untapped leadership: harnessing the power of underrepresented leaders

Untapped Leadership examines strategies, capabilities, and contributions from leaders of color and marginalized backgrounds from all walks of life and career stages, showing how everyone can benefit. Highlighting diverse stories and strategies, this groundbreaking book reveals a different kind of leadership, one that requires an advanced understanding of situational awareness, organizational dynamics, and sound decision-making.

Jenny Vazquez-Newsum, Ed.D., is a facilitator, researcher, and educator with a long-time interest in leadership. As a biracial Black/Latinx woman, the leadership journey has been bumpy, stimulating, challenging, and a life’s work. For the past two decades, Vazquez-Newsum has designed and delivered leadership training for hundreds of diverse leaders, from established executives at large corporations to high school students beginning their leadership journeys. She currently serves as the Vice President of Training and Programs at a civic leadership institute in Southern California, where she has personally trained over 200 participants and launched a consulting arm supporting the leadership of external organizations including LAUSD, Capital Group, and the City of Costa Mesa among dozens of others. Interested in digging deeper into the limitations of current leadership rhetoric and bringing in the voices of the often-unrecognized leadership contributions of BIPOC and marginalized leaders, Vazquez-Newsum launched Untapped Leaders as a community to create a space for those contributions to be named, validated, and recognized. Vazquez-Newsum serves on the Santa Monica Commission on the Status of Women and is an Advisory Committee Member for the Scripps College Laspa Leadership Center. She lives in Santa Monica, California.