What makes you proud of being a women but also Latina?
Being a Latina woman is an incredibly empowering combination of self identifiers, specially when seen through the right lens. Through the years I have come to appreciate the resilience of Latina women more and more. My life would look very different if I had let my womanhood or Latina heritage be a setback, instead I chose to let my differences speak for themselves by using them as a stepping stool as opposed to crutches. My experience as a woman and a Latina have become assets in my career and I’m thankful that I have never felt the need to hide these two aspects of my identity.
Is there someone you look up to?It’s cliche to say but I very much look up to my mom; she’s strong willed, determined, fashionable, caring, and loves her family. She not only raised 2 daughters on her own, during a time when single parent households were highly frowned upon by conservative Mexican culture, but she got herself through vocational school to become an esthetician and started her own business, which she still runs to this day.
Do you feel Latino culture has had a big impact on who you are
I was raised on Latino culture and I still identify with it, so it definitely had a big impact on who I am today. The biggest impact though, would have to be the fact that being bilingual and being able to communicate eloquently in both English and Spanish were such a big deal in my household.
Do you have any current projects you are working on and accomplishments you would like to talk about?
I am currently working on a couple projects with the University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni club to increase their audience and scholarship awards through video. I am a Hispanic Alumni Scholar and if it had not been for them I probably would not have graduated from the University, so it is great to finally be in a position where I can give back. My biggest professional accomplishment to this day has been winning an award from the Tucson-Pima County Historic Commission for my documentary work with Archaeology Southwest’s Arizona video submission for the 50 year anniversary of the
National Historic Preservation Act.
Do you have any words of advice and encouragement to future generations of all women?
Dream big dreams, learn from your mistakes, be open minded and don’t take things too seriously.