Monica Santana Rosen: employee services officer, Human Resources Chicago Public School System

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, April, 2008 by Mariana Gutierrez

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Monica Santana Rosen is a big believer in education, but what makes her a leader is the fad that this concern goes way beyond the way she is raising her son, beyond the education system in her community, and even beyond the school district of Chicago, where she heads the Human Resources department that supports the 44,000 public school teachers and workers that lead hundreds of thousands of students every day.

Born and raised in New York City, Monica is a first generation Dominican whose family left everything behind for the American dream. Both of her parents got jobs at factories, and the family struggled during the first years. As the youngest of four, Monica remembers vividly her parent's commitment to their children's education. "They worked very hard to give us better opportunities. Even though we were a low income family, we had our dreams, so we never felt poor, but knew that we had a responsibility to complete our education and go to college to get the best jobs possible."

After various scholarships, Monica was preparing for a term abroad in her senior year in High school when she became a volunteer with The Boys Club of New York. This experience changed her life. "It gave me a first hand understanding of the impact that programs such as The Boys Club can have on a child's life. It became clear to me that I wanted to have an impact in education ... because these children were so bright and loyal and so willing to be a part of something and work hard despite difficult circumstances ... they really inspired me. They had so much potential and limitless possibilities, and I knew that with the right support system they could do anything with their lives. I decided then to make that support system available on a much larger scale."

Monica pursued a Psychology major in Wesleyan College in Middletown CT, while continuing to volunteer in various organizations. She soon realized however that a lot of the education reforms had to do with counselors and after school programs, but no one was addressing the massive change that had to happen at a district level. She also became conscious of the lack of opportunities minorities had in upper management positions when she started working for Management Leadership for Tomorrow, which was committed to increasing diversity at the upper levels. She began as a program manager, and within a year she was promoted to executive director. This inspired her to test her own boundaries, and Monica decided to apply for Harvard's business school. "Persistence, the fact that you had to stick trough whatever you started if you wanted to be successful ... that is the most important lesson I learned from my parents. At first I thought Harvard was out of my league, but I wasn't willing to give up, and with my mentors and my husband's support I made it happen."

After Harvard, Monica moved to Chicago and collaborated with The Broad Residency, a management development program for emerging executives seeking to make an impact through full-time management positions in urban school districts and charter management organizations. This was the perfect place for Monica to apply the lessons she had learned. "There weren't many opportunities at the district level where I wanted to make a difference, but The Residency gave me access to the top leadership in the system, and I was assigned the task of transforming the HR department, which was very exciting because I saw the high impact this program could have. By giving a better service to our education providers we were at the end providing a better service to the Children of Chicago. The Residency understood the political landscape, and with their endorsement I could really make a difference in the system".

Today, Monica manages a team of 55 in Employee Services and has launched a new talent management program across Chicago public schools to find the best and the brightest to be the leaders of the classrooms. What keeps her going? "The dream is that every student has what they need to be successful, that there is no difference between minorities and the rest of the population when it comes to education, so we can all achieve our dreams."

Interviewed at her offices in Chicago in March, 2008 by Mariana Gutierrez