Claiming Our Space, Demanding Better: Leadership Omaha
Leadership Omaha Class 48
When I stood before Leadership Omaha Class 48 to deliver our graduation speech alongside my colleague and friend Katie B, I carried seven years of doubt with me. For a long time after moving to this country, I quietly battled the feeling that I did not belong at the table. Stepping up to that podium was a deeply personal milestone. It was the moment I finally claimed my space as a first-generation immigrant, a member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, and a neurodivergent professional.
This was Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw's profound lesson on intersectionality put into action. I realized the layers of my identity had stopped being a form of discrimination. Instead, they are my greatest advantage. They allow me to lead with unapologetic authenticity, forging a deep connection with the communities I belong to, and building genuine empathy with the ones I do not, ensuring I bring us all along when decisions are made.
I introduced myself that day not just to share my name, but to challenge a narrative. For years, I was told I wasn’t "white enough," didn’t enunciate properly, or lacked the "proper" education. Standing there to represent "The Great 48" was a reminder of an undeniable truth: This seat was not given. It was earned. Against the pejorative narrative pushed upon my community, I am proudly here.
Beneath the Surface of Our City
Over the past few months, our cohort was given a rare privilege to look under the hood of Omaha. We stopped seeing our city merely as a collection of districts and started recognizing it as an interconnected ecosystem. We saw immense resilience and abundant assets, but we also saw the gaps. We saw systems failing the exact people they were built to protect.
We often celebrate leadership as a title, but true leadership is not comfortable. True leadership requires the absolute courage to stand up to what is wrong.
Witnessing inequity is not enough. We must demand that the words of our elected officials align with their actions. When policies harm our neighbors, or closed-door decisions stifle equity, we cannot be the leaders who stay silent. We must step into the arena and say, "No. We expect better. We demand better."
This work is heavy. In all honesty, there are days I see the news about what is happening to my community, let the tears flow, wipe them up, curse for a moment, and move on—because WE HAVE WORK TO DO.
But the weight of transformational change is far too heavy for any one pair of shoulders. There is no silver bullet policy or single savior coming to rewrite the future of our city. Deep, structural equity happens only when the public, private, and nonprofit sectors dismantle their silos and sit at the same table to align their strengths. It happens when we realize my neighbor's well-being is inextricably tied to my own.
Omaha’s brilliance is undeniable, and it is time we align our systems to match it. Our charge is clear. We must relentlessly build pathways that allow our communities to stop simply surviving. Surviving is exhausting. It is the absolute floor.
We must build the pathways to thriving. Thriving means economic opportunity. It means health equity. It means knowing the systems around you are designed to lift you up, rather than hold you down.
The solutions are not in some distant future. They are right here in our collective power, our profound empathy, and our community.
Passing the Torch to Class 49
Graduating is not the finish line; it is the starting block. And as Class 48 steps forward into this arena, we turn our eyes to those who will follow.
To Leadership Omaha Class 49—as you begin your own 10-month journey to explore the critical issues of our region and deepen your understanding of community trusteeship—know that this experience will challenge you, connect you, and stretch your curiosity.
We are especially excited to see some of our own LEDC leaders stepping into this cohort: Itzeni Nayeli Lopez (Network of Hope) and Saida Selene Espinoza (CHI Health). Your presence at this table is vital. Bring your whole, authentic selves, your community's stories, and your relentless drive. Omaha needs your leadership, your perspective, and your voice.
To all of Class 49: do not settle for comfortable conversations. Push the boundaries, explore deeply, and prepare yourselves for even greater service to the Greater Omaha community. We are ready to work alongside you.
Let us stand as a unified front. Let us speak fierce truth to power, hold each other accountable, and build an Omaha defined not by what it lacks, but by the boundless strength it already possesses.
Let's get to work.
To my fellow members of Leadership Omaha, THE GREAT 48, to the organizers, and to everyone who has guided us through this journey; especially Daniela Rojas Florez & Alexander Cayetano, CCLP, mil gracias.
