Turning Obstacles into Triumphs

For the first several years of my life, I was raised by a relatively young, single mother working for an American family in Bogota, Colombia. When I was still a baby, I moved with my mother (originally from Linares, Chile) from Colombia to Maryland so she could continue working for the same generous family that took me in and kept my mom employed through their international move.

When I was about five years old, my mother married my stepdad, introducing us to a large Peruvian family with new customs and values. My family did not speak English well, so I assumed the responsibility of serving as a translator and advocate for my family. Communicating at home in Spanish and at school in English posed significant challenges for me and, consequently, my English vocabulary grew slowly, and I did not enjoy reading.