A Message to Latinas Climbing the Corporate Ladder

This Q&A was conducted around Latina Equal Pay Day, October 8, 2026.

Daisy Auger-Domínguez is a keynote speaker, board member, and people leader who has worked across media, finance, and tech, building culture that benefits individuals and helps organizations grow. She is the author of two books, Inclusion Revolution and Burnt Out to Lit Up. You can also find her writing in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and on Substack at Work y Más.

Burnt Out to Lit Up is about reigniting joy at work. Professionally, what is igniting joy for you right now?

Building something while it's still being built. I lead people and culture strategy at a fast-scaling fintech, which means we're building in real time, decision by decision, and I get to see the effect within weeks. It's my charging station.

You have so many meaningful professional pursuits. Are there any systems, routines, or mantras that help you manage it all?

The practice that most grounds me is writing. Whenever I'm struggling with a question, a reaction, a moment that doesn't sit right, or something that feels exciting, I start writing. Sometimes it's scraps that don't make sense until weeks later. Other times the whole thing pours out and I'm just trying to type fast enough to keep up. A few questions I keep coming back to: What am I meant to be building and living at this stage? What would I do if I weren't afraid of getting it wrong?

The routines that keep me sane, especially in this menopausal season: my personal training sessions, a weekly yoga class with my husband, acupuncture, and now that my daughter is in college, her text check-ins, which I wait for like a thirsty mom.

You often speak about leading through change. In this complicated job market, what are your tips for staying grounded during moments of professional upheaval, no matter your level or industry?

First, name what's changing and what it's bringing up inside you. Upheaval doesn't always mean you're burned out. Sometimes the assumptions you built your career on stopped being true. Sometimes this new stage is asking for a different version of you.

Second, separate your worth from your title or role. Your title is temporary. Your judgment, your relationships, the way you make people feel in a hard room — that travels with you.

Third, lean on real connection. Not your LinkedIn or Instagram audience. The people who know you when you're not performing. Isolation is what turns a hard season into a crisis.

You've written about lessons you've learned as the “only” in certain rooms. What advice do you have for women, and women of color in particular, who find themselves as the only person of their particular identity at work?

I've been the only one in a lot of places: Google, Disney, Moody's, VICE. A Dominican and Puerto Rican woman from Brooklyn walking into rooms that weren't built with me in mind. Here's what I wish someone had told me sooner.

You'll feel pressure to translate yourself: to sand down the accent, the energy, the clothes, so you're easier to read. Researchers call it covering¹, and it's exhausting. It's also expensive. People promote those they trust, and they trust those they know. When you hide the parts that make you you, they never quite get to know you. Every bit of energy you spend managing how you're perceived is energy you're not spending on being excellent at the work, or on being known. Situational awareness is wise. Shrinking is survival, not strategy. Notice where you're doing it. You may not be able to stop everywhere, but you can choose where you stop first.

You are not the delegate for everyone who looks like you. You don't have to be perfect so the next person gets a chance. That's not your burden. It's the organization's.

Find your people outside the room. The only-ness may live inside the building. Your community doesn't have to.

And when you're ready, be the one who names the thing. Someone says it out loud and everyone exhales. You'd be surprised how often that person is the only one.

This week marks Latina Equal Pay Day. Lean In research² shows that Latinas are more ambitious than any other group of women, but face the steepest climb to the top of the corporate ladder due to the biases they face. What would you say to the Latinas who are trying to make that climb — and to the managers who may be holding them back?

A mis Latinas: your ambition is not the problem. The research says it plainly. We want it more than almost anyone, and we're climbing the steepest ladder. So don't let anyone convince you the gap is a confidence issue you need to fix. Know your number. Ask what your peers make and what it took leaders to achieve their success. Find the person with power who will say your name when you're not in the room. Ask for the role before you feel ready. Ask for the context and tools to succeed because the people around you aren't waiting until you feel ready, either.

To managers: the gap isn't in their ambition. It's in your calibration. Look at who you call “not ready yet,” and ask yourself what evidence you're using. Look at who gets the stretch assignment and who gets the thank-you note. Look at your pay data. Equity is a practice and it requires diligence and transparency.

The pause before you write someone off; that's where this work happens.

Notes

1. Kenji Yoshino, “Covering,” Yale Law Journal 111, no. 4 (2002): 769–939, https://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/covering.
2. LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, The State of Latinas in Corporate America, 2024, https://leanin.org/report/the-state-of-latinas-in-corporate-america/.