“To learn our language is to preserve the ways in which our ancestors lived in the world. How they saw, felt, and experienced the world. How they made sense of it. If we lose our language, we lose that important vision and perspective.” 

These powerful words of her “yatichiri” (Aymara for teacher) had left an indelible mark on Dr. Lizette B. Suxo (Sook-so), who is on a mission to protect and preserve her heritage language Aymara so that future generations including her son can also be connected to their Aymara cultural heritage. 

She believes that “it’s never too late to be the change.” Her quest turned to passion, then purpose and now advocacy.

“I want to make sure that my family’s heritage language does not disappear with my generation. My parents are part of the last generation to speak Aymara in our family and if my cousins and I don’t learn it… it’s gone,” laments Lizette. 

Aymara is a language spoken, along with Spanish and Quechua, by some 2.5 million Aymara people in the Andes Mountain range in South America spread between Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.

Born in Manhattan, New York to emigrant parents from Copacabana, Bolivia (South America), Lizette, 44, started her journey to connect with her Andean culture and learn Aymara, an indigenous language from the region, when she was 20 years old. 

“I took Aymara in college during a semester of study abroad in Bolivia. I remember sitting in class learning vocabulary words when I realised all those words that we used growing up in the kitchen, in everyday life… names of animals… colors… numbers… were all Aymara words. It was like all of a sudden a lightbulb went on after so many years. I had that kind of moment where all of these pieces of my life came together and made new sense to me,” shares Lizette, who has a BA degree in Latin American Studies from Bryn Mawr College. 

As a first-generation Bolivian American growing up in the United States, navigating her identity has always been a part of life for Lizette. The long Covid-19 pandemic made her rethink her priorities.

Subsequently, a rare breast disease diagnosis in late 2022 compelled her to reflect on many important aspects of her life. She was 43. 

“We were so isolated and alone during the pandemic. We physically could not be with one another, in community. We had more time to think about things in different ways. In social distancing, I felt the need to engage further in community. I thought deeply about what community means to me. I reflected upon the communities I belong to and considered what communities I wanted to belong to in more meaningful ways. Journaling and reflecting led me to greater clarity in a time of great transition. Once I reconnected my values and beliefs with my goals, I thought, ‘Okay, where are these communities and how can I support and be supported?’”

She continues: “Getting sick at the end of 2022 forced me to think about my legacy. It became clear as day to me that learning my heritage language is an important part of my identity formation and crucial to cultural preservation. What does it mean to be a Bolivian American in the United States? How does my cultural identity take on new meaning in motherhood? How do all my identities come together in a diaspora context to forge a new identity and cultural connection?  All those questions became more salient to me, in particular, as I was navigating new health challenges.”

While Lizette always knew there were many other first-generation Andean Americans like her, she did not grow up connected closely to this community. Through social media, she became connected with those writing and blogging about their experiences growing up as children of immigrants, now renegotiating their identities in new contexts. She encountered a new community of people posting about what it means to be Bolivian American and Aymara in the global diaspora. Drawn to these folks, she started connecting virtually with some of them. When the pandemic lockdown was lifted, she started meeting with people who she had previously only met virtually. Much to her delight and wonder, she soon realized that they had a lot of very nuanced experiences in common. So began her zealous pursuit to learn more about her heritage language, traditions and culture. 

The long-term impact of preserving and protecting the Aymara language is not lost in translation for Lizette. About three-quarters of the 2.5 million Aymara population in the Andes speak Aymara today. The threat of extinction is omnipresent. Fortunately, there has been a revival of the Aymara language according to UNESCO. In 2009 the intangible cultural heritage of Aymara communities in Bolivia, Chile and Peru was selected for the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee of UNESCO.

“My advocacy is focused on maintaining cultural heritage through language. For me, that is even more important to do in Aymara, as opposed to Spanish, which was the language and culture imposed upon my people as a result of colonialism. Learning Aymara, the indigenous language spoken by my ancestors, is both a connection to my culture and people, as well as an act of resistance and repair,” Lizette says. 

Of course, it was easier said than done. Finding resources was but one of the seemingly insurmountable challenges she faced. The lack of resources and lack of support (sometimes even within the family unit) can be challenges that “many like me face” but she remains undaunted.

