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Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to Building Leadership Community Podcast. I'm your host, Dora Mendez. I am the founder and CEO of Coach Dora, LLC. Our guests will be entrepreneurs. Small business owners and community leaders that drive social impact. It can be lonely at the top, but it doesn't have to be.
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Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to Building Leadership Community Podcast. I'm your host, Dora Mendez. Thank you to all our listeners and viewers. And if you're new to our podcast, please like, share and subscribe on YouTube by clicking the subscribe button with the little bell on it so you can be notified of when, new content gets posted. Since launching Building Leadership Community Podcast, the journey has been nothing short of transformative.
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Speaker 1
Allow me to reintroduce myself not just as a podcast host, but as a champion of inclusive leadership, growth and connection. With 6000 unique YouTube views and a thriving community of listeners. Season two is all about deepening the conversation and expanding our impact. At its core, Building Leadership Community is about fostering authentic leadership and empowering professionals to build stronger and more engaged communities.
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Speaker 1
Every episode dives into strategies, insights, and personal stories that help leaders navigate their leadership journey with confidence and purpose. Before I introduce today's special guest, yes, we have a very special guest today for part two of our conversation with the leader I'm most admire in this world, and that is Zenaida Mendez, aka my mother. Since this is our first episode of the new season, I want to take a few moments to set the stage for season two.
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Speaker 1
This season is set to elevate our leadership conversations, bringing fresh perspectives and insights experts from experts that help leaders rise to new heights. The diversity of leaders we will interview ranged from. Our guest today ,Zenaida Mendez, a trailblazing woman's right to advocate, to million dollar founders and CEOs, creative artists, business owners, community leaders and entrepreneurs who are breaking barriers to create their unique paths of prosperity and success.
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Speaker 1
I'm so looking forward to sharing these conversations with you. Also, being your thought partner to support you and address the challenges of leadership. I wrote a LinkedIn article recently entitled Entrepreneur Stay the Course, Stay Motivated, sharing my top three leadership do's and don'ts. I have the honor of witnessing today's guests, the leader and most admired, demonstrate the qualities of courageous, compassionate, resilient leadership and longevity.
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Speaker 1
And that is Zenaida Mendez, my mother. The leader I most admire. I'm going to bring her onto the stage now. Hi, mommy.
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Speaker 2
Hello.
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Speaker 1
First, before I read, your bio for our audience, you have a milestone birthday coming up. You're turning 70. For those who are watching, you won't believe that my mother's going to be 70 years old. And for those who are listening, take a peek later on. Or at least, look at the thumbnail for this, episode where we get your podcast and you won't believe that this, this remarkable, beautiful woman is turning 70 years old.
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Speaker 1
Can you share with our audience how you will be celebrating your 70th birthday?
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Speaker 2
Well, I'm going to have a great, great celebration, which is going to be a fundraiser for the National Dominican Women’s Caucus. We have a live megengue & salsa band, Los Toros band, and they have two women, young singer that, are exceptional you know, the main vocalist is Indira Riviera, who is very well known in the music world in Latin music and, you know, is really my friend.
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Speaker 2
My family is going to be, one day wonderful celebration.
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Speaker 1
This promises to be a spectacular gala. And if you will be in New York City on May 3rd, 2025 at the, I'll add the link to the description of this video and you can get your ticket. It's a suggested donation. And if you're not going to be in the New York metro area, you can donate any time to support the advocacy and the work that the National Dominican Women’s Caucus does.
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Speaker 2
to lift the voices of women.
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Speaker 1
Go ahead.
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Speaker 2
Once they go to the website, they can they have a lot of options. We made a suggestion, but what they're going to do was say that many of so that they can they can do. I use the new gift because I have everything that I need at this point, in my house, everywhere. So and it's I think it's beautiful.
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Speaker 2
To be able to support an organization that is doing great, great job in New York.
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Speaker 1
And not just New York is national. You going, you're going you're going to San Francisco later this month. Next month you you travel all around the world.
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Speaker 2
So I just went to Mexico two weeks ago also to participate in the Afro pop politica. Afro politicas. There were 30 women that were invited to this panel. And in Mexico City, invited by the the former Vice President of Costa Rica, Epsy Campbell Barr, and the Vice President of Colombia, Francia Marquez. It was something really, really powerful.
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Speaker 2
And to also redefine, how politics is affecting us as a Afro.-Descendant, which is critical, in this dying age.
