Skills Used

• Cross-Functional Leadership

• Operations

• Management

Background

Since the beginning of the 2026 fiscal year, I’ve been serving as the President of the University of Georgia’s Latino Alumni Council (LAC).

Our mission is to foster community and development among Hispanic/Latino UGA Alumni and support Hispanic/Latino undergraduate and graduate students.

I’m extremely proud to share that our council has:

🎓 Hosted a Hispanic Heritage Month org fair at UGA to connect over 260 students with incredible Hispanic/Latino student programs and organizations

🏆 Grown our Scholarship fund, which allowed us to award 2 scholarships for first-generation undergrad students

✅ 100% participation in the UGA Mentor Program, which connects students with mentors

🎁 Had our most-attended Ugly Sweater program that brought Alumni together and collected toy donations for La Amistad, a non-profit that provides academic and social services for Latino students and families

I’m so grateful to my council, exec Kimberly Lopez and Justin Acosta, and liaison Erica Lowman, for helping me grow and build this org, as well as the guidance from UGA leaders Deborah Velazquez, Shontel Cargill, Rodd Cargill, Shirleyse Haley, and Realenn Watters!

What I’ve Learned in Serving as President

As a first-gen alumnus and professional, I personally know the gaps, challenges, and needs our community experiences and greatly benefited from initiatives that addressed these. That’s what drove me to join the LAC in 2023.

I first served on the Events Committee to bring our programs to life and then as the Vice President to support and coordinate our operations.

Serving as President, it honestly feels like running a small company, which can range from excitement in seeing what we can accomplish to heavy in the weight of responsibility.

I frame it as that, because as I’ve grown professionally, I’ve often wondered what it takes to run a company, and this has certainly been a 101 crash-course.

The most important lesson this role has taught me is to remind myself to ask, “How can I set everyone up for success?”

Because I understand my role is more than delegating tasks - it's learning how to serve my team, hence why I emphasize the phrase "serving."

And the answer to that question?

To set my team up for success, I’ve needed to grow as a Coach, Director for our operations, Partner for developing opportunities with other orgs/teams, and Team-player, all the while.

It’s been a tremendous honor, and I’m looking forward to accomplishing more with my council and what more I can learn.

Go/Vamos Dawgs!