Ramona Emilia Romero

Ramona Emilia Romero was born in the Dominican Republic where she lived until age 11 when she moved to New York City.

She is Corporate Counsel, Logistics and Energy at DuPont, where she is currently responsible for legal oversight of the acquisition of transportation, distribution, supply chain management and energy resources totaling billions of dollars each year. Previously, Ramona managed all facets of DuPont Legal’s industry-leading outside counsel and supplier partnering program and oversaw many departmental operations, including e-discovery and litigation reporting for compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley. Having spent most of her career as a litigator, Ramona has also managed complex commercial and antitrust cases for DuPont. Prior to joining the Company, she practiced at a large firm in Washington, DC.

Join me while I ask Ramona about a typical day for her, what she does to manage all the operations she does, and what she finds the most challenging aspects of her job.

Ramona is known nationally as an advocate for diversity in the legal profession and as an expert in law department operations and outside counsel management. She has spoken at dozens of conferences and has been featured or quoted in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel and Corporate Counsel Magazine, among others.

I’ll be asking how one gets quoted in such prestigious publications and if they’ve always gotten her quotes correct…

Throughout her career, Ramona has been a volunteer leader in many community and professional organizations, including the American Red Cross in the Delmarva Peninsula and Delaware Futures (a support program for talented at-risk high school students).

She has also served as President of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia and is a co-founder of the Dominican American National Roundtable, the first effort to empower Dominican-Americans nationally.

Currently, she is the President-Elect of the Hispanic National Bar Association and will become its National President in September 2008. I’ll be asking Ramona what she has planned for the HNBA in the upcoming year.

Ramona’s leadership and contributions have been recognized in a variety of contexts. For example, in 2007 she received the Lucero Award (”lucero” is Spanish for guiding star) from the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Also in 2007, Hispanic Business Magazine identified her as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the United States.

We’ll ask Ramona how she manages to stay active in so many community and professional organizations, given her career demands.

Ramona earned her BA from Barnard College, Columbia University in 1985 and her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1988.

She is a member of the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Cuban American Bar Association, the Dominican Bar Association, the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania and the Association of Corporate Counsel.

What We're Learning…

I hope you’ll use this interview series as inspiration for your life and a chance to reflect and learn from your own experiences.  Each week as I do the interviews, I ask myself what I’m learning from the women I speak with and how I can apply it to me as an individual.

That’s the whole idea behind the study guides as well.  I encourage you to print out the Powerful Insights study guide each week and ask yourself what’s most useful and important for you from the interview.  I know that the answer will be different for you than for anyone else as your life and circumstances are unique.

What did you learn?  What was an interesting tidbit?  I’d also invite you to share with me, if you’d like, what was especially relevant or touching for you.  I’d love to hear from you what is interesting about the interviews to *you.*

Identify What You Feel Passionate About…

This week I interviewed Rocio Cordoba, who’s dedicated her life to improving the lives of Latinas. It was a joy and an honor to speak with her, as it has been with my other guests, and to learn from her about her life in policy.

She gave some good advice:  Identify what you feel passionate about by connecting with the vision you have of how the world would look as a better place and then figure out how you can make that happen.

This is good advice whether you’re envisioning policy changes, or just how to make your own world better, whether that be how to better connect with your children, or how to make your room a peaceful sanctuary.

I personally spend some time each day holding in my heart and my head a vision of how I want my life to be and it is a creative and energizing process.

You can gain access to the audio or transcript by clicking here.

Have a great week, and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Rocio L. Córdoba

Rocio L. Córdoba is Co-Founder and Executive Director of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ).  She is the child of immigrants from Ecuador and grew up in Ecuador and Los Angeles.  Culture and language is very important to her, and have strongly influenced her career path.

Join me during the interview as I discuss with her how she combines issues of race and culture with her gender analysis.

Rocio received a double major in English Literature and Journalism from the University of Southern California.  She utilized her degrees working in corporate communications prior to attending law school at Hastings College of Law.

Rocio has said that for her the organization she now heads had its seeds in law school.  She has done a number of things since then, but it’s all come together in a unique and important way.  In fact, she has served as a reproductive rights/justice, gender equity and civil rights attorney and advocate on the national, state and local levels for over 17 years.

