JCI President Alejandra Castillo
First half of 2026
Creating Beyond the Stage: Alejandra Castillo’s Leadership Journey
Subtitle: From Bolivia to the global stage, from one person’s preparation to the shared journey of more than 180,000 young leaders.
In an international youth organization with a history spanning 111 years, becoming a global leader is never merely a personal honour. It is also a question placed before an entire generation: when the world is becoming more complex, when young people long to see more immediate results, and when communities are searching for genuine connection, what can a leader create?
For Senator Alejandra Castillo, the answer does not arrive wrapped in grand language or self-celebration. She comes from Bolivia, a country that is not always placed at the centre of the world’s spotlight. She is also the fifth female JCI President in the 111-year history of Junior Chamber International. These facts deserve to be seen and respected. Yet if her story is read only as a breakthrough by “a woman” or “someone from a smaller country,” something more essential may be missed. She has not allowed any part of her identity to become a boundary. Instead, she has turned background into a starting point, questions into preparation, connection into action, and leadership into a responsibility shared with more than 180,000 members around the world.
To create is not only to begin from nothing. Sometimes, to create is to turn a possibility that others have not yet seen into a pathway that others can one day walk. From “Impossible” to “I’m Possible” Alejandra’s JCI journey did not begin with the clear destination of becoming President. JCI was not entirely unfamiliar to her; her father had once been a member, and the organization had already appeared in the background of her life. Yet what truly made her stay was a moment of inspiration at a JCI gathering, when she heard someone speak about the “JCI Academy” experience. In that moment, she saw JCI as more than a club or a network. She saw a platform capable of training people, changing people, and helping participants grow into facilitators of others’ growth.
She has often shared that, when she first joined JCI, she wanted to become a trainer and facilitator. That aspiration is revealing. It was not simply a desire for recognition or title; it was a desire to learn how to pass on knowledge, experience, and conviction to others. From training within her own local chapter, to development at national and international levels, and eventually to meeting members across countries and regions as a global leader, her journey reflects one of JCI’s most powerful promises: young people learn leadership not only by discussing it in classrooms, but by practising it in real situations.
Of course, no meaningful journey develops without challenge. From Bolivia to the position of JCI President, Alejandra’s path was not only a process of accumulating leadership experience; it was also a journey across geography, culture, visibility, and the realities of the international stage. The world can sometimes be used to interpreting possibility through a person’s origin, gender, available resources, or the size of the country they represent. Yet her story reminds us that a true leader does not need to be confined by existing assumptions. She chose to answer challenges with preparation, to build trust through action, and to prove through her own experience that when a person is willing to keep learning, connecting, and taking responsibility, the size of the stage will eventually be redefined by the size of her vision.
This preparation was not a posture of confrontation. It was a long discipline. When Alejandra speaks about leadership, she often returns to qualities that sound simple but are difficult to practise consistently: punctuality, being organized, responsibility, empathy, resilience, and adaptability. These are not glamorous words, yet they form the strongest foundation of genuine leadership. In her case, “creation” does not first mean creating a powerful slogan. It means creating within herself the capacity to receive, carry, and multiply opportunity. Creating Connection Beyond Networking In the world of JCI, the word “connect” can easily be understood as meeting more people, attending more events, or exchanging more contacts. But in Alejandra’s understanding, connection carries a much deeper meaning than networking. It is the willingness to understand another person’s situation. It is the courage to cross differences of culture, language, geography, and generation. It is the ability to recognize that leadership is not sustained by visibility alone, but by relationships built with sincerity and purpose.
The theme of the year, “Lead, Connect and Evolve,” becomes, in her interpretation, a journey from the mind to the heart, and from the heart toward growth. To lead is to bring knowledge, skills, judgment, and action. To connect is to bring emotion, empathy, passion, and commitment. When the mind and the heart work together, people begin to evolve. They become more mature, more resilient, and more capable of making room for others to grow.
This message is especially relevant for youth organizations today. Artificial intelligence and the digital world have shortened the distance between people. Hybrid participation has made it possible for more members to join meetings, trainings, and international conversations. Technology can help local organizations across regions work together more effectively. Yet Alejandra reminds us that technology is a facilitator; it is not a substitute for human relationships. A truly valuable connection must return to the basic human need to be seen, to be understood, and to be cared for. It must also return to the realities of communities and to the results that can be felt through action.
She has spoken about examples of cross-border collaboration, such as local organizations in Bolivia and Germany supporting schools and scholarships through shared projects, even when members may not always meet face to face. Stories like these show that the true value of an international organization is not to turn the world into a larger collection of business cards. Its greater value is to help people from different places commit themselves, over time, to a common need.
For Hong Kong, this perspective is equally meaningful. Hong Kong is an international city, a hub of commerce, culture, and exchange. Alejandra encourages young people in Hong Kong not to see themselves only within a local frame, but to bring the city’s experience to the world while also learning from the real needs of communities elsewhere. Just as importantly, she reminds young leaders that language and identity should not become barriers, especially within JCI. Those who can serve in Chinese, understand local culture, and connect with people in their own context can become bridges. They can help more young people who may hesitate before stepping onto the international stage realize that they, too, have a place in global connection. Creating Impact, and Being Changed by It When Alejandra speaks about impact, she does not reduce it to numbers in a project report. She once referred to a project serving young girls and women in a shelter, where some beneficiaries had faced harm and could not safely remain in their original family environments. Through JCI, one of them later participated in learning public speaking, leadership, and organizational skills. The change did not stop with that individual. It influenced people around her, including important members of her own family.
