Latina activist launches 'Hispanic Star' to elevate voices of the Latinx community

NEW YORK -- When Claudia Romo Edelman moved to the United States over nine years ago, it was the first time she was ever referred to as Latino.

"I was like what is that word? I lived my entire life as a happy Mexican and I was like what is this Latino thing that Im going to be a part of?" she explains.

She began learning about the statistics on Latinos in the US and found what she began referring to as a "reverse marketing issue."

"Latinas are 20% of the population, 12% of the entire gross domestic product of the country, we generate more businesses than any other group in America," she explains. "All of that gave me a sense of power. But then when I went into the streets I felt weak. We have an incredibly distorted mirror that doesnt allow for Latinos to know how powerful we are and we have a social recognition issue where other people think of Latinos as 'takers' when in reality we are 'makers."

Romo Edelman decided she would do everything in her power to change that false perception.

Romo Edelman started her career as a journalist and diplomat before pivoting to multilateral affairs and marketing for organizations like the United Nations, UNICEF and the World Economic Forum. In the last five years she has focused her efforts on the We Are All Human Foundation and a goal she describes as "trying to tackle that area of perception and representation that Latinos are facing".

One way shes doing that is through the Hispanic Star initiative, which strives to bring together Latinos of all backgrounds and countries in order to stop looking at life with a scarcity mentality. Instead, the initiative encourages people to move to the abundance mentality.

"If we unite forces were going to be strong," Romo Edelman stresses. The initiatives logo combines the star from the US flag with eñe [Ñ] from Español/Portuguese to emphasize Latino empowerment and pride.

Some of Romo Edelman's other initiatives include writing a series of children's books centered around Latino heroes, founding the 'A La Latina' podcast and supporting the Hispanic Promise, a national corporate pledge to prepare, hire, promote, retain, celebrate, and buy from Hispanics in the workplace.

In that vein, Romo Edelman prides herself on supporting Latina-run small businesses in her community. She recently visited La Newyorkina, a small business run by Fany Gerson, who makes various Mexican sweets such as paletas and pan de muerto.

Gerson spoke to Romo Edelman about her journey to founding La Newyorkina, including the obstacles she overcame and the joys of being a female and Latina business owner.

"At the end of the day, what is clear from the data is that Hispanic progress is American progress," Romo Edelman concludes.

"The world is browner, more feminine and with a bigger heart than ever before. We are stars."