Inspiring Conversations with Jenny Vazquez-Newsum of Untapped Leaders

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenny Vazquez-Newsum.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a leadership consultant, writer, and Founder of Untapped Leaders, a leadership development organization that centers the strategies and experiences of marginalized leaders. I’ve had a long-time interest in leadership stemming all the way back to being a 5th-grade elementary school elected official! As a biracial Black/Latinx woman, the leadership journey hasn’t always been smooth, but it has always been purposeful.

I am a California-native, having grown up in North San Diego County and studying business at USC as an undergrad. I spent five years in New York pursuing a Master’s in Public Administration focused on nonprofit management and working at a college access organization. Those years ended up being a formidable foundation in my leadership journey as I stretched well beyond my comfort zone, leaving the City of Angels for the City that Never Sleeps and working under the leadership of two Black women who invested relentlessly in the leadership of their staff. Having experienced effective leadership at such an early stage in my career truly set me off on my path to cultivating the leadership of others.

My academic background is in business, nonprofit management, and education. After my time in New York, I was eager to get back whom to sunny California and completed my Doctorate in Education at UCLA where I studied the factors that influenced college women of color to leave the engineering discipline, a field where disparities in representation continue to persist.

Professionally, I have worked with 500+ leaders ranging from established executives at large corporations to high school students beginning their leadership journeys — witnessing the untapped capacities that exist across all stages in career paths. Through my prior work as Vice President of Leadership Training and Programs at Coro Southern California, I designed and facilitated cohort-based programs for leaders across all sectors and industries. This included Coro’s inaugural Lead LA program that brings together leaders from across sectors to dig into civic issues that impact Los Angeles, as well as the Women in Leadership program, strengthening the leadership fabric of women that exists in the Southern California region.

Interested in digging deeper into the limitations of current leadership rhetoric and bringing in the voices of the often-unrecognized leadership contributions of BIPOC and marginalized leaders, I launched Untapped Leaders to create a space for those contributions to be named, validated, and amplified. Having studied and facilitated leadership frameworks for the past two decades, I realized most all frameworks are not developed by nor for leaders of color. As a result, I wrote Untapped Leadership: Harnessing the Power of Underrepresented Leaders, out June 2023.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. When you don’t see yourself represented in leadership books, in top roles in organizations, in boardrooms, and even more generally in classroom environments, it can chip away at your sense of belonging and cause you to second guess your contributions, at least that’s what it did for me.

I’ve always loved school, as evidenced by my continuing to go back seemingly for-e-ver. Yet, I rarely ever participated in classroom discussions, even up into my doctoral studies. While my high school was racially diverse, that diversity dissipated in the AP/Honors classes I was enrolled in. I was often the only student of color and it subtly but consistently had an impact on me. I had a fear of contributing my thoughts and though I didn’t have the language for it that age, I struggled with feeling like I belonged in the room.

Professionally, I reflect on the moments when I shed parts of myself and, as a result, my potential in order to “remain in good standing” within a challenging work environment. I muted and contorted myself, to my own detriment, out of an overwhelming fear of that workplace system’s power. I took on an outsized amount of work and put the successful execution of the work ahead of my well-being, even though I was working at a salary level much lower than I felt I deserved due to being denied the higher end of the range when I attempted to negotiate.

For a while, I aligned my feelings with this idea of “imposter syndrome” finding temporary comfort in knowing that I am not the only one feeling this way. But as data continued to emerge that women and people of color were most likely to experience imposter syndrome, it caused me to reframe all that I’ve experienced as a systemic deficit rather than a personal one.

One of the biggest lessons I carry with me as a result of my career is the understanding that workplace systems are powerful, but I am not powerless.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Untapped Leaders is a leadership development organization that centers the strategies and expertise of marginalized leaders. We do this in a few ways:

1. The Untapped Leaders Community:
Untapped Leaders brings together Black, Indigenous, Latinx/a/o, Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander, MENA and otherwise marginalized leaders from across industries to learn from each other through weekly facilitated leadership discussions and small-group peer coaching sessions, plus a diverse network of members committed to each others’ success.

2. Training and Consulting for Organizations:
Through a dynamic and customized facilitation and consulting process, Untapped Leaders uncovers team members’ hidden or muted strengths across all levels. Ideal for teams and organizations who value Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging and are ready to operationalize those efforts through leadership development, Untapped Leaders team training activates the unique human capital assets your organization holds.

3. Speaking Engagements:
As the Founder of Untapped Leaders, I aim to diversify the leadership perspectives at conferences, panels and podcasts. Oftentimes, leadership rhetoric focuses on popular approaches that cultivate a dominant narrative of what leadership looks like with limited room for alternative interpretations. I offer leadership perspectives and expertise that center marginalized voices and overlooked strategies employed by those who are often not represented in studies, on bookshelves, or in boardrooms.

Untapped Leaders also serves as a hub for finding talented BIPOC facilitators and speakers.

4. Executive Coaching:
For limited and aligned clients, executive coaching supports those of all identities and who are in positions of high formal authority as they lead others. Coaching is ideal for those facing critical work challenges, transitioning into new roles and organizations, or merely eager to catalyze their impact by leading inclusively.

5. Untapped Leadership Cohorts (launching 2023):
In small group settings, UL cohorts harness the power that we hold by nature of our marginalized perspectives.
Leveraging the unique experiences of each cohort member, groups leverage Untapped Leadership frameworks to uncover overlooked aspects of leadership strengths and strategies to build careers aligned with our most authentic selves.

And finally, #6 the book! All of this work is built upon the expertise of BIPOC-identifying leaders who contributed their experiences to Untapped Leadership: Harnessing the Power of Underrepresented Leaders. While this book amplifies these overlooked leadership approaches, it is leadership that all can learn from and implement.

What sets Untapped Leaders apart? The rules of the game are not the same for us, so we don’t use the same playbooks as other organizations. We lead differently.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I’d describe myself as friendly but shy. I loved sports and played soccer for many years until a knee injury made it challenging. Most of the time, you could find me watching Dawson’s Creek or My So Called Life and listening to Blackstreet or Alanis Morisette.

Pricing:

• $29/mo Monthly Untapped Leaders Community Membership (increasing to $39/mo Jan 2023)
• $319/yr Annual Untapped Leaders Community Membership (increasing to $399/mo Jan 2023)

Contact Info:

• Website: www.untappedleaders.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/jennyvazqueznewsum
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/jennyamanda
• Other: www.instagram.com/untappedleaders