Moniqua Acosta was on the Mennonite Central Committee Women’s Concern Advisory Board about 10 years ago and served as interim director of Women’s Concerns for eight months. She helped plan the Women Doing Theology Conference (The Red Tent). She also served on her church board for many years. She is on the Lancaster (Pa.) Mennonite School quarterly board, the Philhaven board and two committees with Lancaster Mennonite Conference (decadal planning and celebrating church life).

Do/did you have a woman leader as mentor? If so, how does/did she help you?

Yes, I have many women leaders who serve as mentors. Some are older and some younger. I have learned tremendously from their life experiences, whether successes or failures. My mentors serve as a sounding board for me. When I have doubts about direction or certain challenges in my life, they are there mainly to listen but also to provide me with honest truths.

Are you mentoring a young woman who may be a potential church leader?

I’m teaching the middle school Sunday school class at church and have begun to interact more with our junior youth group at church. My youngest daughter, Isabela, is in the middle school class, and my oldest daughter, Andrea, is in the junior youth group. It is important to me that the girls in these groups have a positive experience with church. I’m trying to be a consistent part of the lives of these young people because I see all of them having the potential to be leaders.

If so, how is her experience the same/different from yours?

This is difficult to answer. The young girls in my church are living in a different family setting than I did, but they still deal with some of the same societal stressors. They have a different way of communicating with one another, which is something I am learning.

What impediments have you faced in becoming a leader?

I’ve faced some opposition over the years in my church family as I became a leader. Being a woman who is educated and not from an immigrant family and who is relatively young, I’ve faced some roadblocks and experienced sexism in my years in the Spanish-speaking Anabaptist world. Persevering and showing my commitment to the body has made an impression over the years. I have not left my church or given up on my brothers and sisters, and they have done the same with me.

When you face challenges as leader, what encourages you?

I’m encouraged by the everlasting love of my Creator, my husband and all the strong women and men who have come before me and who are still working at dismantling racism, sexism, ageism and any form of oppression to another human being. I know I’m not alone and should never feel that way. I know I have others who will follow me (my children specifically) and that I, as well as those before me and after me, have a part to play until our Lord calls us home.