Speaker Bios
Introducing Our Speakers
Our community is honored to welcome a group of extraordinary Latina leaders, each possessing a wealth of wisdom to share. These bold and courageous women are an inspiration, nurturing our souls with their talents, encouragement, and valuable experiences. The speakers are listed in alphabetical order for your convenience.
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Tangia Estrada is a PR and brand strategist, international public speaker, and Co-Founder of BIPOC Podcast Creators. She has a passion for storytelling and community building and is committed to elevating diverse voices and sharing stories that matter. Tangia's work has been recognized by top publications such as USA Today, Bustle, and NPR. With a background in community organizing, media relations, and campaigning, Tangia brings a unique perspective to her work as a PR professional.
Her strategic insights and expertise have helped countless clients and community initiatives achieve their business goals and secure high-profile media coverage. She is also the creator of That's What She Did Podcast, named by USAToday as a top show to listen to for Women's History Month, amplifying the voices of brilliant women.
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Associate professor. Dancer. Academic Director. Producer. Mother. An award-winning public intellectual with global initiatives in historical trauma and healing and storytelling methodologies that have been cited by researchers and practitioners alike.
In her 20 years of professional experience, spanning the United States to New Zealand, she has worked alongside institutions and Indigenous and Latinx communities, spotlighting solutions that are present in our creative and cultural-driven modalities. Her contributions have been invited by distinguished institutions including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House Office of the Vice President, and Harvard University as well as prominent cultural institutions including the Denver Art Museum, History Colorado, and the Latino Cultural Arts Center. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Institutes of Mental Health, the National Libraries of Medicine and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Dr. Beltran is a fiercely loving mother of three and is a multiracial Chicana of Indigenous descent. She acknowledges that all the earth has an Indigenous name, and a community meant to steward it.
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Dr. Juana Bordas is the author of The Power of Latino Leadership – Ahora! and the best-selling book Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age. Both books are considered breakthrough work on leadership in communities of color.
Juana served as advisor to Harvard’s Hispanic Journal on Public Policy, the Kellogg National Fellows Program, as board vice chair of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, and a trustee of the International Leadership Association (ILA). She received an honorary doctorate from Union University in 2009 and was the first Latina to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from ILA in October 2019.
A Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame inductee, in 2009 the Denver Post and Colorado Women’s Foundation named her Colorado Unique Woman of the Year. Juana is a founder of Mi Casa Resource Center and the founding president of The National Hispana Leadership Institute.
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Dr. Janina E. Fariñas is the Founder and CEO of La Cocina, a renowned nonprofit organization providing culturally affirming mental health services to the Latine community for the past six years. With expertise in pediatric Latine neuropsychology, family studies, and community mental health, Dr. Fariñas is a pediatric neuropsychologist and family therapist. Over the last 15 years, she has dedicated herself to serving the Latine community, emphasizing mental health equity. Driven by the understanding of the interconnectedness between mental health and health equity, she advocates for integrated clinical and para-clinical programs that support community well-being.
La Cocina represents a multidisciplinary community-driven nonprofit model, actively working to remove barriers and promote quality, culturally affirming health equity programs. Dr. Fariñas earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, a Master's in Counseling Psychology from Naropa University, and undergraduate degrees in Social Sciences and Marketing & Communications from the University of New Orleans. She is a faculty member at Naropa University and was the recipient of the City of Fort Collins' Human Relations Award in 2017. As an immigrant from San Salvador, El Salvador, Dr. Fariñas understands the challenges faced by migrants from Central America and currently resides in Fort Collins, Colorado, with her family and their bilingual dog, Lilly.
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Diamond is the CEO of Sparkle by Diamond, an event planning business that specializes in personalized party planning. Founded in 2015, the company's motto is to help moms host Pinterest-perfect parties on a budget.
Sparkle by Diamond has an online store that offers unique and personalized products. These include one-of-a-kind candy jar centerpieces, which can be customized to match the theme of any event, as well as digital downloads for baby showers and birthdays. These downloads include invitations, games and all party decor needs, making it easy for customers to plan and execute a successful event.
In addition, Diamond also runs RoseDiamond Events, a day-of wedding coordination company. With a passion for creating memorable events and a keen eye for detail, Diamond has established herself as a leading figure in the event planning industry. Her dedication to helping her clients bring their dream parties to life has made her a go-to choice for those looking to host a truly special celebration.
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Olga González (she, her, ella) is an Indigenous Mexicana from the Yaqui and Otomi nations. She was born in Monterrey Nuevo León, Mexico and is the daughter of visionary parents who had the courage to cross the US/Mexico border in pursuit of a better life when she was only 5 years old. Olga grew up in Los Angeles, California as the eldest, undocumented child in the González family. As the first person in her family to learn English, she had the enormous responsibility of helping her family navigate inaccessible and inequitable systems. Olga was the first person in her family to graduate from college, and later, graduate school. She was politicized by the activism of the Chicano community. Aside from her academic teachings, she also feels extremely grateful for the traditional ways that were taught to her as an Aztec dancer and through ceremonies led by Mexica, Otomi, and Lakota elders.
Olga has been a nonprofit professional and community organizer for the past 29 years. She is the Executive Director of Cultivando, a Latinx-serving organization that focuses on developing the leadership, advocacy and capacity of the Spanish-speaking community. As the first woman of color to lead Cultivando in its 25-year history, she has expanded the organization’s reach beyond Adams county and supported Latinx communities and organizations statewide.
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An advocate and visionary, Indira Guzman has been instrumental in developing and growing Language Justice across Colorado. Indira Guzman is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Community Language Cooperative.
