Olimpia Bahena is an immigrant and Latina who is fluent in Spanish, French, and English. Upon moving to the United States from Mexico twenty-five years ago, she became a bilingual teacher in a historically under-resourced Chicago neighborhood school. She also became one of the first Latino educators in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to become Nationally Board Certified, and since has served as a mentor to teachers with provisional certification and as a bilingual education instructor for Illinois educators. Six years ago Olimpia became Principal of Talcott Fine Arts and Museum Academy. Talcott is a CPS PreK-8th grade dual language school (Spanish-English, English-Spanish) and 80% of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch. A champion of dual-language education, Olimpia is proud of Talcott’s reputation as an innovative, well rounded, high-quality, and high-performing school with dedicated and hard-working families, and learning-focused staff. Olimpia attributes her development as a leader to caring and disciplined mentors and she is proud to serve as a role model for students, staff, and the broader community. Foundational elements of her leadership include self-reflection, ongoing learning, and the humility to accept, learn from, and move forward after mistakes. Among her recent personal accomplishments are a Fulbright Exchange Program scholarship through which she hosted Argentinian educators and visited Argentina for two weeks in Spring, 2016. She is also in the final stages of her doctoral program and anticipates a Spring, 2017 graduation.