From humble beginnings, USC Price alum now an advocate for Hispanic community

By Greg Hardesty

From humble beginnings, Domenika Lynch has ascended to a distinguished career that has taken her to the power corridors of Washington, D.C., and earned her recognition as a national Latina leader and advocate for the Hispanic community.

Over the course of two decades in leadership roles, the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy alumna has overseen policy advocacy, public affairs campaigns, and raised over $40 million to increase economic opportunities for American Latinos. 

Lynch says challenges she faced early on in my life, including being an immigrant child and a teen mother, shaped her and built in her a strong sense of resiliency.

“I want to change the systems that keep people of color locked in the cycle of poverty,” says Lynch, who earned an undergraduate degree from the USC Price School in 1998 and a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy in 2015 from the USC Rossier School of Education. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at Price.

“What USC did is transform my life completely. USC taught me that I have what it takes to achieve my dreams. In me resides a strong sense of the ‘Fight on!’ spirit as a result. Not much keeps me down.” 

That includes a personal health crisis. A cancer diagnosis forced her to redirect her career and discover her life’s purpose.

Lynch was in her eighth and final round of chemotherapy when the founding executive director of the USC Mexican American Alumni Association, Raul S. Vargas urged her to apply for his position when he was on the verge of retirement.

Lynch – bald, sick, and achy – applied for and got the job.

A model Latino alumni group

During her tenure from 2006 to 2016, the Latino Alumni Association (LAA) – formerly the Mexican American Alumni Association (MAAA) – doubled its membership and tripled its endowment. The organization now is the envy of other Latino alumni groups, says USC Trustee Frank Cruz, who was on the interview panel that hired Lynch.

“She has a work ethic second to none,” Cruz says. “She leaves no stones unturned when working on a project or researching something. And she’s as nice a person to work with as you can imagine.

“In her heart,” Cruz adds, “she’s always concerned about making sure she’s either promoting educational or economic opportunities for Hispanics.”

“I want to change the systems that keep people of color locked in the cycle of poverty.”

Domenika Lynch

In 2016, Lynch was appointed president and chief executive officer of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, a nonprofit founded by Hispanic members of Congress to develop the next generation of Latino leaders and policymakers.

Today, Lynch serves as an executive director at the Aspen Institute, a renowned global nonprofit founded in 1949 to help solve the most pressing challenges facing the United States and the world. She leads Aspen Latinos and Society, a policy program with the mission to empower Latino communities and promote long-term economic growth. 

“I feel like it’s a culmination of sorts,” Lynch says of the Aspen Institute “Setting the table and building an inclusive society is at the heart of what we do.”

Imbued with the Trojan spirit to “Fight On” 

Lynch took the helm of Aspen Latinos in 2020 in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, which inspired her to double-down on her commitment to advancing equity.

Her desire to ensure Latino communities didn’t miss out on the massive influx of federal investments led to the creation of the Aspen City Action Lab. The organization is a cohort of seven Latino-majority cities that helps accelerate the recovery and growth of Latino and Black small businesses, and those owned by indigenous people and people of color, in historically red-lined and marginalized communities.

The program has been incredibly successful, with revenue growing by 250% over the past three years and gaining the support of foundations like Kauffman and Rockefeller, as well as blue-chip corporations such as Bank of America, the Coca-Cola Co., Comcast, Target and Google. 

In 2022, the White House Hispanic Initiative partnered with Aspen Latinos and Society to organize six White House Initiative Latino Economic Summits. That same year, Lynch was appointed by President Joe Biden to the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. She also currently serves on the Small Business Administration Council for Underserved Communities.

“Domenika is a natural leader,” said Elliot Gerson, executive vice president at the Aspen Institute. “She’s animated by a passion to make a difference, especially for those left behind, misunderstood, or marginalized. She has brought the Aspen Latinos and Society Program to new levels of success, reach and impact. She’s an influential leader of the Aspen Institute more broadly and is enormously well regarded.

“And she speaks often and very proudly of the important work she did at USC.”

Bold changes

Carolina Castillo, executive director of development at the USC Civic Engagement and Economic Partnerships, served on the USC Latino Alumni Association Board of Directors for nine years, with six years of service under Lynch’s leadership.

“When Domenika became the executive director,” Castillo says, “she implemented significant, bold changes to the organizational structure. She expanded fund development strategies and established key internal and external partnerships that placed the association at the top tier for having the largest endowment among other Latino alumni associations in the country.”

Lynch’s commitment and dedication to supporting Latino students in their academic, personal, and professional aspirations went beyond providing scholarships, Castillo says.

“Her personal experience as a Latina, single mother, working labor-intensive jobs as a teenager, and the challenges she overcame in her life journey were a driving force to help students not only overcome similar life challenges, but help to remove inequities to ensure they had the tools to thrive,” she says.

“She’s a servant leader who leads with her values of equity, inclusion, empathy, and compassion.”

A Trojan family fights on

Lynch’s son, Jacob Flores, now 31, also is a Trojan. He graduated from USC Viterbi School of Engineering in 2015 with a degree in biomedical engineering and recently earned a master’s degree from the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy of arts, technology and business of innovation.

“My son has been such a wonderful companion in my journey,” Lynch says. “In many ways, he was the catalyst to want something greater out of life. Jacob was my reason for a better life.

“Like many immigrants, I’m grateful for the support system and the many non-profits, like the TELACU Education Foundation led by a Trojan family, that helped me as opportunities came my way,” she continued. “And I’m indebted to the people who took the time to show me the pathways to success.”