A Letter From WOT Reader: Yvette

Hi Camila,

I spent a significant amount of time going through your website today.  I enjoyed reading about the healthy and flavorful recipes (which I’m definitely going to try a few) and stories on self-care and wellness. I was touched by your courage to share your very personal childhood memories of pain, fear, and frustration, with highlights of strength, perseverance, and determination to overcome and meet your ambitious goals.  So, thank you for sharing your heartfelt story. The Women of Today need to share more of these stories as a way to support and help each other rise to become our best. Women need each other, and your website is a wonderful vehicle to convey this message as we navigate careers, families, and responsibilities, and simply want to do it all. Wow.

My Story:

On a personal level, my life journey of challenges, pain, and insecurities came at an early age. It started when I had to repeat the 3rd grade. My reading and writing failed me. Having immigrant parents, I spoke more German at home than English and struggled with the English language. After the pain of falling back and watching my friends move on to the next grade, I was labeled as stupid, lost childhood friends, and became bullied. I developed deep insecurities over my intelligence and felt like an outcast throughout grade school. To overcome this, I shifted my energy to sports and the arts. I learned to excel in whatever sport I took up. Here’s the short list of female sports that were offered when I was in school: gymnastics, track, volleyball, and softball. Drawing became my coping mechanism after school. I worked on passing grades to graduate and maintain a grade-point average that may help me get into some colleges. I dreamed about getting into a good college, but my grades were average, and my immigrant parents didn’t have the money, nor did they believe I was college material. I grew up in a one-income household. My mother was a stay-at-home Mom with many health issues and escalating medical bills, and my father was working long hours repairing medical instruments to feed three children and keep a roof over our heads.

So, I went to a community college in my hometown. It was affordable and allowed me to prove I was college material. I did well, but wanted to have a greater undergraduate experience at one of those big universities in a beautiful state, like my friends with 4.0 averages. Eventually, a little older than the typical undergraduate, my father agreed to help pay for me attending the University of Colorado in Boulder. I got good grades, but my father’s financial situation and my financial aid were not enough money to pay for the out-of-state tuition. I insisted on finishing, so I took several after-hour jobs while keeping my finances in order to finish. I cleaned houses, bussed tables, babysat, and went to school. I was simply exhausted at night and on weekends and feared if I went back home, I would fulfill the prophecy that I wasn’t college material. I failed. The money I made wasn’t enough. After 1-1/2 years, I had to go home to Chicago. Fast forward, I moved back home, worked odd jobs before I figured out which school would accept me and apply for financial aid to partially support me. I finished my undergraduate and went on to complete a Master of Science Degree at a school in Indiana while I worked three jobs to pay for some of my expenses. I also earned a Graduate Assistantship in my last year of graduate school, which helped pay for my tuition, and I published my thesis. Where am I now? I have a professional career in HR, make a six-figure salary, and am a glass artist who runs a small art business on the side. I’m happily married to a loving man who believes in everything I do and never doubts my intelligence, and nor do I. 

Woman to Woman, 
Challenges, fear, failure are lessons to navigate us toward success.

Warmly,
Yvette L.

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