Juana María Bordas (born 1942) is a Nicaraguan–American community activist specializing in leadership development and diversity training. She is a founder of several Denver, Colorado-area organizations promoting Latino and Latina leadership, including the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, the National Hispana Leadership Institute, and Mestiza Leadership International, where she currently serves as president. She has authored two books and is a motivational speaker and workshop presenter for conferences and businesses. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1997.

Juana María Bordas was born in a small mining town in Nicaragua in 1942. She is one of seven children. Her father left the family to earn money in the United States when she was a baby; at age 3, she and her older siblings and mother followed him to Tampa, Florida, on a banana boat.

She attended the Academy of the Holy Names, a Catholic all-girls high school, on a scholarship, and babysat during Sunday services at a local church to cover the rest of her tuition. She was the first in her family to attend college. She became involved in campus activism at the University of Florida; in 1963 she joined a march to the administration building to protest the non-enrollment of minority students. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Florida and her master's degree in social work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Inspired by her parents, who believed that education was key to Latino advancement, and by President John F. Kennedy, who spoke on campus about the need to "give back to your country", she joined the Peace Corps after completing her undergraduate degree. In Santiago, Chile, she helped low-income men and women develop cooperative enterprises. Her 1964–1966 stint afforded her the first exposure to Latinos in positions of leadership, both in the economic and political realms.

Historically, leadership has been hierarchical, the domain of the influential few, and associated with control and dominance. This type of leadership is not strategically suited for the global multicultural age where change is constant and our problems are very complex. People are better educated and want to participate.

Bordas moved to Denver in 1971. In 1976 she helped found the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, which she led as executive director for the next decade. In 1987 she co-founded the National Hispana Leadership Institute, which grooms Latinas for leadership roles on the national level. She was president of the Institute for its first seven years. She was also the first Latina faculty member of the Center for Creative Leadership, and the first Hispanic certified psychiatric social worker in Colorado.

In 1993 she introduced the Latino Leadership Development Program, which provides individual assessments and coaching for Latinos interested in contributing to private and community initiatives. In 1995 she established the consulting firm Mestiza Leadership International, which provides diversity training and leadership programs in the workforce. In 2002 she debuted the Circle of Latina Leadership, which runs a nine-month community leadership development course and personal mentoring program for women aged 25 to 40.

Bordas is a motivational speaker and workshop facilitator for many public and private organizations. She was the Fall 2008 Scholar in Residence at Frostburg State University.