I’ll be speaking with Rocio about her career path and the different experiences she’s had in her work life.  She has received numerous awards and appointments, served on Boards, committees, received fellowships and led organizations.

For example, Rocio was appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to serve on the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women.

She also recently completed serving her second term as President of the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom (CCRF), where she has sought to promote the inclusion of diverse communities of color in its membership, advocacy and policy priorities.

Rocio is a Founding Team member of EMERJ (Expanding the Movement for Empowerment and Reproductive Justice) and serves on the national SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective’s Management Circle, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health Policy Advisory Committee, California Family Health Council’s Board of Directors, CSULA’s Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities Advisory Board, and was a recent Fellow with the Women’s Foundation of California’s Women’s Policy Institute, among other leadership positions.

Most recently, Rocio served as Director of Public Affairs for UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education & Access (IDEA).

I’ll be asking Rocio what she’s learned from her variety of experiences, and what it’s meant to her to be involved in policy decisions.

Previously, Rocio served as a Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Southern California and as Director of its pilot Latina Rights Project; handled reproductive rights litigation and advocacy on the national level as a Staff Attorney with NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and as a Staff Attorney Fellow with the ACLU’s National Reproductive Freedom Project, both in New York; and served as the Kennedy/Coleman Fellow with the ACLU of Illinois in Chicago.

Bits of Wisdom…

Each week it’s been such an incredible experience for me to speak with amazing women and I continue to learn something new in each interview.  From Dr. Mirabal’s lesson about taking herself seriously, to Dr. Gonzalez’s admonition to "line up your ducks" and TELL people what you are going to do instead of asking permission!

And I am happily surprised to hear something new and gain a new perspective each time I speak with these incredible women.  I loved Jessica Herrera-Flanigan’s insight about "where you think you’re going to end up is never where you actually do," and Nancy Rodriguez’s wisdom about forgiveness bringing freedom.

This week was another wonderful interview with Raquel Aldana.  I hope you’ll continue to join us on this journey.  I feel so very grateful to be able to apply these lessons to my life, and I sincerely wish for you that they will be useful as well.

Each hour is so rich and deep and there is so much more than I can summarize in the weekly newsletters.  Nevertheless, stay tuned in and don’t forget you can purchase an audio recording or transcript if you missed an interview (or - if you want to hear it again). Click here for more information.

Hope you had a great Valentine’s Day!

Listening Is An Act of Love

A dear friend of mine told me this past week about the book and CD "Listening Is An Act of Love."  I haven’t yet purchased the set (although I plan to do so this week), but I thought the idea of listening and what it means for our lives is so relevant to my work with these interviews.  I really believe that by listening myself, and encouraging others to listen, to words of wisdom, I can hopefully open more possibilities for each of us.

They say that where you put your attention reflects what you love.  For me, I seek to listen to and look for messages that are uplifting, that encourage me to learn something new, and push me to grow and become a better person.  Last week’s interview with Raquel Aldana certainly made me think and reflect on the current state of political affairs and what we tolerate in our society.

And this week I look forward to learning more about the world of policy in an area that truly does affect each of our lives as women.

Raquel Aldana

Ms. Aldana was born in Guatemala and moved as an infant to El Salvador (her mother is Salvadoreña) where she spent the next eight years of her life, before returning to Guatemala. She came to the US in 1982, at the age of 10 with her nuclear family – her parents and two siblings (an older brother and a younger sister). She was fortunate to have been able to come to the U.S. with lawful permanent resident status, which her parents obtained through sponsorship from a church after her father and brother experienced persecution related to the civil wars in El Salvador and subsequently Guatemala.

Join me as I discuss with Raquel her immigrant experience and how that’s affected her life choices.

Ms. Aldana has now lived in the U.S. for twenty five years, over 2/3 of her life, but continues to have a very strong Latina and immigrant identity, although she is now a naturalized citizen.

Ms. Aldana’s work as a human rights lawyer raised her social consciousness about the dirty and civil wars in Latin America, including in her own countries.

She’s worked on high profile cases, including the assassination of Archbishop Arnulfo Romero in El Salvador and the forced disappearance of Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, husband of Jennifer Harbury, in Guatemala, as well as many other massacres and disappearances of unknown victims. Through these cases, she learned how the intentional use of fear and construction of the “enemy” led entire societies to tolerate and even become complicit in gross atrocities committed against their neighbors.

