By: Kadejah McCoy, Chair, National Leadership Development & Standards Committee

2023 marks the 10th anniversary of Lambda Theta Alpha’s Lambda Ladies as Empowered Advocates for Diversity (LLEAD) Certification Program, hosted by the National Leadership Development and Standards Committee (NLDS)! We are pleased to announce the 2023 LLEAD Program Facilitator, Ambassadors, and 23 Cohort 10 participants.

The LLEAD Certification Program was developed to further enhance our members’ leadership skills related to cultural sensitivity, diversity, and inclusion. The five-month program is open to undergraduate and alumnae members and includes facilitator-led sessions on power and privilege, brave spaces, intersectionality, and impacting social change.

Meet the 2023 LLEAD Facilitator: Ivonne Ortega

Ivonne Ortega is an Afro-Puerto Rican anti-racist facilitator and educator from Ballston Spa, NY. Ivonne is a former early childhood educator and now works as the Program Coordinator for Peabody Terrace Children’s Center in Cambridge, MA. She is a trained Raja yoga teacher, and although she doesn’t teach regularly, tenets from this practice are integrated into everything she does. She holds a B.A. in Gender Studies and Environmental Studies from Amherst College, and in 2018 she graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she studied Instructional Leadership and Anti-Racist Approaches to Early Education. Ivonne believes that in order to create a world free from racism, as a community, we must strengthen our care, accountability, and self-reflection practices. In her free time, she loves to make pottery, sing karaoke, travel, cook, and meditate. She currently resides in Boston, MA. 

LLEAD Ambassadors are program graduates who support the facilitator and guide participants throughout the sessions. This year, the LLEAD Ambassadors are Kadejah McCoy, Beta Theta Chapter, Fall 2013, (Cohort 4 graduate), and Natalie V. Torres, Alpha Xi Alumnae Chapter, Spring 2020 (Cohort 9 graduate).

We look forward to the insightful discussions and lessons to further enhance our members’ leadership skills related to cultural sensitivity, diversity, and inclusion. We hope our members use this opportunity to enhance their personal and professional development.