07/20/2026
I am officially 70 years young! 🥂✨
Looking back from this milestone birthday, I am absolutely in awe of the journey.
I grew up in a world where a woman’s choices were limited by law and custom.
Over my lifetime, I watched—and helped—the world change. We fought for our right to open bank accounts without a husband's signature, own property, and climb the professional ladder on our own merits.
My life has been a beautiful tapestry woven with hard work, deep love, and immense resilience:
I was born in Puerto Rico where the men believe that a woman’s only expected job was to marry young, get pregnant, and stay in the kitchen.
Dreams for girls like me were scarce. Because I was the oldest, I couldn’t finish high school; I had to go to work to help my mother, who bravely worked 2 to 3 jobs just to keep a roof over our heads.
In many ways, I followed in her footsteps and became like her—but I always fought the norm.
I wanted more for myself and for my children.
My journey from PR to New York at a very young age brought me face-to-face with the harsher realities of this world.
People looked at my color, my s*x, my lack of education, and my ethnicity, and decided I had no right to breathe the same air.
The ultimate test came during my college years. During a clinical internship at a nursing home, the social worker supervising me said point-blank that she didn't see how a person like me merited a chance to be anything. She looked me in the eye and said a person from "that side of the tracks" would never make it, and was destined to be a parasite.
That comment burned and hurt deeply. But today, I want to thank her. Her cruelty fueled my fire. I became fiercely determined to succeed and to teach people that they have a right to exist.
Because of her push, I not only got through my Bachelor’s in Social Work with Flying colors but went on to obtain my Master degree in Organizational Management and Leadership Skills, a Real Estate License , have spent my life touching countless families in a positive manner and educating them along the way.
Look at me now at 70:
The Victory: I found that education was the door, moving from no high school diploma to earning my Master’s in Organizational Management and Leadership.
The Career: I proved her wrong by becoming a lifelong social worker and real estate professional, helping others achieve their own dreams and independence.
The Legacy: I am a proud military mom to 4 incredible kids and a grandma to 5 beautiful grandkids. I broke the cycle and gave them the world I always wanted for them.
The Angel: I carry the strength of my mother, and though she, my father, and my brother, Luis have passed on, their spirit is with me today.
I don’t know what the upcoming years will bring, but I have already survived the worst of it. I will meet every tomorrow head-on! 🎉❤️