She has also confronted the more direct complicity of states, corporate actors and foreign governments, particularly the U.S. in the commission of evil. All of these lessons today make her very sad to witness the repetition of all of that in our treatment of alleged terrorists in this new War on Terror.

I’ll be asking Raquel about her views on the current state of politics in the U.S. and what her studies have taught her about how we arrived at this point.

Ms. Aldana obtained her B.A. in English and Spanish from Arizona State University, graduating summa cum laude and with a Phi Beta Kappa National Scholarship Award.

She proceeded to obtain her J.D. at Harvard Law School, where she served as Articles Editor of the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

She spent one of her summers during law school at the Supreme Court of Justice in Costa Rica at their Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, and another at the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

After spending time as an associate at a large D.C law firm, she worked at the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) in Washington, D.C. as a staff attorney where she litigated human rights cases before the Inter-American Commission and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. As part of her work there, she also traveled to Latin America and the Caribbean to conduct training workshops on the Inter-American System and international human rights law or to investigate violations of human rights.

What kind of cases did Raquel work on, and what did she learn from them?

She is now a tenured Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she teaches courses on international law, human rights, immigration law, and criminal law and procedure.

Ms. Aldana was a Fulbright Scholar at the Universidad Rafael Landivar in Guatemala City during parts of 2006 and 2007 where she taught courses, as well as conducted field research, including interviews with several prosecutors and victim representatives, on victim participation in the criminal process in Guatemala and on the criminal investigation of femicide cases.

What prevents or motivates victims to participate and how can we apply this knowledge to our own lives?

She has written multiple books and articles, including being a contributor to the book Everyday Law for Latinos. She has also done many presentations, both academic and community-centered, and organized conferences, served as lecturer, keynote speaker and moderator. Among others, Ms. Aldana has put on “Know Your Rights” workshops centered on immigration law, which she’s presented at workplaces, schools and community centers.

Learn more about Raquel’s work in the immigration field and hear what she’s gleaned from presentations she’s given.

Ms. Aldana met her husband during her Fulbright work in Guatemala and they are currently expecting their first child.

Relationships…

This is the week of Valentine’s Day, and I reflect not only on the relationship with my beloved, but also on the relationships with *all* the people in my life.

Several weeks ago when I asked Dr. Nancy Mirabal how she defined a true friend, she spoke of reciprocity.  I would encourage you all to reflect on your relationships and determine whether you are both giving and receiving all you want to be from each of them. 

Recognize, of course, there are no "shoulds" and you don’t — or at least *I* don’t! — want people to do things for me out of obligation, fear, guilt, shame or duty.  Rather, I both want to give and receive simply and freely out of joy!

I strive to create relationships in my life in which we are all giving from the heart…

Who you are is enough…

I had such a lovely interview with Nancy Rodriguez on Wednesday evening.  The interview went so fast, and I found myself wanting to ask many more questions!  She is an accomplished artist and a wise woman.

One of the bits of wisdom Nancy shared with us comes from her spiritual beliefs.  She said, "Who you are is enough.  You are from the same energy as the sun, the sky and the ocean — that’s powerful energy!" Even if your spiritual beliefs are different, it is a motivating thought to remind ourselves of the power of nature and how much power we hold within and around ourselves.  Use it wisely!

She also shared her own belief that she’s had since a child that if you are comfortable with who you ARE, you will be happy in your life. 

I hope you are able to use some of these lessons and they are useful in your own life.

Don’t forget that if you want a copy of Nancy’s entire interview, you can order it.  Click here for more information.

In February, the month of love and friendship…

In February, the month of love and friendship, I wonder how many of us reflect on our relationship with ourselves?  When was the last time you paid yourself a compliment?  Told yourself how beautiful you are?  Took yourself
out to a nice dinner, or bought yourself a thoughtful gift — just because?  Or purchased flowers and put them in a beautiful vase to brighten up the house?  Or, even better, just spent some time "talking" with yourself and
getting to know YOU better?

I sincerely hope that each of you will take time to treat yourself JUST LIKE you would like someone else to treat you.  We often treat *others* better than we treat ourselves!  Take some time right now and decide on an action you will take this week to be good to you.

Have a fabulous month, and I hope you have all the cariño in your life you want and deserve!

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