About leadership and recognition...

One morning a few days ago I saw a tweet saying I was being awarded with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the Ellis Island Honors Society. I didn’t receive a letter or anything beforehand, so I was pretty sure that it was a mistake.

The next thing I did was to contact the organization to tell them that there was a mistake.

I thought to myself "I have done nothing to get this award for 100 Americans who have done a contribution to the country. Like in the oscars or miss universe they will realize this was not for me. In any second everybody’s going to realize it” -- The impostor syndrome had arrived.

I was feeling very vulnerable -- I didn’t call once. I called twice to tell them it must be a mistake. During the second phone call, I was reminded of my work experience with refugees, migration and Hispanics, and all the things that made me deserve the nomination. It took me a second to actually understand they were indeed giving ME that award. This got me to think about why is it so hard to accept recognition?

As a Hispanic woman, we sometimes have a hard time accepting compliments, I want us to change that. Being recognized is part of leadership. We need to accept compliments and embrace success in order to be the powerful women that we are and dream to be.

It’s not bad being vulnerable. It’s also part of leadership. This Ellis Island Medal of Honor is for me a sign of leadership, a sign of accepting, recognizing and leaving the impostor syndrome behind once and for all. Looking forward to the event on Saturday!