Voices of leadership
Leading with Purpose: Why Bodily Autonomy is the Ultimate Act of Freedom
A Q&A with Catalina Martinez Coral, Aspen Institute Colombia Cohort 3 Fellow
In the fight for human rights, few battles are as fundamental as the right to decide one’s own future. Catalina Martinez Coral is a powerful force on the front lines of that struggle across Latin America and the Caribbean.
As the Vice President for Latin America & the Caribbean at the Center for Reproductive Rights, she spearheads the organization’s overarching strategies—from litigation and advocacy to communications—to ensure the advancement of reproductive rights across the region. Across all her work is one common thread:
“I think that the political is personal, and the personal is political. I truly believe that women need to have an equal place in society to men. This is my political bet, my personal value, and purpose.”
Catalina’s impact is undeniable and includes the decriminalization of abortion in Colombia, securing the freedom of women unjustly imprisoned for abortion-related matters in El Salvador, litigating the landmark 2020 case of Paola Guzmán Albarracín before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which, for the first time, recognized the right to comprehensive sexual education for girls and adolescents at the regional level, and being one of the leaders of the Niñas No Madres movement in Latin America.
Catalina is an Aspen Institute Colombia Fellow in the third cohort. We talked to her at the 2025 Resnick Aspen Action Forum to learn more about her leadership journey and the crucial work ahead to ensure that every woman across the region has the autonomy to choose her own destiny.
Answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What’s the problem you’re committed to solving, and what actions are you taking to make progress?
The problem I am committed to solving is gender equality. I fight so that every woman has the right to make important decisions in their life and has control over her future and her projects. When women have access to these services, they are empowered to act in a better way in society and in the political arena.
The actions I am taking to achieve gender equality are working in a community with diverse stakeholders, including non-traditional allies, to create collective action. To be able to resolve these issues, we need lots of different people at the table with us.
The other thing I try to do is lead with creativity and innovation, thinking outside the box to use various pedagogical and communication strategies to educate the public on this pressing matter in our society. And I think that being able to do this work with creativity, passion, and a sense of mission will make it more powerful.
I have the privilege of working on something that I really believe in. I think that the political is personal, and the personal is political. When I go to work, I am working on my political agenda as well because I truly believe that women need to have an equal place in society to men. This is my political bet. And this is my personal value and purpose.
Tell us about your leadership journey and any lessons you’ve learned along the way.
I am a feminist activist, and I have been working for sexual and reproductive rights for almost 15 years now. It has been a very beautiful path because we are fighting for equality and for women’s rights across the region. I’ve learned that in order to learn how to be a leader — and how to be a better leader — we also need to look inside and work on ourselves and our understanding of our fears, our purpose, and the sense of mission that we have.
Once you do the work internally, you are better equipped to work in a community and to work for a purpose.
The second lesson, I think, is the collective action in this work. When you are working toward social change and social justice, you need to understand that you must put together a community and bring collective action to make real, impactful changes.
If you were to write a letter to your younger self, what piece of advice or what words of wisdom would you share with her?
I would tell my little self to believe in herself and to be true to her values and beliefs. We can be as creative and as innovative as we want, and that is what is going to make us original and successful.
What do you wish more people knew about leadership?
A lot of people wait until they get a title or they get a rank. Leadership is a personal conviction that this thing makes me angry, and I’m going to do something about it. If more people understood that, they would realize the power that they can make change in their communities.
If you could write a letter to your younger self, what would it be?
You are enough is what the letter would say. It’s not about the schools you go to or the company you keep — it’s about what you carry in you. I’m a very deeply spiritual person, and I realized that later in life. So I think I would tell myself to seek God earlier. It would have given me more confidence to know who I am, what I carry and who I belong to.
About the Aspen Global Leadership Network
The Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) is a dynamic, worldwide community of nearly 4,000 entrepreneurial leaders from over 60 countries. Spanning business, government, and the nonprofit sector, these leaders share a commitment to enlightened leadership and the drive to tackle the most pressing challenges of our times. Through transformative Fellowship programs and gatherings like the Resnick Aspen Action Forum, AGLN Fellows have the unique opportunity to connect, collaborate, and challenge each other to grow and commit to a lifelong journey of impact.
More from 2025 Resnick Aspen Action Forum
In July 2025, over 500 leaders across the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) community gathered for our largest Action Forum to date. Joined by nearly 100 young leaders, AGLN Fellows from more than 30 countries returned to the enduring questions first posed at at the founding of the Aspen Institute 75 years go: What does it mean to lead with purpose in times of profound uncertainty?
Explore more inspiring content on leadership and change-making from the 2025 Action Forum here.