Hady Méndez’s New Book ‘Calladita No More’ Teaches Latinas How To Advocate for Themselves

Best-selling author, speaker, and CEO Hady Méndez knows a thing or two about using her voice to empower herself and others. A Nuyorican, Méndez grew up in a Puerto Rican household where she often heard the refrán “calladita te ves más bonita.” Now, she’s changing the narrative for Latinas with her new book, Calladita No More.

The CEO of Boldly Speaking LLC shares a powerful collection of stories exploring her experiences as a Latina who dared to dream big, only to find the world wasn’t built for her ambitions. Through the insightful lens of Latinx cultural sayings, or refranes, Méndez shares profound lessons on navigating identity, leadership, and belonging amidst discrimination, racism, and sexism.

As a first-generation college graduate and former corporate professional, Méndez has dedicated her work to helping Latinas reach their full potential and thrive in the corporate world. Over the last 25 years, she has worked with employee resource groups, organizations, and individuals to help underrepresented employees rise to the top without losing their voice. With tools like her LinkedIn live show, Latinas Front and Center, and power coaching sessions, she empowers and supports Latinas in their career development and growth.

Throughout her career, Méndez has been recognized as one of Telemundo’s “Mujeres Imparables” and selected by Icon Eleven’s Speakers Bureau as one of the Best Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Speakers of 2025. Even more, she became a best-selling author alongside 21 other Black and Hispanic leaders with a joint collection titled Awareness Put Me On. Now, she’s reminding people of the power of their voice and being their best self-advocate with her new book.

With Calladita no More, Méndez is reminding Latinas that the power they seek already exists within them, they simply need to embrace it. At its core, the book fills readers with self-trust, something Méndez believes many struggle with due to early life experiences that instill fear and self-doubt, including our Latinx upbringing. In an interview with HipLatina, she explained these limiting beliefs often take root when we’re young, continuing to hold us back.

“I feel as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate more what I learned from my parents that I could use in my life, including in my work life. I’m always using one of these refranes to work or with friends. Looking back, I see that was the wisdom and the gift that they gave to me,” she says. “I think I undervalued it for some time, and now I really appreciate it… It is a central part of the book. I use 24 refranes in total.”

In every chapter of her new book, she starts with a refrán, taking readers back to their cultural wisdom while also diving into a lesson, using some of the same tools that helped her through her own path of healing and empowerment.

Everything from “de tal palo, tal astilla,” to “dime con quién andas, y te diré quién eres” is included. However, Méndez’s favorite is “lo que está pa’ ti, nadie te lo quita.” These quotes are ingrained in our Latino upbringings, reminding readers of the lessons our mothers, abuelas, and tías taught us growing up.

In addition to its ancestral wisdom, the book empowers underrepresented professionals to advocate for themselves, trust their abilities, and step into their power. Something Méndez had to learn the hard way, and without a blueprint, throughout her career.

“I got to the point in my career where I understood that the system was a game in certain ways and that I needed to learn how to play the game to thrive,” she says. “Very early on, as a young person, I was just trying to be a good worker and do my work. Respect my leaders and make them look good. I was doing all the things that I felt were the right things, but they were not getting me to where I wanted to be. It took time for me to realize this isn’t working for me. So, I started to do things differently.“

For many Latinas, being told to lay low and simply be grateful for the work we had was a constant growing up. We learned that if we avoided confrontation, speaking up for ourselves, and focused on laying low, everything would be alright. This is one of the main points Méndez is trying to help us overcome.

In one of her chapters, she recounts an anecdote from a corporate sales job where senior leaders attempted to intimidate her during a steering committee hearing. They persistently challenged her ideas and questioned her decisions. Despite internalized fears of speaking up, she found the strength to stand her ground. By pushing through these barriers, she not only advocated effectively for herself but also laid the groundwork to champion others.

“I talk about self-advocacy a lot. That’s the term that I use the most. And it’s something that I’ve been talking about for a long time, because I feel like it’s been missing from our community and our conversations,” she says. “There’s self-advocacy, and then there’s also self-promotion. They’re two different things. Advocacy is about putting into words what you need. ‘I wanna be promoted, so can you help me?’ Or ‘I need a raise, and these are the reasons why.’ Then, self-promotion is ‘these are all my achievements. These are the great things I’m doing.’ I feel like, coupled together, that’s what helps to make us successful because then we can own our narrative. We’re able to take a space. We’re able to use our voice. We show up differently when we are balancing those two things, the advocacy and the promotion.“

Calladita No More offers chapters where Méndez dives into ways professionals can apply these tools. As a professional coach working with underrepresented professionals, she focuses on helping them overcoming their mindset barriers and learn to effectively advocate for themselves and their needs.

“People are very afraid to advocate for themselves. I think it’s a skill that a lot of people don’t have. You have to learn it. Maybe some people see it modeled more often than our community, so it might be a little bit easier for them to step into it,” she says. “But it is a muscle that you have to build for sure. I think that people are very hesitant to do it for a lot of reasons. We know that in our community, we’re told to be happy and grateful for the things we get, don’t rock the boat, and don’t be too disruptive. You get scared. I like teaching people the skills to self-advocate. That’s a lot of what I do in my workshops and my fireside chats. I talk about this. I talk how it’s so important and it made a difference for me.”

Finally, Méndez wants her readers to show up unapologetically, remembering their voices need to be heard, not only to honor themselves, but their ancestors as well.

“You owe it to yourself and to your community to advocate for yourself and show it fully. Don’t be apologetic for who you are. Don’t hold back in any way and don’t dim your lights. You owe to yourself, and you owe it to your community, you owe this to your ancestors,” she says.

Calladita No More is on sale September 15 and available for pre-order here.