Finding Purpose with Mission-Driven Organizations

Ashley Guevara ’18 co-founded LULAC Council at St. Edward’s University, and in the process, inspired the next generation of young adult leaders

Finals Week, December 2016

As other St. Edward’s University students memorize formulas, practice problems and scan chapter summaries, Ashley Guevara ’18 stayed awake until 3:00 a.m. managing paperwork.

She inserted data meticulously into spreadsheets, ensuring that at least 40 students had turned in their membership forms and paid their dues. The deadline to form a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Council at St. Edward’s University was fast approaching.

Ashley Guevara was no stranger to the league’s requirements for members. As a freshman at Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School in Dallas, Ashley watched her older sister participate in LULAC and her father attend community meetings every first Saturday of the month. She felt drawn to the league’s long history and mission to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. “I just knew it was something I wanted to join,” she said.

SEU Family Orientation
Smithsonian Latino Center

When Ashley arrived at St. Edward’s University and realized there wasn’t a university LULAC Council to join, she immersed herself in other campus activities. She participated in intramural soccer and volleyball, competed in Hall Olympics, attended a Campus Ministry retreat and became an Orientation leader. During her sophomore year, Ashley heard a fellow student was working to found a Council at St. Edward’s University. When the student transferred, Ashley finished the process.

With one Facebook post, she received interest from more than 100 students. She corresponded with each of them, collecting national, state and district dues, and then hit the ground running after turning in all required paperwork to Student Life. Soon after founding the Council on campus, she was tapped for a LULAC district position — Deputy Director for Young Adults — in charge of the Councils at St. Edward’s, The University of Texas at Austin, and other Young Adult Councils in the city and surrounding counties.

Her focus in these roles ranged from immigration and protection for undocumented students to creating mentorship programs at the high school level.

Her knack for making a difference, particularly in the Young Adult Council sector, garnered the attention of LULAC leadership. At the District Convention in April 2020, Ashley received the Young Adult Woman of the Year award. This recognition automatically put her into the running for awards at the State Convention in Corpus Christi. Busy with Family Orientation at St. Edward’s, Ashley missed the State Convention and found out on social media that she had been named the State Young Adult Woman of the Year.

Ashley was worried she couldn't afford the cost of the National Convention in San Antonio, or fit in the host of weekend activities with her schedule. “I was taking classes in the summer, so a lot was going on," she said. "I was doing Orientation, going home sometimes, going back and forth between Austin and Dallas sometimes. I was so close to not going to the National Convention because I felt like it was too much.” 

Ashley’s friend and a fellow LULAC member encouraged her to go. She offered her grandmother's home in San Antonio for lodging and wanted to pay for at least one dinner — the awards dinner — so Ashley could attend. Ashley didn’t realize until the dinner started why it was so important that she attend: she had been named the National Young Adult Woman of the Year.

“I really feel like in my experience over the past six years, that LULAC stands by its mission to improve the Hispanic conditions in the United States, whether it’s healthcare, housing, economics, women’s rights,” Ashley said. And it’s this mission that motivated Ashley to advise the president of St. Edward’s University’s LULAC Council, whether it’s with public speaking, decision making or morale building.

LULAC Award

LULAC played a large part in Ashley’s development as a professional and has influenced her perspective in other extracurricular activities:

Smithsonian Latino Center’s Young Ambassadors Program

In the months following her high school graduation, Ashley participated in the Young Ambassadors Program with the Smithsonian Latino Center. She traveled to Washington, D.C. for a week-long seminar and then participated in a four-week internship at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. “I feel like my perspective on things that I could do changed,” she said. The following summer, the program asked her to return as a staff-person during the D.C. training.

LATINA Style Inc.

After her first year at St. Edward’s University, Ashley decided to return to Dallas for the summer and intern at LATINA Style Inc., a national magazine dedicated to Latina professionals and business owners.

She gained research, editing and copywriting experience that complemented her Marketing and Entrepreneurship coursework.

St. Edward’s University Orientation

In the summer of 2017, Ashley challenged herself by applying for a position as an Orientation Leader. She presented to over 100 parents and students at each Orientation session and practiced public speaking and customer service skills.

This role allowed her to meet people outside of her friend group.

“I was talking with one of my college advisors from high school. She said, ‘Ashley, I look at you and I see you on the front of some magazine.’ I was telling her about my dreams at the Smithsonian, and she said, ‘The job that doesn’t exist right now – it’s going to exist years from now, and it’s going to be the description of everything that you’ve been doing.”

Ashley’s experience with the Smithsonian Latino Center continued to be a guiding force in her life. The organization created a mentorship initiative for previous participants, and Ashley was selected as a mentee. 

Ashley also applied for internships in Austin where she could gain more experience. “I’m all over the place because I love politics, I love business, I love art and culture,” she said. “I always tell people my end goal would be to own my own venue and to let people showcase their local art for artists.”

Smithsonian Group