I’m a Mexican-American woman who grew up in an environment that left me constantly asking one question:
Why?
Why were things happening the way they were?
Why did my home life feel different from everyone else’s?
Why did I react the way I did?
But I was never given the tools to understand it.
I wasn’t taught how to process emotions.
I wasn’t taught that it was okay to feel them, let alone express them.
For a long time, I thought that was just how life was.
I Wasn’t Always This Confident
I Struggled, In More Ways Than One
What I experienced at home didn’t stay at home.
It followed me into school, into my decisions, and into how I saw myself.
I was a B/C student.
I started working at 13 just to keep up with the life my friends were living.
Work became my priority.
School came second.
I almost didn’t graduate high school.
I Tried to Escape Instead of Understand
At 18, I enlisted in the Navy.
Not because I had everything figured out,
but because I didn’t.
The day I was supposed to leave for bootcamp, my enlistment fell through.
A medical issue. A denied waiver.
Just like that, the plan I was relying on was gone.
And I was left exactly where I didn’t want to be,
with myself.
I Felt Lost
I quit my job.
I avoided school.
I was unmotivated, confused, and honestly… depressed.
I didn’t know who I was.
I didn’t know what I wanted.
And for a while, I did everything I could to avoid figuring it out.
I worked different jobs.
Tried different paths.
Avoided going back to school.
Everything Changed When I Took Ownership
At 24, I ran out of distractions.
And for the first time, I made a decision:
I was going to give school everything I had.
No shortcuts. No excuses.
I moved back home.
Asked my family for support.
And committed fully to becoming a student.
At the same time, I started going to therapy again.
And that’s where everything started to make sense.
I Finally Understood the “Why”
I began to understand:
why I reacted the way I did
how my environment shaped me
and that my patterns weren’t “just who I was”
They were learned.
And if they were learned… they could be changed.
I Rebuilt My Life: Intentionally
I made the Dean’s List every semester.
Studied abroad in Costa Rica.
Graduated with my associate’s degree.
I went from almost not graduating high school…
to believing I was capable of earning a bachelor’s degree.
I got involved.
Rebuilt an esports brand.
Led marketing and recruitment.
And eventually…
I helped build InnovateU, a student leadership summit focused on bridging the gap between school and the real world.
That’s Where I Found My Voice
Through InnovateU, I stepped into something I never thought was possible:
Public speaking.
Not just talking,
but connecting.
Leading.
Impacting.
That experience showed me:
I wasn’t just someone with a story
I was someone who could help others understand theirs
Now, I speak to students and young adults about the things I had to figure out on my own.
Those that are in that same in-between space.
The space where you:
don’t fully recognize who you were
but haven’t become who you want to be yet
I don’t just talk about motivation.
I help people understand:
why they think the way they do
how their environment shaped them
and how to start making different choices
Because This Is What I Know For Sure
I’ve been rejected.
Redirected.
Lost.
Confused.
More times than I can count.
But I also know this:
You are not stuck.
You are not your environment.
You are not your past.
You are not your patterns.
And once you understand that, everything can change.