No Ceiling: Yolanda Lorge

Local women share their journey to the top of their professions and the challenges and triumphs they faced along the way. They’re rewriting the script on success and there’s no ceiling.

Below is an excerpt from the start of my conversation with Yolanda.

—Christine Temple, Executive Editor

Christine Temple: I want to start by you taking us back to your roots because so much of your work has been about educating and celebrating your culture.
Yolanda Lorge: I grew up in Morelia. It’s a large city; it’s the capital of that state. Very old, from the 1500s. Very colonial city. And then we moved to Mexico City. It’s very interesting because Mexico City has everything – from the worst to the best. It was there even before the Spaniards, of course. It was Tenochtitlan, which was the name for that city at the time of the Aztecs. So, you see the remnants of all that. So diverse. Mexico City is high altitude. A lot of people think of Mexico, and they think of warm; it’s kind of cool. We lived in a valley surrounded by mountains, and two of those are volcanoes that have snow all year long. You go from seeing very, very modern buildings, and then you see the colonial types. It’s so visual. But at the same time, it’s Latin, so it’s also all kinds of festivities and events all year long. We celebrate even if I see a bird flying: “Oh, look at that; let’s have a dance.”

Temple: When you think about your childhood, are there strong memories that come to mind?
Lorge: In Morelia is my mother’s family – very conservative, very Catholic. My father came from northern Mexico from the state of Chihuahua. He was an agronomist. My mother took care of the kids. From Chihuahua to the state of Michoacán, back then it was just train. Her family used to go there and visit her because she was just having babies after babies. Then her parents died; she said, “I need to go to Morelia and visit the family.” The whole family went except for my father. There were nine of us, and she was pregnant with the 10th. There was a fire in the house. They still don’t know how it happened. That’s when my father died, because he stayed there to work. That was big drama. My mother used to say, “I end up with 10 kids and 10 pesos in my pocket.” She had never worked in her life outside the house. We stayed with an uncle. That was very – trauma. My mother was only 37, and I was 6. Then, she had to go look for a job and support 10 kids. That was hard times.

Temple: What was the impact on you losing your father at such a young age?
Lorge: You didn’t really have a concept. So now, I am an orphan. There was always that empty place – the father figure. Ours was not a very patriarchal family; it was very matriarchal, especially because my mother was a very strong woman and very secure in herself. We say that the strongest ones in the family are the women.