Analiza: Welcome to the Women of Color Rise Podcast. I'm Analiza Quiroz Wolf, proud Filipina American, mom of two, and former CEO of a nonprofit and Captain in the US Air Force. I'm on a mission to support having more diverse leaders at the table. We'll be talking with successful CEOs and C suite women leaders of color and learning about their leadership journeys. If you're a woman or woman of color who wants a seat at the table, you're in the right place. Now let's get into today's show.

Hi, everyone, I'm excited to have Viridiana Carrizales, who I call Viri Carrizales. She's the co-founder and CEO of Immschools, an immigrant led nonprofit that seeks to close the gap between immigration and education by working with schools to create safe and welcoming classrooms for immigrant and undocumented students. Viru, she was born in Michoacan Mexico, and she immigrated with her family to the US when she was 11. She's actually formerly undocumented. And after 14 years, she became a US citizen in 2016. And she lives with her family in San Antonio, Texas. Viri, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.

Viridiana: Thank you, Analiza, excited to be in this space with you today.

Analiza: So I had the pleasure of hearing your story, and how incredible. It was at such a young age, you made the trek literally to the US. And so would you mind sharing what that was like for you at that age? Even with the calls? I mean, it was just an incredible story.

Viridiana: Yes, of course, thank you, thank you for creating this space where I can uplift that story. I will say that for the longest time, when I was living. And being undocumented in this country, I used to feel a lot of shame around my story, I would often not talk about it, because I felt that people would judge me for being undocumented for being an immigrant. So over the last few years, I've gained so much power and strength by every time that I've been asked to share my story. So that's how I'm showing up in this conversation.

So to share sort of where it all started, you know, I was born in Mexico in this very small rural town and central Mexico in the state of Michoacan. And, you know, really recalling my childhood, in those early years, I remember a lot of joy, a lot of happiness, a lot of us living and, you know, running through cornfields. And while I know now, you know, understand how poor we lived, that idea of not having something never crossed my mind, I would have never used the word core to identify my childhood. Well, I know that that was a reality that is not in my core memory.

So, you know, when I was in sixth grade, and I'm one of four daughters, from my parents, and you know, all of the four of us have always been so driven by education, we always had all these dreams of doing all these things in our lives. And my father was always very supportive of us and achieving our dreams. And he realized, given where we were living in Mexico, that there were no opportunities for us to really do much. I didn't have any role models, any examples of anything other than being a housewife, or staying home, working in the fields, traveling far to work in manufacturing jobs, like I didn't see anything beyond that, growing up in Mexico. So my father did see more and wanted more for us. So I remember in sixth grade, having a conversation where, you know, my parents told us that my dad was going to make the trip north and we had uncles and family members of lift already in the US. And, you know, my dad was going to go there to be able to bring additional financial resources to help us. The plan was always for us to join him. But that wasn't communicated to us when I was in sixth grade. So that was really a really difficult moment when my dad had to leave. And I didn't get to see him for close to a year. I remember those 10 months as a time where we were afraid, scared, and didn't know. You know, really, what was happening. That was very difficult.

And then in August of 1999, two months after my dad had made the trip to the US, my mom told us that we were also going to be making this trip north, and we weren't going to be reuniting with my father. And I just remember being so excited because I didn't see him. And then I will watch TV and movies and see, you know, I thought the US was just like, this place where everybody lived in mansions, I thought my dad was living in a mansion driving like, new cars, and I just thought it was this magical place. And so I remember feeling so much excitement, like, yes, we're going to the US, like, this is exciting. I'm gonna see my dad and family members I've never met speak English. Like, I just remember fantasizing over all of those possibilities.

So, you know, we actually packed a few changes of clothes in a plastic bag, I remember giving away all of my things that I own, including like my guitar, including, you know, clothes and things that I had that were mine, and just taking a bus to the border. And, you know, we got to the border, and to a bus station, then we got into a car and we got into a motel room where there were all these people there. And in the meantime, I had no idea. I wasn't too aware of what was happening. But I do remember not feeling fear, because I was holding my mom's hand, and she was guiding me. It was my sister who was nine years old, and myself with her making this trip. And so she showed us in a way, I don't know if it was her holding my hand. But I just remember experiencing these things, not feeling fear, which I'm so grateful for as a mother and what she did to protect us, because that could have been very traumatizing.

