Leaning In Latina Style: Stepping Out
and Rising Up
Part 4: Basking in Our
Mayan Roots
However, we
are not letting corporate America define us or our success or our families or
our communities. We are Stepping Out of corporate America and we are Rising Up
on our own terms. We all have a story to tell about why we are no longer a part
of corporate America. We are starting companies, we are supporting each other,
we are finding a way to be in community, and we are living our ancestral truth,
we are basking in our Mayan roots. We are ourselves, first and foremost, and we
have resisted being typecast, stereotyped, or used…we have refused to lean in
on anyone else’s terms and when the price is too high to pay, we Step Out and
Rise Up. To reclaim our divinity, to give birth to the 5th new sun
rising, to aide in the shift from the masculine to the feminine energy. We are
here to bloom, we are here to flourish, we are here to blossom as we reclaim
the divinity that is our birthright. Our success is inevitable our divine
selves are waiting to be reborn.
And how do
you know when the price is too high? When you are asked to sacrifice your
family for the job—our roots, our culture—our raison d’etre—only allow us to be
US. We can’t, won’t sacrifice our families if that is what it takes to be
accepted by corporate America. You see, somos
mujeres de la tierra and we want it all and we will settle for nothing
less. I want to be in the board room making decisions and I want to be at the
school supporting my child, I want a place at the table, but I also want a
place in the kitchen, I want my kids to know a home cooked meal. For us, it is
and/both and if we need to do it our way, so be it, we will Step Out of
corporate American and Rise Up on our own terms.
You know the
price is too high when they are afraid of your emotions and they ask you to be
emotionless. I refuse to be emotionless, I refuse not to cry, I refuse not to
tear up, it is who I am and my divine self will not be denied. You see, that is
a price that is too high to pay. I am an emotionally divine being. I tear up
thinking of my mom and all she sacrificed for me, I tear up when I hear of the
sacrifices others have made, I tear up at sad songs and emotional movies. My
essence, the essence of mujer is to
be moved by tears, to feel in my gut, to know what I feel and how I feel it. If
I need to be stoic, to keep a stiff upper lip, to not let the tears flow…that
is asking me to give up my essence, that place deep in my gut where my feeling
collide, that is asking me to not be REAL, to not be authentic. It is asking me
to be the person you are comfortable with, it is asking me to be the person you
want me to be, not the person that I am. It is asking me to silence my divine
self, who loves to laugh, cry, sing, and dance.
I wouldn’t,
I couldn’t, I shouldn’t deny my culture, my people, my community. I cannot “be”
a coconut in your organization. The “brown girl” called in to “act” white, to
give voice to her community to be your diversity token…as long as I am
behaving. I will not “behave” If you invite me in, you invite in mi familia, mi comunidad, mi cultura, y mis
raices. Where I go, so go my ancestors. Where I am, so is my celestial
voice. Where I show up, so shows up my divine self.
I will own
my own voice. If that costs me a promotion, a job, an opportunity, or a nod—so
be it, I will Step out and Rise up. I need to be me, I need to have my voice, I
need to honor and respect those who have come before me. I cannot be the
silenced voice you ask of me, I cannot be your brown face in a sea of white,
echoing what everyone else is saying and not feeling. I will not be your
quota—I am a Latina on a mission and my voice will not be silenced—even if you
do not want to hear what I have to say, even if you take the ladder right out
from under me.
I will Step
Out of corporate America and Rise Up when the price is too high and I will Rise
up on my own terms. I may not go through your door, I may not sit in your
chair, I may not have a place at your table, but I will open my own doors. I
will join mis comadres and we will
pull out chairs for each other. I will sit a table set for mis madrinas. I will hold the ladder for mis amigas to climb on whatever wall they have chosen. We are
stepping out, rising up and it will look different. Our ladder is not on the
same wall, but we are still climbing at a fast pace. It will look different
than your journey—but in the end, the results will be the same and we will all
meet at the top and manage to change the world to be a kinder and more gentler
place. We are woman, we are divine, and we shall rise up, the time is NOW and
the time is Right!!!
Join me on a
journey to reclaim our divinity, embrace our divine selves, bask in our glory
and power.
Con un pan y cafecito,
Seguimos adelante
Zulmara Maria
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