This Thursday friends, graduates and current students at Roosevelt University gathered for the sixth annual Women’s Leadership Council holiday luncheon. Hosted at the University Club of Chicago, the luncheon is one of the council’s signature events and provides networking opportunities for professional women in a variety of fields.
The event honored Karina Ayala-Bermejo, the CEO & President of Instituto del Progreso Latino (“Instituto”). The Instituto works to assist Latino immigrants and their families through education, training and employment initiatives that help those individuals participate in a changing U.S. society while preserving cultural identity and dignity. The organization oversees two charter high schools, the Instituto College of Nursing and over 200 employees throughout Chicago. During a conversation moderated by Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago Independent Director and fellow Latina Maria Wynn Lascarro, Ayala-Bermejo discussed the legal challenges facing immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and how the Instituto works to support them.
“The reality is that there were 3.2 million immigrants denied access to the country in 2023, and there are many millions more in our country right now seeking asylum and work visas to ensure they can access the life they deserve here,” she said. “These people are not a burden to our society—they are entrepreneurial and family-focused and are crucial to keeping our economy healthy.”
The Instituto assists these migrants with job development programs focused on fields such as construction and health care that consistently require new labor, as well as working directly with the city of Chicago and state of Illinois to limit intervention from organizations such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that may separate families.
Ayala-Bermejo also touched on her personal history as a child of Mexican immigrants who worked manual labor jobs in Salinas, California before moving to Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.
“This city has communities that have been so welcoming to my family, and my identity is inextricable from Chicago,” she said. “Every day, I see incredible industries and opportunities for people here if we only allow out systems to allow new people in, and that’s why my team and I work so tirelessly.”
In her closing remarks, Women’s Leadership Council Board Member Ana Fuentes noted the Deutsch Herczeg Scholars in attendance and praised their accomplishments as the fall semester concludes. The Deutsch Herczeg Scholars are academically driven young women who participate in educational and inspiring opportunities that give them tools and knowledge required to lead in their communities and industry.
