Latino Leadership Celebration Held on June 25

Supervisor Hermosillo Speaks to the New Leaders 

By Anna Pier 

More than 20 present and past graduates of the Latino Leadership program gathered with neighborhood friends and representatives of Valley nonprofits to “Celebrate the Leaders,” the evening of June 25, in the garden of La Luz Center. The newest graduates comprise the seventh cohort of the leadership training program initiated in 2017. 

The training is based on the Leadership Challenge training that Jeni Nichols, founder and former owner of Sonoma Leadership, brought to La Luz, with the goal of developing leadership skills among Valley residents who were not able to access that program. Nichols explains that over two million people have gone through the Leadership Challenge programs around the country. “We are lucky to have that as the core of what we do here each year.” The effort was in response to the critical need at local nonprofits for board members from the Latino community. This has been a remarkable collaboration to support a new generation of leaders participating in Valley and countywide nonprofit organizations. 

The seven-month training program begins with a two-day intensive. Yeni Rodríguez, graduate in 2024, was already a supervisor at the Child-Parent Institute when she took the training. She said she got great feedback from the people she supervised. They saw “my excitement, and remarked the difference in my leadership style.”  Rodríguez adds, “I learned what teamwork is, the difference between being a leader and a boss. I identified the kind of leader I want to be.” She enjoyed the training so much that she has made sure her daughter-in-law and two of her supervisees signed up for it. 

The trainings have provided board members to many local organizations. 2025 graduate Sabina Rafaela believes the skills she developed in the training have helped her work with Líderes Campesinas, the organization she co-founded 16 years ago to support women agricultural workers, especially by educating them about their rights. Since completing the training, Rafaela has joined the board of the Sonoma Valley Community Health Center. Rafaela has been recruiting other women to benefit from the training, which is offered at no cost, including materials in English and/or Spanish. 

Another Leadership graduate, Maricarmen Reyes, Community Outreach coordinator at the Sonoma Valley Community Health Center, praised the program because it validates the work someone who is experienced is already doing, and polishes your skills to “continue working with passion and compassion.” 

Nancy King, who has taken over from Jeni Nichols as liaison for the program, says that the graduates learn how to be leaders with kindness and compassion, doing things by example. 

President of the Board of Supervisors, First District Supervisor Rebecca Hermosillo, was introduced by La Luz Board Vice-President Bill Blosser as “the epitome of what we call leadership.” Hermosillo, a Valley resident, congratulated the graduates for honing their leadership in new ways. Describing herself as a testament to taking on leadership roles, she pointed out that she is not only the first Latina on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, but the first to be its President. She affirmed that she “breaks down barriers for people who look like me.”  Reflecting that when she was growing up in Sonoma in the ’70s, and there were six large Latino families, she was the only of her friends who didn’t want to leave the Valley. “I stayed, and I gave back.” Hermosillo encouraged the new leaders to take on leadership roles, acknowledging that “it is an uncomfortable place, but it’s important. So that those boards start to look like the community we live in.” She concluded, “Thank you for what you have done, and what you will do.” 

Mark Bodenhammer, of the Sonoma Chamber of Commerce, followed, congratulating the new leaders for getting involved. “Keep going, this is a community where people succeed by being involved.” He emphasized that the Chamber serves the whole Sonoma Valley, and that owners of small businesses with five or fewer employees comprise the large majority of its members.  

Others attendees who came to celebrate the new class of leaders included First District Field Representative Betzy Chávez; Itzel Macedonio Santiago from Mentoring Alliance; Claudia Mendoza-Carruth, who translated for speakers; and Juanita Padilla of Sonoma en Comunidad.