“Keeping my focus on the goal that has driven my advocacy is key to overcoming the challenges. Connecting with other like-minded first-generation Andean folks has been reassuring. This focus and these connections inspired the mission of my organization, The Ayllu,” says the Harvard University Ed.L.D. post-graduate.Launched in June 2023, the Ayllu is an online virtual community for those looking to bridge the gap and connect with Aymara and Quechua resources and people in the U.S. and abroad. 

For centuries prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, the “ayllu” was the traditional form of a community in Andean society. An ayllu was a family and your immediate community.

According to experts, a heritage language is a minority language (either immigrant or indigenous) learned by its speakers at home as children, and difficult to be fully developed because of insufficient input from the social environment. The speakers grow up with a different dominant language in which they become more competent partly because they don’t want to be discriminated against. 

This New York native knows this too well. However, she insists that discrimination is not the focus of her advocacy. In fact, her success is despite any instance of discrimination.

Language is the soul of a culture, she believes. It is a means of conveying values, beliefs and customs. It also plays an important social function by cultivating feelings of group identity and solidarity. 

Lizette is heartened by efforts she sees within the larger pan-Andean, global diaspora. It’s something that she wishes for her five-year-old son to experience as he grows up. 

“I feel compelled to offer access and, ultimately, my son will choose how much of this he builds into his own identity formation,” she says. 

If there’s anyone interested in language or cultural preservation Lizette says, “It's an incredible undertaking, especially when you realize the impact your work can have, not just in your immediate community, but on a global scale. If we lose our indigenous ways, customs, beliefs and language, humanity at large has lost a piece of themselves. There can be lots of roadblocks and resistance in this effort so it is important to stay focused upon your goals. For me, this is easy to do because this is work of the heart.” 

Interwoven life choices

Learning the indigenous language of her ancestors is but an extension of Lizette’s life’s work as an educator, a consultant, an executive leadership coach and facilitator. 

“My career choices have always been tied to my passions, goals and dreams. In many ways, my advocacy has been interwoven into all of this, even if it did not surface in its current form until more recently,” says Lizette. 

She has spent over two decades working in the public education sector and, more recently, in Latin America supporting clients in the education and non-profit space. 

Lizette recalls that her plan to jump straight to graduate school to study history of sociology temporarily took a back seat when her undergraduate thesis advisor and mentor suggested she get some “real world” experience first. She took the advice of her professors on her Pennsylvania campus and decided to become a teacher through Teach for America. She fell in love with education in a new way by working with kindergarten students in immigrant communities across NYC.

After a successful career in education and completion of her doctoral studies, Lizette expanded her range by working with clients in the healthcare, government and corporate sector as a leadership coach and consultant.

Lizette works with clients to grow towards their most aspirational leadership selves. She firmly believes that coaching can offer a transformational space for leaders to grow and develop so that they may, in turn, hold these spaces for their teams. 

Having experienced many instances of transformational leadership coaching herself, she is deeply invested in cultivating this space with leaders who are ready to grow and learn in a supportive and responsive environment. 

Lizette also works with teams to develop learning experiences aligned with organizational priorities, particularly with regards to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging initiatives. 

I met Lizette during a six-session online Women of the World (WOW) Coaching Programme in April 2023. It was very clear from the start that she is deeply passionate about her heritage language and culture. 

“I can’t remember exactly when, but WOW was one of the paths that opened to me when all these things were happening. WOW’s vision and mission perfectly aligned with mine,” she recalls. 

After meeting Marjorie Garrovillo and Isa Buencamino, co-founders of WOW, on separate occasions, they invited Lizette to join WOW’s coaching programme. She didn’t even think twice. She just signed up. 

“One thing that I have been thinking all along in my own coaching practice was to be able to coach in Spanish, which I did while living and working in Chile. After completing my Coach Development through Teleos Leaders and participating in WOW’s coaching programme I was able to elevate my coaching. I am excited to reach my goals to offer coaching in Spanish, particularly to women in leadership who may not otherwise be able to afford it.”

“It’s never too late to be the change…” has been Lizette’s maxim in all things she does, whether it’s coaching for transformational leadership, or encouraging and empowering others on their own language preservation journey, or priming her son, an only child, to be a multilingual citizen of the world.

Debbie | ws 

Images courtesy of Dr. Lizette Suxo  

For more information: Facebook | IG: @the_ayllu | Lizette’s Journey on Talking To Grandma podcast | UNESCO “Aymara Has Not Said Its Last Word”