Can you tell us about the Young Women Initiative at Esperanza Preparatory and your role?

Back in early 2020, I started as the Community School Director at Esperanza Preparatory Academy Magnet School, where I managed after-school programs and community resources. That’s also when I first partnered with the New York Junior League. For the past couple of years, even after leaving the director role, I’ve continued volunteering at EPA to run the Young Women Initiative.

This program has reached hundreds of young women, especially recent asylum seekers and students from mixed-status families. It helps them believe that the American Dream is possible for them too, that they can be the first in their families to go to college, become professionals, and step into leadership roles. The idea behind the initiative is simple but powerful: give our students both the academic and social-emotional tools to overcome really tough challenges like migration trauma, gender-based violence, and even situations like escaping trafficking.

Why is the work you do important to you personally?

It’s very personal to me because I came to this country at 14 as an unaccompanied, homeless, undocumented teenager. I know what it feels like to face barriers, and I also know the difference it makes when someone believes in you.

For example, my mother, whom I didn’t see for almost 25 years, always encouraged me over the phone to keep chasing my academic dreams. She was the heart of our town, a strong woman who helped others even when she didn’t have much herself.

And there was also another woman, an immigrant student, who once gave me $280 so I could study for my GED. That gift changed my life because it opened the door for me to go to college in New York City. Since then, I’ve felt a responsibility to pay it forward by helping other students, especially undocumented and mixed-status youth, reach their dreams.

The Young Women Initiative is one of the ways I do that. It creates a “Home Away from Home” for young women who are new to this country, many of whom are survivors of abuse or violence. What matters most to me is that we give them the tools and support they need not just to survive, but to thrive and become leaders.

How has partnering with the New York Junior League impacted the girls at Esperanza Preparatory Academy?

The impact has been incredible. In the almost five years we’ve worked together, I’ve seen students’ lives completely change. Just this past academic year, one of our Indigenous students from a mixed-status family, whose parents only speak Mixtec (a Mexican indigenous language), earned a full scholarship to Fordham University. Another received a full scholarship to the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, and others are now at Stony Brook University and CUNY campuses.

For our students, meeting successful professional women is eye-opening. The Junior League volunteers help them with everything from understanding financial aid applications to building resumes, practicing public speaking, and getting career-ready. Meanwhile, our partners at Mixteca focus on social-emotional support and identity workshops so students can process migration trauma and grow in confidence. Together, they’re making sure our girls are not only academically prepared but also emotionally ready for college and beyond.

Anything else you’d like to share?

What excites me most is that this initiative doesn’t just transform students, it transforms communities. These young women will be our future doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders. They carry their parents’ dreams and the hopes of entire communities with them. When they succeed, whole communities rise with them. We are providing the professional tools to overcome their own barriers, despite the language, immigration status, they will become productive contributors to our society, our economy, and our professional diversity.