Indira's upbringing and experiences have uniquely positioned her to challenge systems that have perpetuated racial and social-economic injustices. Indira was born in Joliet, Illinois, and raised in El Paso, Texas. However, she proudly recognizes Denver and Aguascalientes, Mexico, as the places she calls home and where her heart feels the happiest.
After graduating from Manual High School in Denver and attending Metro State University, completing coursework in Chicano Studies, Indira has spent the last 20 years fiercely advocating for the Latino community in Denver.
In 2014, Indira co-founded the Community Language Cooperative, a language service organization. The CLC aims to collectively and intentionally open and foster spaces where communities can contribute their inner wisdom as leaders and decision-makers. Indira is dedicated to building local capacity using the Language Justice model to create vibrant and effective multilingual spaces to foster open communication across languages and cultures.
Indira lives with her two children in Sheridan and enjoys traveling, music, and being outdoors.
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Lori Lizarraga is an Ecuadorian-Mexican-American journalist, a Murrow and Emmy-award winning broadcast news reporter, and the newest host of NPR’s Code Switch. Before joining NPR last year, Lori spent eight years reporting across the country in Texas, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and internationally in Ecuador. Her 2021 reporting shined a light on the necessity of representation in news and forced into effect new standards of immigration coverage at more than 60 TV newsrooms across the country. Today, she continues to center representation, social justice, her community and her Latinidad in her work as a national host at NPR.
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Celesté Martinez is a Queer Chicana - born in Santa Cruz, California, raised in San Antonio, Texas and now calling Denver, Colorado home for over a decade. She identifies as Chicana, embracing the complexity of being Mestiza, both indigenous of Cherokee and Mexica lineages as well as of Spanish descent, while being politically active in her Colorado community.
Celesté received a dual Bachelor’s of Arts in Philosophy and Peace & Justice Studies from Regis University. She previously worked with organizations such as El Centro Humanitario para los Trabajadores, Together Colorado and United for a New Economy (UNE) in varying roles and capacities. Her experience from working as an organizer to nonprofit director has taught Celesté invaluable lessons on how to build, develop and transition organizations, which she often calls upon to translate her diverse skill set to meet the needs of her clients through Celestial Alegria, which she founded in June 2020.
Through Celestial Alegria, Celesté is committed to igniting joy through transformation through her array of services which include: life coaching, facilitation and racial equity consulting. She also annually offers community programs known as the Confronting Anti-Blackness for Latinx & Chicanx and the Reparations Network.
You can most commonly find her making music through her solo project Soy Celesté, writing poetry, hanging at community events, and loving on her two chihuahua pups.
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Mireya is the CEO of Sort it Out, an organizing company that helps people create a peaceful and functional home environment. Her mission is to assist individuals in decluttering and organizing their space in a minimalistic way, using only the essentials that truly bring joy and serve a purpose. Mireya believes that less is more, and that a simplified home leads to a clearer mind and a happier life.
With over years of experience in the organizing and decluttering field, Mireya has developed a keen eye for identifying what is truly important and what can be let go. Her minimalist approach to organizing has helped countless individuals to free themselves from the burden of excess possessions and create a home that truly reflects their values and priorities.
Mireya is also a homeschooling mother of 3 children, and she understands the importance of creating a functional and organized environment for learning and living. She understands the unique challenges of balancing the demands of family life and work, and her approach to organizing is tailored to meet the specific needs of busy families.
Mireya's dedication to helping people create a peaceful and functional home environment has made her a sought-after expert in the field of organizing. Her belief that a simplifies home leads to a clearer mind and a happier life is evident in the transformation she brings to the spaces and lives of her clients.
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Nelly is the Executive Director for Integrated Community, a nonprofit organization located in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Integrated Community works to support limited English-speaking, low-income, under-employed youth, families and community members looking to understand and access resources and services in Routt County.
Nelly is a certified medical interpreter and has worked in Steamboat for many years advocating for the immigrant community. Being from Peru and with personal experience in starting life in a new country as well as obtaining U.S. citizenship, Nelly shares her experience and helps people tackling similar challenges. Nelly is fluent in English and Spanish and proficient in French along with some basic knowledge of Italian. Nelly serves on the UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center Board and Rocky Mountain Health Foundation Board. She is also active in many committees such as Latinx Alliance, Yampa Valley Well Being Consortium, CHAPS, and Access to Justice in the 14th Judicial District to name a few. In 2021 Nelly was nominated for the Latinx Emerging Leader by the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado.
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A proud Texan, born and raised, May Ortega (she/they) is a passionate journalist whose experiences living on the U.S.-Mexico border continually guide and inform her work. Formerly a newspaper reporter, May currently is a host for Colorado Public Radio (CPR) News.
Prior to joining CPR in 2019, May was a public health reporter at KUNM Public Radio, the largest National Public Radio station in New Mexico. While living in New Mexico, she started that state’s chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, for which she served as president for two years. She also earned a year-long fellowship with the Association of Health Care Journalists from 2018-2019.
As May has grown as a journalist and advanced in her career, she has been driven by the belief that the best way to serve her community — and her gente — is by bringing her genuine self to the stories she wants to share. Using her culture and who she is as a whole has greatly improved her approach to her work — and her life — for the better.
A prime example of this philosophy is May’s CPR podcast ¿Quién Are We?, which explores what it means to be Latino, Hispanic, or Chicana — or however you identify. During each podcast episode, May showcases compelling stories about the Hispanic community’s wide-ranging identities and the beautiful things that make us who we are.
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