Four outstanding Madison-area individuals whose stories reflect leadership, cultural pride, and meaningful impact across Dane County will be honored at the Yo Soy 2025 celebration hosted by the Latino Professionals Association of Greater Madison at Señor Machetes in downtown Madison on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 5-8 p.m.
This year’s honorees will be Karen Burch, Oscar Mireles, Sujhey Beisser, and Rodrigo Carapia. “Each of these incredible leaders embodies the spirit of #YoSoy through their creativity, service, and dedication to strengthening Greater Madison,” LPA said in a social media post announcing the event. “This will be an opportunity to celebrate their stories and contributions during an evening of culture, connection, and community pride.”
Yo Soy celebrates Latino identity, culture, and contributions throughout greater Madison and honors leaders whose work strengthens pride, belonging, and opportunity across the community. Brian Espinosa, the board chair of the Latino Professionals Association of Greater Madison, tells Madison365 that they have been doing the Yo Soy campaign since 2016, when LPA first started.
“To determine the honorees, the community nominates the individuals that they feel have done great work in the community,” Espinosa says. “The board members don’t necessarily take that responsibility, because we don’t want to make it seem like there is any conflict of interest, in the sense of nominating very similar people. This award is only won once, so there are no repeat winners.”
(Photo: Latino Professionals Association)
It’s more of a career award than what the honoree has just done lately, Espinosa adds. After the nominations get sent over, the LPA board reviews them all and scores the individual on a variety of criteria. The four highest-scoring nominees are honored at the Yo Soy celebration.
“Our score is based on mission alignment. with the organization and the kind of community impact the individual has made throughout their career. The other pieces would be advocacy, systematic change, cultural celebrations and contributions,” Espinosa says. “Finally, the last piece that we look at is leadership and initiative. We essentially score the nominees out of 100 points based on those criteria, and that’s how we usually go ahead and select our individuals.”
Founded in 2016, the LPA of Greater Madison empowers individuals to advance in their careers through mentorship, skill-building workshops, and networking opportunities. The non-profit organization provides the tools and connections needed to navigate career paths, enhance expertise, and achieve long-term success. Espinosa says LPA currently has over 600 members.
This Wednesday’s Yo Soy ceremony will be completely free for LPA members, called visionarios, and $20 for community members. For people who aren’t LPA members who want to celebrate the honorees and see what the organization is all about, Espinosa says that this is a great event to do that.
“This is definitely a good way to connect. This is an event that a lot of our members always look forward to just because of the fun time they have at the celebration,” Espinosa says.
Espinosa says that the Latino Professionals Association of Greater Madison has been doing pretty well overall.
“We’ve been restructuring a little bit in the sense of just making things more consistent for our members … wanting to be consistent in what we’re delivering and promising,” he says. “One thing that we are looking forward to as an organization is our annual LPA gala coming up in January. It’s normally a big celebration where we bring our largest partners, and we all go ahead and celebrate not just the achievements of our Yo Soy honorees, but also the achievements of everyone.”
In the meantime, LPA is looking forward to the Yo Soy celebration showcasing the contributions of local leaders, artists, advocates, and changemakers who strengthen the greater Madison area and beyond.
“It’s an inspirational event honoring those people who are doing good work that sometimes don’t get recognized,” Espinosa says. “It’s a good way for people to know that their community is keeping an eye out for the things you are doing.”
Members of the community are invited to submit nominations for future celebrations anonymously for individuals who inspire them and reflect the spirit of Yo Soy.
Senior Machetes is located at 121 E. Main Street in downtown Madison. Refreshments and light appetizers will be provided at Yo Soy 2025, and a cash bar will be available. Tickets can be purchased here.