This reveals the heart of Alejandra’s understanding of impact: service is not a one-way act of giving; it is mutual transformation and a ripple effect. When young people enter the community and encounter real people, real pain points, and real limitations, their understanding of leadership becomes less abstract. To create is not to sit in a meeting room and design a beautiful idea. It is to move closer to the community, identify the need, walk with stakeholders, and turn thought into action that people can actually feel.
A training session, a project, or an action of encouragement may travel much further than anyone can imagine. This is the quiet power of JCI’s work at the local level. Alejandra has repeatedly emphasized the importance of local organizations. International and national structures can provide direction, platforms, and resources, but the people closest to the community are often those in local chapters. Real creation therefore requires two kinds of vision. On one hand, leaders must be grounded enough to understand what their immediate community needs. On the other, they must remain open enough to connect local experience with a global network, so that good practices can be shared, adjusted, and continued.
This also explains why, even within the demanding schedule of a JCI President, Alejandra continues to draw energy from members’ work. Hearing what members are doing in different places and seeing how local organizations are creating change becomes the fuel that keeps her moving forward. There is something deeply moving in this reversal of the usual image of leadership. A leader is not simply the person standing at the highest point, shining alone. A leader is also someone illuminated by the many people taking action around her, and someone who carries that light forward so it can reach others. Creating the Future Requires Passion and Systems One of the most mature aspects of Alejandra’s story is that she does not romanticize creation. She believes in passion, but she does not rely on passion alone. She encourages action, but she also insists that action must be examined.
She points out that sustainability looks different in different places. In Bolivia, some communities may still be facing basic needs such as access to water. In Hong Kong, the conversation may involve energy, city systems, or more advanced environmental solutions. This reminds us that global issues cannot be answered with a single formula. True international vision does not mean copying the same solution everywhere. It means respecting each community’s starting point, and then connecting resources, experience, and needs in a meaningful way. This sensitivity and ability to execute are also what make every local organization, and every member within it, uniquely valuable.
Alejandra also brings a more strategic organizational perspective to the idea of creation. She emphasizes data, decision-making, and innovation. To create does not mean endlessly adding more activities. It also means having the courage to ask difficult questions: Which projects need innovation? Which ones should be preserved? Which ones no longer serve members or communities and should therefore be stopped?
Sometimes habit itself can become an obstacle to progress. Energy can be consumed by repeating familiar activities instead of being directed toward what truly helps society. Asking these questions is not easy, because stopping something can require more courage than starting something. Yet precisely for that reason, it is a more mature form of creation. A responsible leader does not only create applause. She creates judgment. She does not only create results for the current year. She creates systems that can be continued by the next leader and the next generation.
Her reflections on health and balance also bring leadership back to a deeply human level. The schedule of a JCI President is filled with travel, meetings, time zones, and pressure. Alejandra acknowledges that leaders also have families, work, bodies, and emotions. She reminds young leaders to prepare their lives in advance, to listen to their bodies, and to recognize that hunger, fatigue, headaches, or emotional heaviness may be signals of stress. Leadership is not proven by ignoring one’s limits. It is strengthened by understanding what must be protected.
This is where priorities and non-negotiables become essential. Not everything can be done at the same time. True commitment includes knowing what must be guarded. It includes recognizing that health, family, integrity, and purpose are not obstacles to leadership, but part of the foundation that allows leadership to last. The Real Meaning of the Fifth Female JCI President As the fifth female JCI President in JCI’s 111-year history, Alejandra Castillo’s presence naturally carries symbolic meaning. Yet the strongest part of that symbolism is not that it places her on an unreachable pedestal. Its real power lies in allowing more young people, especially those who have once wondered whether they are “qualified enough,” to see another possibility.
She does not deny the multiple pressures faced by women leaders. Nor does she make light of the limitations that may come from one’s national background or from not having the same resources as others. But she also refuses to let those limitations become the ending of the story. Her message is clear and firm: when someone tells you that you cannot do something, do not treat “NO” as the final answer. You can prepare. You can learn. You can seek mentors. You can build connections. You can make your goal more concrete, one step at a time.
This is the spirit of creation. To create is not only to start a project. It is to create a path into the world. To create is not only to propose a new idea. It is to place that idea inside real human needs and allow it to be tested through action. To create is not only to become the first, or one of the few. It is, after walking through a door, to open that door wider for those who come after you.
Alejandra’s story should not be read merely as the success of a woman from Bolivia who reached the world stage. More precisely, it is the story of how a young leader, within a historic organization, reminds us that leadership is not a position granted once and for all. It is a responsibility created every day. When a person is willing to learn with the mind, connect with the heart, serve through action, and continue through systems, she is not only someone standing on the stage. She is also creating the possibility for more people to stand there in the future.
And perhaps this is exactly the kind of creativity JCI needs for its next generation: the creativity to Lead, Connect and Evolve, together.