But yeah, I remember being in a motel room with so many people and her washing her clothes in the sink. And early hours in the morning, somebody coming to the room saying, Okay, we're taking the first group, and this man saying, okay, great. I'm glad that there's kids here because we always make it across when there's kids. So we're going to take y'all first and that he was referring to my sister night.

So we were part of the first group. We started walking again, I just thought, in my mind, that this is how everybody makes it to the US. It never crossed my mind that there was a different way. So we started walking, we walked for a very long time, I remember that the person who was guiding us across the border, and this is through a river crossing to the Arizona desert in August. So this was like, deep in the summer. And I remember the person who was guiding us telling us that, you know, there was gonna be some, like gang members who were going to try to assault us, that we should be ready for that, and should have some money, something that we could give. And he said, the way that you will know they're coming is by this whistle. And he shared the whistle with us. He's like when you hear that, know that that's them coming.

And so we were walking through the desert, we did hear the whistle, and people became afraid and sort of running, including ourselves. So we were at some point hiding in a bush in the desert, like not letting other people see us. Nobody came after that whistle. Like they were whistling for a wild and then nothing happened. So then we started kind of trying to reunite with a group. And we walked for a little bit by ourselves without anybody around us and so glad that we were able to find other people, because I did not know this back then. But that could have been the end of our life. Like we could have been lost in the desert and die like millions of people do when they try to cross the border.

And we got reunited. We continue to make our journey. We got to this house. And we were told to get in a car. And you know, I was hiding in the front seat by my mother's feet, just you know, staying down. And we made that trip to Phoenix, Arizona, and got there in the morning. We had some relatives who live in Arizona who picked us up. And that next day they took us to Foot Locker to get some shoes and I was like, like I'm in the US like, this is beautiful. We're not really comprehending that whole journey. Just knowing like, we're here. We made it. Like, you know, I'm with Family.

We took a plane. This is before 2001. So we were able to get on a plane without an ID and go to Dallas where my dad lived. We got there and I remember the shock on my face when I realized that he was living in a duplex with so many other family members and that he wasn't driving a nice car, and that we did not live in a mansion. So yeah, I just remember being so shocked by that and we got enrolled, I got enrolled in seventh grade to a school that was a few blocks from where my dad lived. And this is me coming here, either to the US or not, not fully realizing that this was going to change my life forever.

I'm extremely grateful, especially to my mother, because it was her courage and her strength that took us and protected us and made sure that we had the opportunity to access something different, something else, something that we are deserving of that we could not access and Mexico. So I'm forever grateful for her. And now as a mother, I'm like, you know that the love that my mother had to make that journey, for us is something that I'm like, that's a level of love that mothers can only get. And that's how much I love my daughter. And I'm like, if you were to ask me to do something that will make sure that my daughter will have, like all that she deserves. Without a doubt, I'm going to do it. And that's exactly like what my mother did in making that journey here. So that's how I got here, back in 1999. It’s a journey that I'm deeply grateful for.

Analiza: The story is so inspiring, especially as 11 year olds, and you're trusting your mother, and you're wandering this desert, in the dark, without anyone and that there was a real possibility that you could have died because others do. Yes. And somehow you make it through, and you're able to see your father be reunited, and you go to school. And yet, I just want to highlight that, even with this desire to make education a priority, be able to give back to the economy, right? Because they tax jobs. That wasn't possible yet. Like there were more hurdles. And can you share about that?

Viridiana: Yes, the journey wasn't enough, wasn't that the one thing that was going to make this possible and I didn't learn about this until I was in 12th grade. And as a senior in high school, when it was the time for me to apply for college. I was sitting with my counselors in my counselor's office. And he said, you know, you need to write your social security number in this college application. So I went back home and my neck kind of knew this. I knew I was undocumented. But I had no idea that men never asked questions. So my parents confirm something they already knew, like, I didn't have that number. So I told that to my high school counselor, and he said, No, that's impossible. Everybody has a social security number.

