CELEBRATING LATINA LEADERS INTERVIEWS – March 2025
Vivian Huelgo, JD, President & CEO Esperanza United
To celebrate Latina leaders this month, we reached out to Latina business owners and nonprofit leaders to ask about challenges, inspirations, and their perspective on what is ahead.
Vivian has worked at the intersection of law and domestic and sexual violence for over twenty-five years. In 2022, she joined Esperanza United as Chief Programs Officer. Vivian has worked at the intersection of law and domestic and sexual violence for over twenty-five years.
What has been your biggest challenge in being an Executive Director?
One of our values at Esperanza United is Latina leadership and as a new Latina President & CEO, I take that to heart. In this tumultuous start of the year, I’ve had to deeply consider my role as a strategic leader, when to speak and when not, and how to foster the inherent leadership of my staff within a changing context filled with uncertainty. As Latinas, we have so many strengths and so many skills, yet we also have our leadership undercut, navigating that for myself and my staff is challenging.
Who/what inspires you?
Esperanza United has an incredible Family Advocacy team in the Twin Cities that provide care, support and resources to survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Early on in my career, I worked for a non-profit that provided advocacy and legal representation to survivors of domestic violence. I represented our Latina Spanish-speaking clients. I remember all my clients from those years vividly, most were mothers, fighting for their lives, fighting for their children’s safety, facing opposition, bias, and judgement of their choices. Yet they persevered through exhaustion, fear and trauma, their resilience astounded me then and especially now since becoming a mother myself. Our advocates still see that kind of courage in the face of hardships in the survivors we work with every day. Twenty-five years later, all survivors still inspire me.
What excites you most about the work your organization is doing?
A throughline across our work is meeting community members where they are and partnering with them to grow in a healthy way. In the Twin Cities, I love our summer programming for young people and families. We build a bridge across the summer season from one school year to the next and fill it with activities, and other gatherings for learning and growth. We hold conversations around heathy relationships, open communication, and leadership. We provide support through fun outdoor activities that are multi-generational. Across the country and in Puerto Rico, we are working closely with several dozen organizations who are building up their portfolio of work serving Latin@ communities and survivors of domestic & sexual violence. We provide tailored organizational development support and leadership training for staff and help them plan for healthy sustainable growth to meet each community’s needs and dreams.
