ELEVATING LATINA VOICES OF LEADERSHIP: Latina Student Leaders’ Beliefs, Approaches, and Influences to Leadership

Abstract

There is a recent call for and emergence of leadership research that purposefully centers students’ social identities and lived experiences in order to gain more nuanced understandings of college student leadership development and elevate marginalized voices in the leadership narrative. In this qualitative study, the researchers focused on the leadership approaches of Latina college student leaders at Hispanic Serving Institutions and the influences that shape their approaches to leadership. The findings reveal participants’ unique forms of capital as well as sources of on-campus support that shape and influence their leadership beliefs and styles, including a focus on community, a commitment to making a positive impact, and non-hierarchical approaches to leadership.