jewelry, household and gift items…of which 85 percent is handmade.”
But Abarca’s not stopping with a boutique art store. She has a plan in the works to also open another Latino art venue, Los Bodegas. “We want people to experience and get a sense of community, a sense of pride in the culture of other Latino people throughout the Americas.”
Abarca says a love of art is in her blood, passed down from a father who made it a part of her family’s homelife. “Just watching him interact with artists and develop friend- ships with them,” she said, was inspirational. Among his friends, Abarca remembered, were Denver Latino artists John Encinas, Carlos Sandoval, Tim Cisneros and North Denver’s shining star artist, John Flores.
While his acumen was business—he founded the Denver-based Ready Foods—“he, himself, had the soul of an artist.” In another time, she added, “he would have been an artist.”
While Espenoza, Martinez and Abarca are all accomplished Latinas, they are each the beneficiaries of the hard work, discipline and dreams of other Latinas who came before.
Included in this ever growing roll of strong, inspirational Latinas are: Rosemary Rodriguez, Yadira Caraveo, Polly Baca, Debbie Ortega, Patricia Barela-Rivera and Ramona Martinez in politics and government; Susana Cordova, Lilly Padilla, Esther Lubin, Anna Baca in education; Cindy Velasquez-Peña, Anne Trujillo, Beverly Martinez in media. And so many others including Christine Marquez-Hudson, Nita Gonzales and Pat Cortez. It is a list of amazing Latina leaders that has gone from microscopic to unavoidable in just a short span of time. And it continues to grow with amazing women.
“We each have been gifted with amazing role models,” said LaVozColorado publisher, Pauline Rivera. “Our lives have been inspired by mothers and fathers, tias and teachers, people who believed in us, taught us, pushed us, picked us up when we fell and helped us be more than we even thought we could be. Our duty and obligation is to do for the next generation what so many others did for us.”