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Speaker 1
So, so for those who don't know, who don't follow the podcast or know who you are, I'm going to read your bio in a moment. I want to share that, while the National Dominican Women's Caucus is Dominican women, it is inclusive of the Latin Latino, Latinx, community. And in March, you held the the third annual Latina Summit, which brought Latinas from all around the world, in the country, leaders together to talk about important topics, to advocate for how, we can participate and for our community.
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Speaker 1
So I just wanted to share that with our audience. So I'm going to read your bio. This is a boring part. You get to dis listen to me talk about you real quickly. So for our audience and viewers who may not know Zenaida Mendez, she is currently the chief external affairs officer at Manhattan Neighborhood Network. MNN Zenaida is a powerhouse leader with a BA from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a master's degree in public administration from City University of New York.
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Speaker 1
Combined with over 30 years of experience as a social justice activist focusing on women's issues and the concerns of people of the Afro-Latino diaspora. She is the founder and the president of the National Dominican Women's Caucus, and has held leadership positions in several organizations, including Director of Racial Diversity Programs at the National Organization for Women and the President of NOW’s New York State chapter.
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Speaker 1
Her work also has included addressing media representation, electoral politics, parenting, immigration, and environmental justice. Zenaida has also served in government roles, including for Mayor David Dinkins, New York City Office of Latino Affairs, and as a legislative aide to Representative Charles B. Rangel. Born in the Dominican Republic, she immigrated to New York as a teenager and is the mother of three daughters and two, and the grandmother of two.
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Speaker 1
Who happened to be my two children? I'm the only. I'm I'm the one of the three daughters that made you a grandmother. That's so.
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Speaker 2
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Speaker 1
So, mom. So now that we. And that's just a very brief summary of all of the things that you've done. So, for season one, you know, you know, you shared a lot of your personal leadership journey and like, the 80s and the 90s, and I would love for part two for you to share some advice to the next generation of leaders, especially sort of living in the context, in a context that isn't so friendly.
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Speaker 1
To women and women leaders these days.
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Speaker 2
Well, what I can say it is important to continue your education. Education has to come first. To expand, you can go to school, you can do a PHD, anything to enhance,. But also reading sometimes is not so much, maybe a degree, but for you get to read one book a month. And I want to say a week because we have busy life or let's say a month.
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Speaker 2
You know, that would be fantastic about all the women. I also read a lot of spiritual book, you know, because I seem to keep my spirit, keep the hope because we need to keep hopeful. So I also do that a lot. You know, so I do retreat, which is important, but we need more administrators. It's important that we be in places where we know we have to take, the Latino community in particular for minorities, so-called minority, which I don't consider myself minority because women are the majority.
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Speaker 2
So I'm a woman. So not a minority. So that's how I see what the new generation is doing. Great. My concern is when people get scared to go to graduate school because of the cost, and that is really my concern. Don't be afraid if you need to borrow to go to school, borrow! Because you want to get a great job, but going to be able to pay is better to have a degree.
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Speaker 2
And owe money they don't have a degree and then continue to make $5.25 an hour. So low.
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Speaker 1
So I think what we're ultimately what you're saying is don't be afraid to invest in yourself.
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Speaker 2
Exactly. Don't be afraid to invest on yourself. Put your first. Your first. You know yourself first, especially when you come to educate yourself. And critical thinking is very important, especially now they we so much media bombarding us with so many fake news. So we had to learn how to, be critical thinker, how to read between line, you know always this re who is who's talking re who is financing political campaign that is important.
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Speaker 2
Read find out who's on the media that you are seeing because us busy people don't have the time. I say let me tell you, the Latino community is a little funny. They said, oh, I heard on the radio this and that. Oh, I, I, I saw on television and they believe it as they hear it, as they saw it.
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Speaker 2
So you have to be critical. You have to be critical .
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Speaker 1
So what are you reading now?
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Speaker 2
I, I well, I had to say I just got a book. This latest is the only book written by the Pope, who just passed away a couple of days ago. wrote. And I'm also, you know, like I say, I'm rereading, Marianne Williamson some book, Return to Love. I've had it before, but I'm rereading them because we have to return to love.
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Speaker 2
Marianne Williamson, she ran for president of the United States. She would have been a great president. She had great idea. But I think it's, you know, it's like a balance. I see a lot of politics. But at the same time, like, right now, I'm preparing myself to educate the new generation or the new voters or how to vote the New York City.
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Speaker 2
We doing ranking is a ranking.
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Speaker 1
Shows rank choice voting. So you're you're working on educating, the electorate.
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Speaker 2
How to vote in New York City, how to vote, because the ranked choice voting is very complicated.
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Speaker 1
So I want to just piggyback on something you said about reading. I think because a lot reading is hard.