Viri, you know, I was a top student, I was doing all these things, right to position myself to be a strong candidate for college and, and this counselor had every intention to support me. And he wanted me to go to college. And he saw that potential in me. So he refused to accept that I didn't have a social security number. And he said, No, we're going to do something about it. Let me see what I can do to try to get you this number that you need. So in his mind, and the ignorance that he had, he thought that calling immigration, that maybe he could find out how I could get a social security number. So he called the immigration when I was sitting in his office, and he put me on the phone with an immigration official, who was asking me questions, like, when did you come here? Why don't you have a Social Security? Number one do your parents?

And maybe this instinct, I'm not sure my ancestors telling me something. But I just feel like no, this is something's not right. So I told them, Look, I don't have this information. I can ask my parents, you know, come back, tell my counselor, all these things and ultimate canceled? Uh, yeah, you know, I'll go home and I'll tell my parents and I never went back.

And I remember feeling so heartbroken and angry. Because I was, I felt like I was being fed a lie, that if I worked so hard in school, that if I get good grades, if I become, you know, a president of Student Council, if I did all these things, I could get a chance to go to college, I could pursue my dreams that we risk our lives to do to achieve and I was being told that no, like, none of that could matter. None of that could be true. I needed this nine digit number and I did not have it.

So after a I think it was like two three months of me feeling like What's the point? Like? What am I going to do? I cannot do anything. I am so grateful that I was surrounded by people and mentors. There's one mentor specifically who told me, you know, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? And I was like, Oh, you do? You dare me, of course, I want to do something about it. I'm not gonna just stay here and like, take this on. And I just remember that question being so critical and igniting something in me.

And I reached out to a newspaper in Dallas. And I said, Look, this is my story. I want to go to college. And they said, Okay, we'll do a story on you. And they put it in the front page, it was a Spanish newspaper. On the front page, these two young sisters are seeking an opportunity to go to college, but they can because you're undocumented, like, there are pictures of us holding a book. And you know, and that was published, and my email address was there.

And this person from a university here in Texas reached out to me and said, Hey, I'm an undocumented student in college, you can go to college, here's how, here's the law. Here's the process, here's what to do. And this random person that got to read my story, and this newspaper was, and it is the reason why I'm even here, and why even have a college education, not an educator, not my high school counselor, not anyone that was meant to support me and to guide me and to give me information that I needed to succeed. A random student that I'm so grateful for, at this university that somehow read my story in the newspaper. So I go to college, the university is like, No, you need a visa to come here, you need all these things. So this student told me that law and then what was happening, so I was in the admissions office at the university here and in action in San Antonio.

And I, when the university didn't know what to do with me, I actually called the Texas capitol in the office of the senator who introduced this law. And I talked to their staff, and I said, I'm here at this university. They are saying that I cannot enter the university without being considered an international student. And without paying international fees, and tuition. I know that is not what the law says, and their office called the admissions office, they changed my status to let me be in college and received state financial aid.

While I was in college, I, you know, this was in 2000, from 2005 to 2011. And there were a lot of immigration conversations happening during that time period, conversations around the men and men, folks in the border shooting, feeling like they could just shoot any immigrants coming in. I had several classmates who will tell me I'm gonna call Immigration on you, when I was in college, and always having this feeling of this could be my last day, and also me doing anything I could, knowing that I had this opportunity, at least, to get an education to complete and achieve that one dream that we've had. And I persisted.

I graduated from college in 2009. I was still undocumented, which meant that even with a college degree, I could not legally work. So I was babysitting. I was working in restaurants. I was working in all types of jobs, coming up with all types of stories, when people would say, Well, you went to the University of Texas at Austin, you graduated, you have two degrees. Why are you babysitting? Why are you a waitress? And I will just come up with random things. Like I just love kids so much. I want to just babysit, I don't know what I want to do with my life. I'm just you know, waitressing right now to get, you know, I would just come up with all these random stories, because I couldn't tell them that I couldn't legally work and I couldn't like, use my degree in this knowledge that I acquired to contribute back to you know, that I have bigger dreams than taking care of other people's children. I couldn't.

