Live to tell 

I believe everyone has a story [to tell]. We live our stories each and every day because our lives are a narrative of who we are, what we do, how we behave and what we feel.

My story began on my family’s working farm in Valle del Caucua in Colombia. The farm was my mecca – my retreat, my school, my safety. It was there that I learned to appreciate all aspects of life. I would move through each season side by side with local community members who taught me the basics of growing and raising food on our farm – from cattle and chickens to sugar cane and tangerines. I learned that sharing meals together – no matter our skin color, gender, or economic means – was the essence of community. I saw the economic disparities when my father and I would hand out bags of milk to those who did not have any food to eat. And, at the end of the day, the most important lesson I learned was that I have an obligation to help others because we are all equal human beings that should be treated with dignity, respect and love.

Eventually, my journey took me from Colombia to the United States. My formative years were spent in New Jersey attending Rutgers University and eventually moving to New York City where I received a master’s degree in Health Education from Columbia University. My professional career in public health and community organizing gave me the opportunity to work with often disenfranchised communities – HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ , sex workers, youth, women, Latinos, and African Americans. It also allowed me to travel throughout the world from Vietnam to India, Amsterdam to Turkey, from Mexico to Nicaragua. Traveling throughout the world reinforced what I already knew about the goodness and kindness of those that I met along the way – that we are born to survive and persevere no matter what life throws at you. That humanness is real and alive.

In 2016, while in Bangladesh for work, I took a side trip Turkey to explore the country. It was there that my safety was shattered and my life, as I knew it, was destroyed. I was kidnapped and tortured by individuals whose agenda it was to hurt, belittle and break me. These individuals took the law into their own hands because they assumed, just by my physical appearance, that I was a terrorist. I was utterly alone in a country that wasn’t my home surrounded by individuals who didn’t want to hear my truth. It was the darkest time in my life. After 12 hours of physical and mental torture, I was released, but the lifelong damage was already done. With the aid of friends, I flew back to the United States to start the healing process. But as my physical wounds healed, my emotional and spiritual ones would need much more time. Each day, I live with PTSD - I have constant nightmares; I am distracted by certain noises; I have flashbacks and intrusive memories; I am often anxious; and I have enduring physical pain.

This traumatic experience has been the catalyst for me to share my story of survival and how I had to alter my perspective about what survival has meant to me. My goal is simple: I want to help and empower others. I’ve relied on my training and knowledge as a public health educator to talk about survival and how we can control our energy to affect and heal our mind and body to reduce forms of anxiety and stress. Yoga and meditation have been instrumental in my healing process. And speaking my truth to communities all across the country has also enabled me to heal. While my old life was destroyed in 2016, I have built a new one. A life that I have chosen to LIVE and not be defined by my trauma. A life that has meaning because I can help others dealing with their own ordeals. A life where my experience of survival, perseverance and hope can one day help others, to empower them and help them create the best version of their lives.