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Speaker 2
But now there are these things called, you know, audio. books, audio books.
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Speaker 1
And I want to share with people that your public libraries bibliotecas will take us all over the world . THey’re wonderful resource. You can get, these days for free and listen to audiobooks while you're in your car, while you're walking to work, while you're because people have busy lives. Mom, you are, people turn to to you because they don't have the time.
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Speaker 1
So that's why your leadership is so important. Because people will turn to you and they'll say, listen, I don't have the time. I, you know, I'm, I'm I don't have the time to read all the stuff. I don't have the time to look at the fine print and see who is funding what candidate Zenaida what do you think.
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Speaker 1
And that is what your leadership means. That's the kind of influence you have. People turn to you. People turn to the, National Dominican Women's Caucus. People turn to Manhattan Neighborhood Network because as a leader in community media, you're really at the grassroots, talking to people. Really the closest to the problem, right? So people really turn to you because a lot of people don't have the they really just don't have the time to, to to sort through that stuff.
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Speaker 1
And they're relying on you, to do that for them, believe me.
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Speaker 2
No pressure, no pressure.
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Speaker 1
So why don't you tell our audience how they can get in touch with you and and involved with the work that.
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Speaker 2
You know, where they can find me on LinkedIn in all the rest of the social media. And, also the National Dominican Women’s Caucus, which is NDWCaucus.org, that's our website. And MNN, Manhattan Neighborhood Network. MNN.org is also the website of Manhattan Neighborhood Network. And you can find out more about what we do.
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Speaker 1
Can you share a little bit about MNN’s mission and the important work that you do there, as the Chief External Affairs Officer?
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Speaker 2
Well, Manhattan Neighborhood Network for the last, you know, 30 years in New York and New York City. Now we are global. I tell people now we are global. The main thing that we do is to inform what's going locally in our community. We have many, many, you know, independent producers which are community residents who do their own television programs.
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Speaker 2
We also engage nationally. And also right now we have a beautiful collaboration with the hip hop community. So that's going to be fantastic. With RK1 and Queen Latifah, and all those beautiful people.
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Speaker 1
KRS1, KRS1.
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Speaker 2
KRS1, yes, that's what this is. We just had a beautiful, beautiful, performance a few a few weeks ago. It was spectacular. Spectacular. So. And also, it's like the message I think we trying to give people hope and carry a message that we continue care to make sure that we engage in things that really matter to us. And that's important when they come sports to us for when they come to politics, when it comes to community issues,
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Speaker 2
So when it comes to spirituality, arts and culture, I mean, our channel are really, really enjoying all our beautiful arts, beautiful culture when they come to all our community, you know, the Irish community, the US community, the Latino community, the African-American, you name it, you know, we have the Filipino community that is. So you name it is is all of us.
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Speaker 2
That's New York, that is New York. When you see Manhattan Neighborhood Network.
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Speaker 1
So, thank you for for sharing that. That's also where I watch Amy Goodman.
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Speaker 2
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Speaker 1
That's that's where I watch what.
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Speaker 2
We watch Amy and Juan,
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Speaker 1
And Juan Gonzalez, Yes. Those incredible journalists that have independent world news. I watch it on your on your feed on MNN.org feed, and so I think that we are at time we try to keep these interviews short and so are there any sort of, final words that you like to, to share about leadership?
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Speaker 2
Definitely. Do not despair. Be calm and collective. We now more than ever need to be calm. Because if we, who are the front leadership role, we lose our heads and go a little be crazy then is going to really have a reprecussion in our community. So we need to remain calm, analyze where some people want to take us.
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Speaker 2
We know where we're going to go, so don't derail. Be focused. That's what I want to about everybody. It's important to stay focused no matter what is going on.
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Speaker 1
So that's that's sort of similar to the the other day I wrote in that piece that I had mentioned earlier, I had wrote Don't Over React, don't over comply. And so I think, you know, being calm and focused when there's chaos is really great advice. So I want to leave our audience with with that, Zenaida, a really amazing global leader.
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Speaker 1
Happy birthday in advance. I can't wait for the great party. And, I'm so thrilled, that you were able to share, some of your, time with us, your very busy schedule. And, thank you so much. I love you, mommy.
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Speaker 2
I love you, too. Okay.
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Speaker 1
You've been listening to Building Leadership Community. Watch on YouTube @CoachDoraM. Listen, wherever you get your podcast, follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube @CoachDoraM. Visit me on the web at CoachDoraMendez.com. Hosted by me, Dora Mendez. Produced by Dora Mendez and Dylan Rogers. Graphics, editing, and sound mixing by Dylan Rogers.