So I actually went through a period after I graduated from college of being very depressed. I was actually in a facility because like, I just didn't know, like, how to overcome that. And especially because, you know, this whole time I'm thinking while we crossed the border to walk through the desert to be here and, and now like, it didn't matter how hard I tried. That was such a barrier. that I couldn't get past, you know, and I just feel like how can I give back and honor the sacrifices that my parents made that my mother made to come here. And I can realize those dreams, I can be who I'm dreaming to be because I'm still undocumented.

I was able to adjust my status through my now husband. Three years later, three years after graduating college, and my first job, I remember when I got my social security number, which by the way, if you still ask me what you should say, security number, like, I still don't know somehow my mind is like, you know, this number I didn't have you for so long. I almost have a frame somewhere because I'm like, I didn't live with you for a long time. But I remember that I was waiting for my social security number to come in the mail. And I was searching like, this is my moment, actually, like, what do I want to be like? I've been given permission to dream beyond surviving. And I didn't.

Nevertheless, you know, what education was the one thing that made things possible. For me, education was the one thing that let me see the power that I had in that I was much more than my immigration status. So I wanted to be back and do something in education. I felt that it was so unjust what I experienced as a student, especially not getting the support from educators that I deserved and needed. So I applied to work and jobs in nonprofits that were directly working in education and directly supporting students and families. And in that gave me the opportunity to bring in and uplift in my own lived experience as a former undocumented students, and help specially teachers and folks within the education sector education practitioners, to acknowledge and understand that there's so many students like myself in their classrooms, in our schools that need their support, and how sometimes for good or best intentions could jeopardize, and really be harmful for our students who don't fully understand the context. And the stories of the students that are in our classroom. So that was my formal introduction into the education sector. And my first sort of opportunity to do something that allowed me to utilize my skills and my knowledge, so that I feel like I started my journey into my professional career a little bit later. But it happened when it needed to happen. And I'm so grateful and proud that that I took on that lead and that I recognized that that was something that I wanted to do

Analiza: The story from your hometown in Mexico, holding your mom's hand to the desert, finding out you go to school, but not to college, having to try to have that nine digit number, so that you could have an opportunity, all of it was not just for your dreams, right? But it was actually to give back. And it's incredible that as much as you were so altruistic that the system because you didn't have those nine digits was like, No, you will not have you serve, serving people, right. And I'm so grateful that you're doing this work. And it must mean so much to the people that you lead and serve to have, you know, from your community, what that experience is, like, so much empathy and love. So thank you for that work, vide. And I want to ask you, I mean, it is a tough climate. Right? It's always been tough, but like holidays, it is a whole other level. And I'm curious about DACA and your work, Viri, can you give us an assessment. You know, here, it's always right. It's always a lifecycle. But I'm curious, are we nearing some happy news? Where are you finding some hope? Or is it just low going? But I'd love for you to assess because you're an expert in the field. How is it going with particularly the people in which you serve and getting, you know, actually official status?

Viridiana: Yes, you know, something, you said it. So well, this is nothing new. Right? The challenges. The anti immigrant rhetoric, that policies that are not supporting our immigrant community, especially immigrants of color immigrants coming from particular countries is nothing new, in fact, is how immigration was, you know, created in this country and the basis of race and where people are located and how people look. So that's been the history of this country. I feel this past decade has brought up a lot of this injustice as an issue. I've always persisted in our immigrant communities. And what's happening. You know, I remember back in college when the DREAM Act first came up for a bill in 2007. And then 2010. And I remember sitting in the dorm, and you know, in college like, yay or nay. So many of us who we need, and just witnessing this strangers, these legislators like to vote on me. They had no idea who I was. And yeah, I was literally counting in a notebook. Okay, yes, no, we're sure nine bullets, go on, pack, my bags go on to this next thing. Like I knew this whole time I was conditioned to, okay, what's happening in immigration, life goes on, like, I could not let it be.

