Overview

At twenty-eight, Paula Moreno became Colombia's youngest-ever Minister of Culture and the first Afro-Colombian woman to hold a ministerial post. Her appointment made international headlines, but it also exposed the racial, gendered and political fault lines running through the country's institutions. In The Power of the Invisible, Moreno weaves memoir, political testimony and cultural reflection to explore what it means to wield power as someone long excluded from it. Moving between her upbringing, her time in office and the global networks of Black and Afro-diasporic solidarity that shaped her leadership, she reveals how visibility can be both a breakthrough and a burden. First published in Spanish and now updated for a new English-language edition, this is a searching, clear-eyed account of race, representation and the unfinished work of equality, written from inside the state, but grounded in lived experience.

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9781913175986

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Reviews

""Paula Moreno is one of the luminous forces in the world guiding us toward a more inclusive future [...] Her deeply engaging memoir, The Power of the Invisible, is itself a profound act of cultural creation by the youngest and first Black woman ever to hold a ministerial position in her country.""- Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University ""Paula Moreno candidly reflects on her historic ascendency and relentless pursuit of equality that reverberated not just within the Afro-Colombian community, but globally. Moreno reminds us of the courage it takes to break the mold, and never to underestimate the power of young leaders to usher in positive change."" - Darren Walker, former president (2013-2025) of the Ford Foundation

Author Information

Paula Moreno is celebrated as Colombia's youngest and first Black woman minister and as the youngest and first Afro-Latina member of the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees and the former chairwoman of the Program Committee. As the president of Corporacion Manos Visibles, she directs one of Latin America's foremost NGOs championing racial equality. Her work also extends globally as she pioneers initiatives across eleven countries with significant Afro-descendant populations.

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