Interview: ‘Hermanas’ Authors Talk Embracing Their Identities as Latinas and Leaders

The day after their book, Hermanas: Deepening Our Identity and Growing Our Influence launched, Faithfully Magazine spoke with authors Natalia Kohn Rivera, Noemi Vega Quiñones, and Kristy Garza Robinson about their journeys as Latinas and leaders and why Hermanas (“sisters” in Spanish) is the leadership book they all wanted but never had.

Publisher IVP Books writes that the authors “find mentorship in twelve inspirational women of the Bible including Esther, Rahab, Mary, and Lydia, who navigated challenges of brokenness and suffering, being bicultural, and crossing borders. The insights here will help any who seek to empower Latinas in leadership.”

In the following interview, the trio discusses when they discovered they were leaders, bridge-building between cultures, Latina leadership styles, and dancing salsa with Jesus. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your racial and cultural background?

Noemi Vega Quiñones: My cultural background is Mexican. I grew up in Mexico for five years. I am Mexican-U.S. American. Racially I am Hispanic.

Kristy Garza Robinson: I’m from Texas, where I grew up. South Texas, right on the border of Mexico and Edinburg, Texas. I currently live in Austin, Texas. I’m Mexican-American and grew up straddling the Mexican-American border my whole life.

Natalia Kohn Rivera: I am Armenian and Argentinian. I was born in Argentina and came over here when I was quite young. My father is an Argentine immigrant and my mother is Armenian-American. I will say I’m Triple A: Argentine-Armenian-American.

Why this book, Hermanas, and why now?

Noemi Vega Quiñones: I think Hermanas is a long time coming. I wish I had had this book when I was coming up, so now is the time, thank you Jesus!

It’s a discipleship book and leadership development book for women. It’s championing women’s voices that are already in The Bible, that many of us have already known about. We just have the gift and opportunity to share it with others through some of our Latina experiences.

Kristy Garza Robinson: I’d echo that. When I was writing my chapters, I was thinking of my daughters who are White and Latina. I want them to have a resource that reflects stories from their community and our background, that they would have that lens. And I imagine myself, my 20-year-old self, remembering how significant Being Latino in Christ: Finding Wholeness in Your Ethnic Identity—Orlando Crespo’s book—was for me in my ethnic identity formation, and how meaningful it would have been to have this book, which would have invited me into these stories of these women seen through a Latina woman.

Natalia Kohn Rivera: I wish, like Noemi, that it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago—that there was a Latina resource.

There’s something about it being taken seriously when it’s in a book. Realizing that there aren’t many resources for Latina women. Inter Varsity Press said to us: “Multiply your mentorship. Help other women get mentored.”

Noemi, I love that you named the bleeding woman (Matthew 9:20–22; Mark 5:25–34; Luke 8:43–48) in chapter three of the book. You gave her the name that shows how God sees her: “Mija” (Daughter). Could each of you share a story where you felt as if you were God’s mija?

Noemi Vega Quiñones: First of all, I want to credit Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil because years ago I read her book, A Credible Witness: Reflections on Power, Evangelism and Race. She named the Samaritan woman Samanatha, Sam. I thought: If she can do that with Sam, maybe I can do that with Mija.

One time, I was feeling very insecure in my leadership. I was trying really hard—and this was about a year and a half ago. I was receiving coaching from an older woman: I was telling her that I felt that in order to get credibility in this new role, I have to act and teach and preach like a White man. As I was crying, I was processing some of the experiences that I had had recently, especially with White male pastors. There was a meeting cut short by 30 minutes because this male pastor felt so uncomfortable about meeting with me. He was fidgeting the whole time and he was expecting a male director, and he got me. That was a painful experience.

Another painful experience is that I was interviewing another potential volunteer for ministry. We were at a public coffee shop and towards the end of the meeting, he put his hand on my leg. Just feeling so attacked in that way and so objectified. These are the experiences that happen to women in leadership. I was just weeping.

Being with this older woman who had gone before me, I asked, “Why do people not take me seriously? Is it because I’m a short Latina?” She said, “Noemi, what if God your heavenly Father and Creator created you to be a short Latina that is leading in this season?” She encouraged me, in my next preaching opportunity, to be my full Latina self. “What would it look like?” she asked.

I was like, “I would use my voice fully. Maybe I would do a little dance, ‘cause I like to dance, and I don’t know if that’s because I’m a Latina; maybe it’s just because of how quirky I am.” So she said, “What if you do that? Who would you bless? And would it be more than those whom you would offend?”

I felt so seen by this mentor and after praying about it, I just felt that the Lord was releasing in me this new part of who I am. He cares for me as His daughter, because I have the DNA of our Creator, God. That means that all of who I am—submitted under Him—is fully good and beautiful and can be used to worship Him. Even some of my insecurities…God can use those to bring healing to the nations.

That preaching moment was one of my favorite preaching moments.

Did you dance?

Noemi Vega Quiñones: I did!

Who else would like to share a Mija story?

Kristy Garza Robinson: Going back to the identity piece… When you’re weaving together that braid or even just trying to understand it: ethnic identity development and faith, that’s a big part of me—understanding my identity as Daughter. Especially growing up on the border and coming to faith in a predominately-White evangelical space, I struggled a lot with that sense of belonging: What does belonging look like when you don’t feel like you fit anywhere?

So when I would visit family in Mexico, I’d think I don’t belong here, even as it felt very familiar. The language that I would use often is, “I feel an attachment to Mexico that Mexico doesn’t feel towards me.” And then when I was in community in this White evangelical space, I didn’t fit in the way others did. We didn’t share the same stories and we didn’t have the same experiences or holidays or rituals. I had a quinceañera; no one else I knew did. Leaning into this identity of Daughter gave me a place to belong even if I fell in liminal spaces all around me. Leaning into this identity as daughter is grounding and centering.

Natalia Kohn Rivera: I agree with Kristy about the belonging piece. This woman [the bleeding woman] didn’t really belong for the 12 years. The only people she belonged to were other people who were sick. So just the way the Lord reaches and does [so] much to make sure that she belongs…. Just being bi-racial—you don’t fully belong anywhere—but those moments where the Lord takes you in and you’re like, “I don’t need to prove myself! He makes me who I am.” Kind of like Noemi, when this woman told her, “Preach like you! What if God make you a short Latina for a reason?”

At the Urbana 2000 Student Missions Conference, the worship leader, Sundee Frazier, kept saying, as a bi-racial woman, “God does not make mistakes. He made you you!” When I finally actually understood that as an adult, I felt like I could finally breathe! I felt that this constant striving was slowing down and it wasn’t driving me so much. Those two were my Mija moments, when God was like: “Daughter, you are enough.”

The post Interview: 'Hermanas' Authors Talk Embracing Their Identities as Latinas and Leaders appears on Faithfully Magazine.

Faithfully Magazine