On February 14-17, 2019, nine officers and members of Latinos Unidos attended the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute conference. USHLI is an award- winning national 501(c)(3) organization, which hosted the 37th USHLI Conference at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Hotel. Words do no justice to the honor of being able to attend the conference with over 6,500 present and future leaders representing 40 states. We networked and attended various forums, workshops, and seminars that coincided with the conference’s theme, Defend Democracy: Aquí y Ahora. Many of the workshops offered great content, with messages that left us feeling empowered and excited to get involved and make a difference.

We met Dolores Huerta, an American labor leaders and civil rights activist and role model to many young leaders, who shared with us her story and instilled in us the message of being civically engaged on and off campus. It is moments and opportunities like these that truly give us a greater collegiate experience.

Many of the topics covered during the workshops included Education, Pathways for Women in Leadership, Civic Engagement, Leadership Development, Advocacy through Social Media and many more. As an example of this would be the workshop of Speak Truth Through Power, which emphasized the importance of using your voice to speak your values.

Besides attending the workshop, we had the opportunity to dine with other leaders. At one of the dinner gathering we realized how other factors come into play when socializing. We talked about having a collaborative event where we could teach etiquette dining to students in a mock dining setting. We realized the importance of being exposed to these type of leaders as we develop our own leadership skills and look forward to future conferences.