The Monarch Route

• In Event: “La Baila” Mentoring Frameworks for Advancing Latinas as School Leaders

Abstract

My story. I strongly believe in the power of storytelling and the importance of documenting diverse voices to guide learning and introspection. I would like to share my story as a recognition of certain privileges but also disadvantages of not knowing who I am and who I can be in the U.S. Higher Education context. As a Mexicana, raised and born in Mexico, I acknowledge the diversity of Latina identity. Leadership and identity are abstract concepts that both inform and are shaped by individual experiences and voices. This chapter is a personal testimonio of the role of mentorship in identity and leadership formation, what I define as my monarch route, part of a mysterious path that allows one to be successful in an immigration route and to be able to arrive at the destination.

During my years as a graduate student in the U.S., I was blessed to have a mentor who was also Latina and an immigrant woman. The two of us spoke the same language, including the one which comes from your heart. She understood and mentored me; she saw things that I was not able to visualize using her expertise. After she unexpectedly passed, I was by myself again. However, my career as a professional was flourishing at the time. I was receiving awards and grants because of hard work, strong collaborations, creativity, and vision. But I was not prepared enough to develop my career in this new context because I lacked the knowledge to navigate this system. Although I came to this country with ten years of expertise, many times this was not sufficient to advocate for myself. It was my mentor who provided true guidance as I became established in Higher Education. Her death was painful, unbelievable, and brought a lot of confusion in my early career in the U.S.

After my mentor passed, I focused on others and transformed myself into an educator who advocates for international and domestic students and other underserved populations, but I could not do the same for myself. While I was working tirelessly for others, I was not cultivating my leadership capacity. How could that happen? What did I miss? How could I have the capacity to mentor others and not myself? Why wasn't I ready to advocate for my leadership? To answer these questions, I must reflect on my career and the challenges that I was not prepared to face in a very strategic and authentic way.

Author

• Nadia Alvarez Mexia, University of Arizona