The one thing that was like that could define me and in a way became a condition, to expect bad news and things not to progress, things not to change. So I have those core memories of, you know, always this ongoing and somehow feeling like you cannot stop the wave of just bad news. And this idea of feeling hopeless is so real, which I think also contributed to me, like falling into deep depression, because you are not seeing any type of good news, this 2007. Right, like, years and years and years of sometimes getting so close, but not enough that I have been conditioned to always be cautiously optimistic. I'm approaching anything regarding immigration with this, in a pessimistic way, because nothing has changed. And the way that we're going, it will not change.

And one of the biggest things that I hope people learn is that often they associate immigration policy, especially anti immigration policy with a specific political party. And what I want people to know is that it does not matter. And it has not matter who's in office, there's always anti-immigrant policies against us. And the fact that going from one to another like might mean something for people, it just does not mean anything, absolutely anything to us. So it's often hard to find hope, when you know that, like you have not seen good change happen from the Houston office.

But you know, one of the biggest things that I everytime I have conversations with families, especially immigrant women, and it's something that I shared with them is that, you know, Joy is something that nobody will ever take away from us, maybe hope, maybe all these things are not joy. And we will still smile, and we will still show up. And we will do our things, because that's what we do as emigrants, right, like, we make things happen sometimes out of nothing. We make things happen. And we continue to make it happen and to thrive, like we get to define that enjoys such a key component that we cannot let anybody take.

So right now, like it's looming like there's nothing, nothing right now. That is in the works. That could change the realities of the millions of undocumented immigrants in this country. There is no such a line. There's no such an application that people can apply to adjust their status. There's millions of undocumented students who are graduating schools, who are going to college, who are graduating college, who are undocumented, because since 2017, there has been no new people that could apply for DACA. So right now, you're talking about people in 2017, who are like adults, like in their 30s. Like you're now talking about younger students who are graduating from high school who are in college right now.

So, you know, just like I found myself graduating college with not a degree and not feeling like I could contribute back. We have so many undocumented students across the country who are in that position, who have engineering degrees, who have teaching degrees, who have all these things, and yet they cannot give back because there's not a pathway for them to adjust their status. And with elections coming up in 2024. We know that immigration will continue to be a tool, a weapon for this conversations and presidential elections. So we're getting ready for what that is going to look like. Because regardless of what happens every time that you make it, okay, to the human as immigrants, and people start absorbing that narrative, and start internalizing it, the first place that we see that come out is in our schools, in our students in the trauma that they're getting. So that is why I'm doing this work within schools to change that. Because of policies, it will probably be a long time for change to happen. Like, there's so many, including myself who worked in this and I'm tired, I am so tired. I don't even watch the news anymore. And I don't want to learn about immigration because I'm exhausted.

My sister, who's two and a half years older than me, is undocumented. And I worry for her, because she drives her kids to school every day, she goes to work, and she could be deported at any time. Like, this still impacts me and my family, I myself, I'm now a US citizen. But my sister is not. And like this is still part of my family. And so even if I want to find the time to escape and think about policy, I have no choice, because my sister's future depends on that. And it is always this sort of balance of feeling some sort of, like, I want to feel like an escape, or I don't want to think about it. I don't want to be reminded about it. But I cannot. Because like my family's future, and survival depends on it.

Analiza: So Viri, when you shared all that, and how even in those work, and trying to help others. It's also people in your family. So no matter not looking at the news, there is real worry that your sister can do departed. There's not a lot. And you and I both I think positive people by nature, there's a lot to hang our hat on with getting other ways in which undocumented people can have pathways to contribute. Yet, let me ask you this question. Is there anything that we can do? Or is it just really a political battle? What are your thoughts?

Viridiana: There's so much, you know, I remember the first time I made my trip, a trip to Washington, DC, I was still undocumented. And I was out there telling my story. And I did not see anybody else. But undocumented youth who had everything to lose out there telling our stories, because we knew nobody else for school, we're going to tell her stories. And I wish a teacher, an educator, I wish, like folks who knew us could be out there also helping and sharing that narrative, there's so much so much that we can do because, honestly, I feel like a big factor in us being in this situation where this anti immigrant narrative just continues is because there's also a lot of people who just don't know, nor have they've had an opportunity to actually meet someone who is undocumented.

