“To see those teenagers, girls, wearing the label ‘Chingonas’ fills me with pride. I know they will go somewhere, they will do it with confidence and determination,” Rozalyn Lucero-Corona says.
By Reynaldo Mena
First, she saw one message, then another, and then more. They were comments on her Facebook posts where her friends reacted to her stories. “You’re a ‘Chingona’.” “How ‘Chingona’ you are!” they wrote to her. And then she thought about that powerful word that was defining her and attracting her so much: Chingona, she said to herself.
First, Rozalyn Lucero-Corona consulted with her husband. She asked if using that word to describe the group she wanted to form was offensive. He said no, he didn’t find it offensive, and it was fine for her purposes.
“And that’s how it all began. I started using this word to identify those women who never give up, who fight, who no matter what, seek to move forward,” says Rozalyn Lucero-Corona, founder and CEO of Chingona community, a group of women empowering each other to face their challenges, pursue their dreams, and prepare for success in life.
“The Chingona Community was established in 2019 with a vision to connect and support women. The purpose of the Chingona Community is to come together on a regular basis to participate in professional development, workshops and seminars, networking, and community volunteer work,” it mentions on its website.
Rozalyn already had a group of women who shared her cause. She knew there was a need for such a group, and this word, Chingona, which in Mexico identifies a person who is very good at what they do or excels in a particular field. But also, it encompasses all those who fight every day to reach that place.
“For me, all women are ‘Chingonas’. We are born that way, from the moment we give life, we fight not only to sustain our homes but also society. Yes, women are ‘Chingonas’,” says the leader of Chingona Community.
Rozalyn Lucero-Corona herself is an example of this struggle. Although she grew up in a stable family, very close-knit, and always excelled in her studies, she had to face the end of her adolescence, which changed her life and her dreams.
“I got pregnant when I was 18 years old. I had my son, still living with my parents. I wanted to focus on my studies, but life had other plans that I don’t regret,” says Rosalyn Lucero-Corona. “We had a very comfortable life. My father had a good job, and my mother stayed at home taking care of me, my sister, and my two brothers. There was always someone present.”
As a child, Rozalyn Lucero-Corona was fascinated with dancing.
“Still,” she says with a laugh. “I loved jazz, hip-hop was coming in. I remember and miss when my mother used to take me to West L.A. on Saturdays for dance classes. There were also other studios in the area.”
She couldn’t become a professional dancer on tour, but she did embark on a long journey, always looking ahead, trying to establish her independence with her first child and then two more that followed.
“I think my relationships can be summed up as bad choices. I was happy with my children, but my romantic relationships just didn’t work out, they weren’t the right ones,” says Rosalyn.
She was born in Downey, but her father moved her family to La Mirada, away from violence and an environment with gangs and bad influences.
“At first, I didn’t understand it; I hated living in La Mirada. It was too white of an area. My friends were from other parts of Los Angeles where I felt more identified. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I understood it later, I knew what my dad was trying to do,” she says.
“When I saw that my academic career had to stop and I had to work to support my children and seek my independence, I began to open my eyes to the lack of balance between men and women. We Latinas face many challenges, both as women and as Latinas. But I never gave up.
I saw that men earned more, had better positions, and in my twenties, I experienced workplace harassment. A manager flat out told me that if I didn’t sleep with him, I would suffer the consequences… that traumatized me. I didn’t want to work anymore, but I was fortunate to have people around me who supported me, people who had been there for a long time, giving me advice, helping me,” she adds.
For Rosalyn Lucero-Corona, these were confusing times. She had her first child at 18, her second at 22, and her third at 26. “I made the wrong choices. I didn’t know what I was doing. And then my problems at work, the injustice in workplaces.”
In addition to her advisory friends, another thing that helped her move forward was her work consistency. She never stayed unemployed.
“I always told myself, ‘you have to keep going, you have to keep going,'” she remembers.
This stage helped her accumulate experiences for what would later become her organization, Chingona Community, and dealing with her children and independence. Years later, Rosalyn had her fourth child with her husband, whom she was “lucky to find.”
“I always tell my children to pay close attention to their friends. The people around you will either help you or harm you. They helped me; I chose my friends wisely, and I was able to move forward,” she adds.
Her work leading Chingona Community fills her with satisfaction. Seeing those women who approach the organization, those who attend its events, wearing shirts with the label ‘Chingona’ brings tears to her eyes.
“It’s incredible how they empower themselves. It’s a very powerful word. When they come to me to ask about its meaning, and I explain it to them, they love it—white women, all types,” she says.
For Rozalyn Lucero-Corona, a ‘Chingona’ woman is an intelligent woman, fearless, proactive, who fulfills and fights for her goals.
“To see those teenagers, girls, wearing the label ‘Chingona’ fills me with pride. I know they will go somewhere, they will do it with confidence and determination,” she says.
In Chingona Community, women help each other. Through events, they discuss, teach, learn different things they face in everyday life.
“We open our arms to everyone. They can be professional women, stay-at-home moms, those looking for their professional path. All of them. I believe that at this moment, around 30 percent of them make up the community,” she adds.
And she enthusiastically talks about seminars and talks on childbirth and babies. Rosalyn knows that her life experience gives her all the authority to do this, and she also knows that the same help she needed, other women need now.
“The world is very unfair to women; there are two worlds in terms of salaries and positions in society. Many times, we are to blame for that ourselves. That’s why Chingona Community exists; we want to empower each other and have the strength to claim what belongs to us and what we have earned,” Rozalyn Lucero-Corona states.
One of the problems she often encounters in the Latino community is that people close themselves off and don’t want to share their problems.
“Latinos are not very open, but we have to insist on opening up to each other. Together, we can do it,” she says.
Chingona Community is going to start attracting Spanish-speaking immigrant women. They will begin offering some programs and translating the materials they publish. They know there is also a need for this, and there are not many resources available.
“Right now, in our Board, about 50 percent speak Spanish, and the other 50 percent understand it even if they don’t speak it. We want this to change, and we are working to have the financial resources to do it,” Rozalyn Lucero-Corona adds.
Many people have approached this leader to push her to run for public office. It’s not something she dislikes, but she’s not convinced that now is the right time.
“I like the idea. I see Chingona Community progressing, doing bigger things, being a voice when discussing the problems that women face, fighting for women’s rights. I see myself growing, being able to connect the dots, getting the financial help we need. I see Chingona Community as a non-profit organization worth around a million dollars,” she says.
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