I grew up in St. Louis, MO, one of the most racially segregated cities in the US. I went to private high school in the suburbs, a place where some white students refused to attend the school’s mandatory diversity training. History books taught me that racial inequities were resolved in the 1960s, but experiences showed me otherwise. This set me on a path to relearn history, recognize my privilege, and interrogate my biases.

In my 20s, I lived, taught, and worked in Vietnam and Cambodia, where I learned to explain American culture in a way that was inclusive and whole. My students not only learned English, but also the language and skills to have critical conversations about social issues.

As Director of Operations at Success Academy Charter Schools in New York City, I practiced creating space for people from historically marginalized communities to drive change & growth. The 150 people who reported to me were some of the most engaged and the highest performing in our network of 43 schools. I also made mistakes. I was sometimes too complacent with how race, gender, and other factors influenced how each employee’s performance was interpreted. I learned how hard it is to lead with equity, and that it is a practice not a destination.

The most rewarding growth in understanding my own biases came from my marriage. My family prizes education all the way back to my great grandfather who sold hot dogs from a pushcart in Passaic, New Jersey, to put his kids through school. My husband has incredible creative intelligence, but grew up in El Salvador during a civil war and didn’t have an opportunity to pursue higher education. When we met, I thought I was better than him because I had a higher level of formal education. Misunderstanding, assumptions, and blame dominated the first two years of our marriage, but once he helped me uncover this bias, I was able to do the necessary work to start dismantling it.

My goal is to disrupt the status quo by meeting people where they are, holding up a mirror, and helping them to change themselves and the world beyond what they believe is possible.

I came to the U.S. in 2005 on a mission: stay for 2-3 years, make money, and return to where I came from. I knew it was going to be hard because I didn’t understand the culture or language yet, but I thought my creativity and my capacity for labor would be enough to achieve my goals. It turned out to be more challenging than I expected. There was a subtle but pervasive force at work in the US that I had seen before, but never in such a systemic way. It was the constant messaging that people of color are inferior, the consistent dominance of white people in positions of power, and the impact these things had on people of color’s ability to rise in society. As I noticed these impacts, I became more curious about injustice and how to change it.

In my 15 years in the US, I’ve struggled to get hired into well-paying jobs in various industries, including construction, hospitality, and healthcare. To try to overcome this challenge I learned English as fast as I could, worked to minimize my Spanish accent, and even lied about the country I came from just to get a low paying job. I worked hard to earn my degree in healthcare administration through the years. However, even with the degree and years of experience managing operations for a physical therapy clinic, I struggled to secure my next job.

I submitted hundreds of applications in my most recent healthcare administration job search. I got only 3 callbacks and no further advancement. I’m not alone. A Harvard study found that White job applicants receive 36% more callbacks than Black applicants, and 24% more than Latinx applicants.

When I got the opportunity to take on hiring as part of my clinic management role, I decided to make a difference by increasing diversity and inclusion. In two years, I increased the diversity of the team by 95% and instituted new inclusive management practices that increased employee retention. As a result the clinic experienced increased revenue, productivity, and innovation.

My goal in doing this work is to create awareness and find meaningful ways to fight the problems of inequity that nobody wants to talk about. I believe we can resolve it collectively as a society through action.