Juana Bordas

Juana Bordas is President of Mestiza Leadership International — a company that focuses on leadership, diversity, and organizational change. A former faculty member for the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), she taught in the Leadership Development Program (LDP) - the most highly utilized executive program in the world.

As founding President/ CEO of the National Hispana Leadership Institute, the only program in America that prepares Latinas for national leadership, she forged partnerships with Harvard’s JFK School of Government and CCL to provide training for Hispanic women.

>>  Join me as I speak with Juana about her organization and the way that she views leadership, and especially leadership for Latinas…

In 1977 she was a founder of Denver’s Mi Casa Women’s Center and served as executive director until 1986.  Today, Mi Casa is recognized as a national model for women’s empowerment.

Juana holds an MSW from the University of Wisconsin. She has twenty two years’ experience managing nonprofit corporations and building partnerships with the private sector to support innovative programs.

>>  I’ll be asking her about the non-profit/private bridges she’s built and what her strategies and suggestions are for continuing those relationships.

Her publications include: “Passion and Power: Finding Personal Purpose” — essay in “Reflections on Leadership” (John Wiley & Sons). Juana is a contributing author to “Leadership in the 21st Century” in “Rethinking Leadership” published by Sage Publications. “Latino Leadership: Building a Diverse and Humane Society” was published by the Journal for Leadership Studies.  Her paper, “African American Leaders: Guardians of Public Values,” was included in the inaugural issue of the International Journal on Servant Leadership.

Her book, “Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age” was published by Berrett-Koehler in 2007 and has received compelling endorsements from experts in the leadership field and from Latino, Black and American Indian leaders.

>>  What led Juana to write, and toward whom are her different publications directed?

Juana recently served as advisor to Harvard’s Hispanic Journal on Public Policy and the Kellogg National Fellows Program. She received the Wise Woman Award from the National Center for Women’s Policy Studies and was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. Currently, she is vice president of the board of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership and a trustee of the International Leadership Association.

How does Juana choose her community commitments, and what led to her different awards?

A dynamic national speaker and trainer, Juana weaves leadership, diversity, and community building into a multicultural tapestry. She utilizes music, movement and leadership practices to illustrate the richness and wisdom diversity brings.

A former Peace Corps volunteer, she received the Franklin Miller Award from the US Peace Corps for her life long commitment to advance communities of color. The Denver Business Journal selected her for their 2003 Outstanding Women in Business Award.

She was recognized by the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women as a Colorado Pioneer for her “Legacy of Outstanding Leadership.” In 2006, Juana received the Leadership Legacy award from Spellman College’s Center for Leadership. She was honored with the 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Business Responsibility Award.

Juana came to the U.S. from her native Nicaragua as a child with her parents and five siblings. She grew up in Tampa, Florida, was taught the importance of a good education, and far exceeded her parents’ expectations.

>> Join me as I talk with this amazing woman about the lessons she shares in her book, and her advice and words of wisdom for Latinas!