Nuestra Palabra & NEA's The Big Read: Celebrating Latina Leaders

Nuestra Palabra and the National Endowment for the Arts @neaarts celebrated will Latina Leaders with an amazing event, NP & NEA's The Big Read! The event was a huge success but if you missed it no worries, it is now available on our podcast! Some key moments: As part of our collaboration with the NEA, we gave away 400 copies of INFINITE COUNTRY (@AvidReaderPress) by Colombian American writer Patricia Engel (@patricia__engel) to attendees! The event opened with the powerful poetry of Elisa Garza who shared her previous work from Entre la Claridad and new unreleased poems for our audience. Geraldina Interiano Wise, Board Chair of ALMAAHH, spoke on the importance of having our space, nuestra lugar, and urged folks to fill out the survey for the Advocates of a Latino Museum of Cultural and Visual Arts & Archive (ALMAAHH) complex in Harris County. Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Briones shared her passion urging folks not to let others call us "dormidos y hay que levantar y dar pa adelante nuestra fuerza unida" and she presented Harris County's proclamation honoring Tony Diaz & Nuestra Palabra for it's 25 years of service and creating community cultural capital. Lis Atencio, co founder of Monday Paper, debuted the Nuestra Palabra Journal, 100 of which were given to empower our communidad to tell their stories, stories like Liz who immigrated from Venezuela and using her entrepreneurial spirit started her own company providing jobs for folks here and abroad all while in an eco friendly and sustainable manner. Mayra Valle, Director of Learning and Design at the EMERGE Fellowship, shared her personal story, her own writing, and her passion to help students find their voices, especially among Latine students who often find themselves lost in the process. The Honorable Delia Garcia shared her latest book LATINA LEADERSHIP LESSONS with the audience and shared experiences growing up and working where often she was not only the woman in the room but the only Latina. Listen to the podcast on your favorite platform!