Latina leaders: Breaking the glass ceiling with a golf ball
By Kristina Puga, NBCLatino
Nine years ago, Azucena Maldonado — who was born in Mexico and grew up in Los Angeles in a family very distant from the world of golf — dated an avid golfer who wasted no time in taking her to the luscious green course right away. Although the relationship has ended, she says she became “addicted” to the sport he introduced her to, and her love affair with golf has continued to blossom.
For three years straight, she says she was out on the golf course three times a week minimum, learning and practicing.
“It became an important part of my life,” says Maldonado, now in her 40’s. “Somebody invited me to a charity golf tournament fundraiser for a Latino organization. When I got there I thought, ‘This is an amazing experience’ — I got to meet corporate leaders, elected officials, and entrepreneurs in a social business setting, but the one thing I noticed right away was that there were no women playing. It was all men having this fabulous networking experience, and the women were nowhere to be found. I thought, ‘There is something wrong with this picture!’”
Suddenly, she says, it clicked that many CEO’s play golf, and studies show that bosses who don’t play golf are paid 17 percent less, on average, than those who do.
So in 2008, she founded the Latina Golfers Association, which has more than 1,000 members in Los Angeles alone. She travels to national conferences to preach about golf and hosts golf clinics, business etiquette classes and outings to teach Latinas how to break the glass ceiling with a golf ball — and even use it as a business tool.
“Successful people more often than not play golf,” says Maldonado. “So if you want to be noticed by your CEO, more than likely they play golf, and if you play golf, they’ll connect with you.”
Maldonado says she has witnessed more and more women playing golf, including Latinas. Her mission is to not leave them behind.
“Most women feel intimidated to go to the golf course,” says Maldonado. “The Latina Golfers Association is like the welcoming committee to introduce women to the world of golf. I have seen how women’s lives are changed by playing golf. It’s given them a lot of self confidence…It’s so rewarding to see how golf has transformed these women’s lives and how it’s impacted their professional careers in a positive way. They are now golfing with their executives and clients, and it’s helped them move up the corporate ladder.”
Maldonado dedicates her days full-time to making the Latina Golfers Association a success, and her past work experience in video production, public relations and marketing have come in handy. She says it’s been a labor of love and she has had to put in a lot of her time and own money, but to her it’s worth it.
“It’s free to join,” she says. “All we charge for is the golf clinics and lessons, and we make it more affordable. I don’t want money to be a barrier to get Latinas started…I want to change the face of golf in America. I want more Latinos to play golf.”
If other Latinas are like her, Maldonado says, they are not going to get golf in their life. So through her organization, she now has teenagers, women in their 20’s, mid-career 30’s, and older playing golf through her association.
“I started a program called Golf in the Park,” says Maldonado who has partnered with the national organization First Tee of LA. “We go to the inner city parks and introduce young girls there to golf. We have special equipment we use so that you don’t have to be in a golf course…It’s really beautiful to see Latinas come together…I want them to be empowered through golf.”
For the past two years, Maldonado has supported Lizette Salas, LA’s first Latina professional golfer to compete in a LPGA event. Just last week, Salas played on the USA Solheim Cup — a 12-woman team — in Colorado.
“It’s like the Olympics of golf –the most important event of the year — the U.S. versus Europe,” says Maldonado excitedly. “There has not been a Latina on the team since 1990 — since Nancy Lopez.”
This article was first published in NBCLatino.
Kristina Puga, Web Producer: A graduate of Barnard College and The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Kristina is the product of an Ecuadorian father and a Russian mother. Raised in culturally diverse Queens, NY, she has been covering the Latino community for about a decade for publications such as the New York Daily News, AOL Latino, NYRemezcla.com, and Urban Latino. She loves to travel and experience different foods and cultures while discovering interesting characters along the way and telling their stories. After a long stay in Oaxaca, Mexico, she now considers it her second home. According to legend, she will be back since she ate chapulines there.
[Photo courtesy Azucena Maldonado]
