Young Women of Color Symposium Keynote Speaker Shares Her Story

Author, educator and speaker Jennifer De Leon took the Morning Ex stage to share her story of understanding her identity while growing up in America as the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants. De Leon said many of her life experiences have influenced her written works, and she has used writing to express her feelings navigating the world. 

After being introduced by student organizers of this year’s Young Women of Color Symposium, De Leon talked about her bodies of work, including collections of essays, a YA novel about a desegregation program in Boston and her most recent novel about a teenage girl and her mother coming to the U.S. to escape gang violence in Guatemala. De Leon read an excerpt from Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, which featured the main character’s experience in a mostly white classroom discussing immigration policy. 

De Leon then shared her personal history, beginning with her parents immigrating to the United States and coming to the Boston suburbs. She noted she often felt like two different versions of herself—White Jen and Latina Jen. She would later realize that she was code switching, which helped explain her constant struggle with finding her true self. 

When she reached college, she finally found representation through reading The House on Mango Street, which was written by a Latina author and used both English and Spanish in its storytelling. The book further inspired her to keep writing, which led to publishing her journals as essays and continuing to tell her story as a successful author.

De Leon’s visit coincided with her appearance as the keynote speaker for the Young Women of Color Symposium, which took place this past Saturday. More than 120 students from around the Chicago area attended this leadership conference for 6th–12th grade, self-identified young women of color, which creates space for conversation, connection and community. Parker hosts this event annually in partnership with Loyola Academy. 

The conference featured breakout sessions and time for affinity groups. The sessions’ theme was “Channeling my inner…,” such as the inner artist, inner baker and inner Elphaba (from Wicked). The conference was a great success.

Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Erika Prahl said, “It is a powerful event for the young women, and we are happy we can create space for them to connect once a year. We hope they feel seen, valued and empowered by sharing space.”

Parker is grateful to hear powerful stories like De Leon’s and for the opportunity to create a space for the students who attended the conference. The school thanks the student organizers who worked diligently to make the conference a success.

Click here for photos of this Morning Ex.