Educated for My People

My parents crossed a border, left their family, friends, and hometown to provide a better life for themselves, their family, and their future children. My parents have raised my silbings and I to study and work hard. They have instilled an insane work ethic, that my siblings and I have to remind ourselves to slow down; work smarter, not harder. My dad's calloused hands brought us many blessings. My mother's strong faith and tenasity brought us even more blessings. Nothing was easy. It still isn't. But we are not giving up.

My siblings and I are all in fields of some sort of "giving back to the community". My oldest sister is a teacher, working with youth and educating them so they can achieve more. My brother is in the Coast Guard, protecting our waters and literally saving people. My younger sister is a coach for women's rugby, pushing the next wave of strong women, we need more of them. My youngest brother is using GIS data to help communities get better. Me, I am working in public health serving low-income marginalized communities. This doesn't encompass all that we do, and thats ok. All that matters is that we are paying all the blessing forward. Elevating our communities in the various ways we can while having fun and obviously getting paid because we need that money stuff to pay bills.

With these crazy political times, just know that I will always work to help educated and empower my people of all marginalized groups, not just Latinos.

Gio at her first political protest circa 2005 | San Rafael, CA