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For my family, like many others, coming to the United States meant a world of possibilities. My parents moved us here in the mid 1960’s from Colombia, when I was just six years old. Though neither of them spoke English at the time, they were hardworking and tenacious and were up to the challenge.

While growing up in Westchester, New York, my mother always stressed the importance of education.  She wanted all of us (brother, two sisters & myself) to go to college. However, in the 70s, high school guidance counselors, were more inclined to push trade schools over college on minorities.   For me, that meant earning a cosmetology license and getting a job as a hair colorist in Manhattan. I was seventeen at the time.  Fortunately, the hair salon was on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and it opened-up a whole new world for me.  Most of my clients were very accomplished women e.g. doctors, lawyers, psychiatrist, etc.  Seeing all those successful women was inspiring.   I dreamt of owning my own salon someday.

I had the vision, but my life didn’t really change until my mother passed away in 1980.  That’s when I finally decided I needed to make a real change.  My mother’s passing was a catalyst for me, and I decided to fulfill her wish and attend college.  I moved to California and enrolled at Foothill Community College.  My plan was to get my associate’s degree and open my own hair salon, but life has its own way of unfolding.		  


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After I earned my AA degree in 1985 my college counselor encouraged me to continue.  Wow, this was encouraging!  However, I decided to postpone school, got married and went to work as a secretary instead.  A few years later, I decided to go back to school and get my bachelor’s degree in business.  I was pregnant with my first but very determined to get my degree.  I spent the next several years slowly and sporadically attending San Jose State University until I completed my BS in finance in 1997.

By that time, I not only had a degree in finance, but had two beautiful little blessings named Benjamin and Gabriela. My kids have grown into amazing young adults, and it has been so great to watch them discover their paths in life, sometimes while I was still discovering my own!

Owning my own salon had been replaced by plans to work for a large company’s finance department.  However, my brother kept urging me to step into the world of real estate.  He stressed that sales would give me the opportunity to be my own boss and not be limited by a company’s earnings or politics.  Unsure at first, I resisted—I wasn’t loud, boisterous or pushy like I pictured sales people to be —but he convinced me that there are many personality types and styles. 		  


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