I am a wife and mother of four from San Antonio, Texas, currently a first-generation student in my graduating semester at San Antonio College. My mission is to advance stories in a way that encourages generations of others to pursue their dreams. When I was little, I couldn’t understand why I didn’t see people who looked like me and my family represented in positions of leadership or success. Even in the telenovelas I watched with my abuela the narratives and storylines depicting poverty-stricken characters seemed to have no plan for their life.
I remember thinking one day I would have this life-changing event that would makeover my appearance and all of a sudden everything would fall into place just like in every Thalia-centered novela that came out in the early 90’s. As a young Mexican girl living on the west side of San Antonio, I escaped my living conditions through music, movies, and books. Unfortunately for me, my mom had to leave my biological father when I was an infant due to domestic violence. She struggled being a single mother of three daughters and she also suffered from mental illness.
Even though I dreamed of one day becoming the first Latina President of the United States, the next Selena, or that I got into an Ivy League law school my life took a drastic turn. It had such a profound impact on me growing up, that I now want to use the skillset I attained pursuing my degree to hold space for marginalized groups in the community and enable them to feel brave enough to share their story.
I believe through storytelling; empathy can be communicated to convey the solidarity of humankind and stir up an act of compassion which in turn can ripple out to touch many lives. Then maybe we could get rid of the stigmatization associated with poverty, mental health, and homelessness.