Juana Bordas

Juana María Bordas (born 1942) is a Nicaraguan–American community activist specializing in leadership development and diversity training. She is a founder of several Denver, Colorado-area organizations promoting Latino and Latina leadership, including the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, the National Hispana Leadership Institute, and Mestiza Leadership International, where she currently serves as president. She has authored two books and is a motivational speaker and workshop presenter for conferences and businesses. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1997.

Early life and education Juana María Bordas was born in a small mining town in Nicaragua in 1942. She is one of seven children.

She attended the Academy of the Holy Names, a Catholic all-girls high school, on a scholarship, and babysat during Sunday services at a local church to cover the rest of her tuition. She was the first in her family to attend college. She became involved in campus activism at the University of Florida; in 1963 she joined a march to the administration building to protest the non-enrollment of minority students. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Florida and her master's degree in social work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. afforded her the first exposure to Latinos in positions of leadership, both in the economic and political realms. In 1976 she helped found the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, which she led as executive director for the next decade. She was also the first Latina faculty member of the Center for Creative Leadership, In 2002 she debuted the Circle of Latina Leadership, which runs a nine-month community leadership development course and personal mentoring program for women aged 25 to 40.

Affiliations and memberships Bordas has served as an advisor for the Hispanic Journal on Public Policy at Harvard University and the Kellogg National Fellows Program. She was vice chair of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, and a trustee of the International Leadership Association and Union Institute & University. In 1993 she was considered for the post of Peace Corps director by the Clinton administration; the position was ultimately filled by Carol Bellamy.

Works Bordas published her first book, Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age, in 2007. The book presents eight principles of multicultural leadership gleaned from Latino, African American, and Native American cultures. It also profiles leaders from those backgrounds.

Bordas' second book, The Power of Latino Leadership: Culture, Inclusion, and Contribution, was published in 2013. Centering on Latino issues, the book sets forth ten principles of Latino leadership gleaned from the culture. and the International Latino Book Award for best business/leadership book.

Union Institute & University gave her an honorary Doctor of humane letters in 2009.

Personal life Bordas has three daughters.