{"id":894,"date":"2013-05-19T16:28:19","date_gmt":"2013-05-19T20:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philvelez.com\/blog\/?p=894"},"modified":"2013-05-22T15:58:42","modified_gmt":"2013-05-22T19:58:42","slug":"latinas-think-big-the-official-launch-of-the-ella-leadership-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philvelez.com\/blog\/?p=894","title":{"rendered":"LATINAS THINK BIG – The Official Launch of the ELLA Leadership Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The ELLA Leadership Institute launch event at Barnard College, May 16, 2013.<\/p><\/div>\n

The ELLA Leadership Institute<\/a> officially launched last Thursday, May 16, at an empowering event at Barnard College at Columbia University. The LATINAS THINK BIG event was attended by over 200 participants and was live streamed by Google.<\/a><\/p>\n

ELLA Leadership Institute<\/a> is a professional development center that offers strategic and tailored training, consulting, and mentoring programs to women seeking career and leadership success.<\/p>\n

\u201cLatinas are the fastest growing female population in this country,\u201d said ELLA Leadership Institute<\/a> Founder and CEO Dr.\u00a0Ang\u00e9lica P\u00e9rez-Litwin<\/a>, \u201cand yet only 0.3% of Fortune 500 corporate executives are Latinas. Similar rates of invisibility are found in academia, in the political arena, and the non-profit sector. This is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Ang\u00e9lica P\u00e9rez-Litwin, who earned her PhD. in clinical psychology from Fordham University, has devoted more than 20 years of her professional career to the empowerment, well-being, and success of Latinas. As the publisher of NEW LATINA<\/a>, Dr. P\u00e9rez-Litwin has greatly contributed to a new digital conversation focusing on issues that matter to today\u2019s career-driven and progressive Latinas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is a large majority of professional Latinas are pioneers,\u201d Dr. P\u00e9rez-Litwin said during her talk at the LATINAS THINK BIG event. \u201cMany of them are first generation Latinas in corporate America, in academia, in politics, in the careers of science, technology, and engineering. As they enter these professional-themed arenas they are navigating new spaces and don\u2019t have the necessary support and guidance to achieve career success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. P\u00e9rez-Litwin has already inspired countless Latinas, including members of Mujeres<\/a>, the Latina-based student organization at Barnard College. Tatiana Vera, who works at the Student Life Center at Barnard and is the president of Mujeres, is honored to have Dr. P\u00e9rez-Litwin as her personal mentor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she called herself my mentor I was through the roof,\u201d said Vera. \u201cEverything that she\u2019s done I completely respect. I want to be a clinical psychologist as well. She\u2019s the CEO of her own company and has her own practice. How more boss can you be for a woman?\u201d<\/p>\n

Corina Velazquez, a spoken word artist and dancer who is also a member of Mujeres, thinks of herself as an important piece in changing the world mainly because of Dr. P\u00e9rez-Litwin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I met Dr.\u00a0Ang\u00e9lica P\u00e9rez<\/a> I was blown away,\u201d Velazquez said. \u201cShe changed my view about working and my own aspirations as well. She really instilled this idea of the Latina not only working for her family but also working for herself. She instilled the idea that we can have it all and be economically sound as well.\u201d<\/p>\n