We recently connected with Monica Isis Ibarra and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Monica Isis, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
The journey to purpose has changed over time.
Initially, I was seeking credentials to sustain a life. As a young woman, that brought me deeper into the Midwest, where I believed meritocracy was real. The harder you work, the more valuable compensation and worthiness you would be to sustain a good life.
Fast forward several decades, I gained experiences and saw the oppression of others in external and internal social groups; the idea of purpose has changed and deepened my interpretation of meritocracy felt like, and the empowerment to define it is me who identifies ‘purpose’.
Currently, I would define my purpose as being grounded and surrounded by joy and curiosity through an equity lens to forward my kids and me into a fiscally, socially, and physically where we are included, thriving, and represented.
A tall order, right?!!
• I currently engage in a career I find intentional, impactful, and purposeful; this was not always the case. Consider that our workday fills a large portion of our day(s) not to feel you are leading or working with purpose versus a cog in a machine performing tasks.
• I sit on several boards now and took an internal audit to identify IF I was finding my space and time were being aligned with my sense of purpose as defined above. Upon review, there were several of which I chose to sunset and disengage to onboard with other boards who were better aligned to my interpretation of purpose.
• Free time. I am a lady of age who works in Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity and find this is where my space is in flux, as the quote, “Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.” And this is in flux as the community lifts from the pandemic, where I feel un-seen or represented, as are so many other non-white people.
• It is where I find the most sense of purpose as a Latina and mother. With each group text, we share. With each affirmation of components to thrive and grow that are not linked to a meritocracy model. We hold social justice conversations, ideation about small business models we leaned into, we share companionship, and laughter, which has become the norm within the other spaces of my say-to-day as I now find purpose in most of what I do.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
What a curious request for someone to request a narrative of my story. What can an immigrant Latina from Juarez, MX, born in El Paso, Texas?
In this, I think of the monarch butterfly migration was made through lives lived. Taking four generations to journey north to Canada and four more to get south. Over and over again through the generations.
Right away, I thought, should I share my bio here, written strangely in the third person? How about my CV? Would that speak better to the narrative and story of a life lived? Something like…” Monica joined Mayo Clinic in 2021 after spending fifteen years in higher education, K-12 classrooms, and Higher Education. In her current role, Monica is the Enterprise Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Advisor for the Health System and its four regions, the Research Shield and Shared Services.”
Or how about; “Monica was the 2021 ACLU-Mn Volunteer of the Year award winner and a delegate for the 2022 United Nations Latino Leadership Summit. She was appointed to the Health Equity Advisory and Leadership (HEAL) Council in 2022, which assists the Minnesota Department of Human Service in developing strong performance measures for advancing health equity.”
What about adding my credentials? A Bachelor’s degree in education from Carroll University, a Master’s degree focusing on Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from the University of Minnesota.
Back to the monarch butterfly where I am currently in what I would call the third ‘generation’ of my career, which began as a K-12 teacher, engaging and leading grant-funded programs in higher education, to my current space in forwarding Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (EID) within a matrixed, decentralized organization of nearly 80,000 FTE employees.
That is just a tiny-tiny part of who I am!
I am the fourth of a family of eight with six children. Music is always playing in the background, and a pot of beans simmering for hours on a Sunday afternoon. I am a Latina who speaks native Spanish yet lived a self-defined life as a cultural outsider finding comfort in living along the periphery of Latino family and culture.
I love the smell of rain and the sound of thunder or moving water. I enjoy most things in nature—the feel of grass or rustling of leaves, the smells, the energy, and the buzz.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that I parent three Afro-LatinX adult children. Parenting people into adulthood has been my primary purpose, driven by intentionality and awareness of the duality of racial and ethnic identities they hold—children who bring me joy, purpose, and laughter every day. As a Latina mother, we never really walk away from the role of parent. Over time, we, as parents, evolve and become more like mentors in navigating the world as adults to respond to adult concerns.
As Latina parents, we are part therapists bringing forth the wealth of information and knowledge of a lived love, incorporating friendships, lessons, and mistakes to mentor growth and awareness in future generations.
Like the monarch butterflies, it is these people who are taking lessons learned from me. Which authentically came from generations of learning done and completed before me through previous Latinos to lead the life I do today with intent, purpose, and joy.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
This is a great question; I have learned much from others with the awareness I strive to practice ethnorelativism, a disposition overlayed with my acknowledgment that I am an ‘observationalist’, which academia calls a multiculturalist. Lastly, I see myself as a disruptor.
“How do those three truths align and play in the same sandbox?”, I hear you asking.
It is through the three skills I learned over time.
• Communication: That seems easy enough, right? Well no. I am imperfect, and it took time to lean into being a good communicator using empathy and authenticity. This inevitably means I have had to have several hard conversations with myself to identify what my social and personal priorities are, such as, whether I want to live a life hiding my imperfections. Do I want to live a life without vulnerability? And in doing so, hiding my authenticity and identity, do I want to give my power of representation to others?
• Listening: This feeds into the previous skillset. Listening is a HUGE component of communication. As stated earlier, I come from a large family, and with that comes the tendency to speak loudly and interrupt to get a word in—coupled with being the younger half of a large family. There were a lot of mentors in these lessons modeled for me to learn from. Over time, through various leadership pieces of training and growth into spaces of influence, I have learned to sit in the discomfort of the quiet and the 10-second pause before jumping in to fill the space. That was the most challenging to me. I am aware that those 10 seconds permit listeners to catch up and reflect and synthesize information being shared with them so that listeners can then ‘volley’ back a response to me or share input regarding what was said.
• Curiosity: By nature, I am curious. This is coupled with my desire to engage with folks to deepen my understanding of a lived life. As an immigrant, I understand the back story of learning a new language, culture, and norms. As a woman, I have experienced the nuances of womanhood, the pink tax we pay, the pay equity gaps, and the inequitable responsibility for family management. As a teacher, having a front-row seat to the inequities shown to historically underrepresented children has left an indelible mark, a scar of sorts, on my spirit that I sometimes struggle to reconcile. As a self-professed nature lover, I marvel at the amazingness the evolution of species has undergone to adjust to the ever-changing truths of social settings, community, and land.
Any of these skills is a great skill for a human. Joined together, I find myself empowered to embrace my imperfections and be vulnerable to defray judgment others attempt to impose upon me.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
Imposter Syndrome is a real thing! WOW. So palpable and touchable. It is almost like a little burn that can get infected if not treated or addressed.
I spent the last two years taking risks. I do not say ‘NO’ to myself to make moves, take big steps, or do tasks that are not familiar to me.
I have taken risks that did not turn out well for me, BUT I learned from the journey taken to redefine my professional plan.
In doing so, this year, I have learned to write academic papers and led improvement projects to improve departments and enterprises. I have taken the steps to assess myself to walk the talk of being a servant leader, and to actively and intentionally bring folks along with me in my growth journey.
How have you done this is the next pragmatic question at this point.
I did this by controlling my time and sunsetting my engagement on boards to make room for others. I have been balancing my work time with my non-work time to leave me space to heal and recuperate. I have learned to say no to tasks that do not bring me purpose or joy and instances to learn.
I also have taken a deeper dive into what I enjoy right now versus putting experiences for a later time and making it imperative to be mindful of how I use my energy- thinking or physical energy.
I have also taken the time to address my self-identified weaknesses by asking for help from others, researching solutions, and implementing solutions. This single task has permitted me to take risks, ask complicated questions, and use my strengths as a multiculturalist to grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sites.google.com/view/miibarra/monica-ibarra-ms-ed
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicaibarramayo/
