When Andrea Bazan-Manson immigrated to New Orleans from Argentina with her family in 1981, she didn't consider herself a Latina or Hispanic. In fact, she had never heard these terms until she entered a Catholic high school. When she heard these names it made her feel set apart from her classmates.

Bazan-Manson said it was two years before she spoke out in class because of the language barrier she faced. Though she'd studied English in school in Argentina, she was taught British English, and found the New Orleans dialect to be much different.

Fast forward 15 years. Bazan-Manson asked her four-year-old daughter what she should tell Meredith students about Latinas before she was a guest speaker at a luncheon.

"Just talk about us," her daughter said simply. "We're Latinas."

A few hours later when Bazan-Manson began her talk at the Latin American Culture and the Roles of Women luncheon sponsored by the Meredith International Association (MIA), she first talked of her three daughters and how they identify themselves as Latinas. Then she talked about the process by which she came to identify herself the same way.

Bazan-Manson has spent her professional life in North Carolina trying to define the Latino community and advocate for it. Currently she is the executive director and chief lobbyist at El Pueblo, Inc., a North Carolina non-profit statewide advocacy and policy organization dedicated to strengthening the Latino community. Nationally, she is a member of the board of directors and executive committee of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C.

Bazan-Manson came to North Carolina to attend graduate school at UNC-Chapel Hill. She was surprised to see how many Spanish speakers were around her. "I did not know at that point that we had such a fast-growing Latino population," she said.

Because she could speak Spanish she was constantly asked to help out with events where bilingual people were needed. "Pretty soon my entire life was dedicated to helping the Latino community," Bazan-Manson said.

In graduate school and in the few years after she and a few others continued to work with the Latino community. "We realized that the Latino community in North Carolina had tremendous needs," she said.

Bazan-Manson talked more about how Latinos are forming their own communities in North Carolina. She discussed challenges they face and how El Pueblo, Inc., is working to effect change. "I know that the work I'm doing has a direct impact," she said.

As a celebration of International Women's Month, attendants at the luncheon were served a variety of foods from Central and South American countries, all provided by MIA.

By Betsy Rhame

Related Links:
Meredith's Office of Diversity Programs: www.meredith.edu/students/commuter/diversity_programs.htm
El Pueblo, Inc.: http://elpueblo.org/