And all that they're hearing is what they're absorbing through the media, which is often just very one sided. So we all have the opportunity, like share our story about like the real people, their CEOs, who are formerly undocumented, you know, there are engineers, there's all these beautiful people, beautiful mothers, who should not be dehumanize because they don't have a social security number, who this country absolutely needs to thrive. And so there's something that we can do, like, if you are a US citizen, you can vote something that I could not do. I depended on people who were US citizens to vote, because I couldn't my sister cannot vote. So now I vote for her.

So there's so much that we can do to starting with voting, and to also educate ourselves, especially when it comes to the issue of immigration. Because even right now, like, I'm in Texas, and right now, like we're putting this things that are killing people that are killing children. And if we're okay, with letting that happen. I hope that we don't lose our sense of humanity because it is not right. I don't care what you believe. It is not right to kill people who are coming to this country to kill children. And if that does not outrage people, I don't know what well, so there's always something that everybody can do to make sure that we are creating this narrative of humanity and the dignity that immigrants deserve.

Because these are immigrants like my mother who wanted the best for her kids. Everybody is human nature, right, especially as parents, especially as mothers, to do anything to protect our kids and to do Anything to make sure that they are always better off than we are. And that's the reason why people make the trip to this country. And you know, I hope that people always, especially mothers, especially parents, ask themselves, what will you do for your kids? How far will you go for your kids? That is how far these people are going for their own kids. So I think if we put ourselves in that position and think of ourselves in that way, it changes things for us. And I hope that that's true for people who may listen to this.

Analiza: Viri, I want to stamp those wjat can we do that there's plenty. The first is to stand with, and particularly stand with and listen and share stories, particularly of the very, very many who are CEOs and engineers and who are contributing to our society. I also hear that the importance of voting that we are able to since we do have Social Security, don't not let that important right go. The third is educating ourselves. And I know there's a lot of media out there, but actually learning about, you know, what, these contributions, what the laws are just being able to push past all the hate media to real truth. And the last is empathy. That when we ask ourselves, even if you're not a parent, like what would you do for someone you loved? What hill would you climb? What desert would you walk through, and you would talk and having that empathy allows us to say, and me too, had it been? Me, I would absolutely do the same. So I appreciate that. Because even without a lot of hope for legislation to have pathways for others, undocumented to be able to contribute, we can still act and find some hope. And Viri I just want to appreciate so much telling that story. It is an incredibly emotional story. Just so beautiful, and I thank you for all your work. Viri, we're gonna lighten it up and ask lightning round questions. Yes.

Viridiana: I am ready.

Analiza: Okay. Chocolate or vanilla.

Viridiana: Vanilla.

Analiza: Cooking or takeout?

Viridiana: Take out 100% I'm a busy woman cannot cook. Takeout.

Analiza: Climb a mountain or jump from a plane?

Viridiana: Is neither an option. If I have to choose, let's say climbing a mountain.

Analiza: Have you ever worn socks with sandals?

Viridiana: All the time.

Analiza: How would you rate your karaoke skills, 1 to 10,10 being Mariah Carey.

Viridiana: Maybe 7, but everybody else will probably rank me. And then probably three.

Analiza: What's a recent book you've read?

Viridiana: This book called Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna. It's this journey of an immigrant family coming to the US.

Analiza: What is a favorite practice for self care for you?

Viridiana: I have been going to get massages once a week for at least 90 minutes. And that has given me the biggest gift. Ever since 2019 I've gotten a massage. And two months ago, I think I go in once a week. And that's been the greatest gift I could give myself, especially my body. I've been hydrating so much and going to this sauna to just do it. You know, just to meditate and just be there with my thoughts. I also like to do artistic stuff. I feel like in my past life, I was probably an artist. So I have this I like to doodle Every time I'm feeling something I'm just taking some time to paint or do something with my hands to remind me of this creativity in this power that I have. And I've realized that that tends to center me. So those are some wellness things I'm doing.

Analiza: What's a good professional development you've done?

Viridiana: Oh, nothing comes to mind. Although I will say I have been working with a coach that has changed my life and giving myself that opportunity to make that part of my own leadership journey has been incredible. And this is a woman of color who just holds a mirror to me and so I don't know if that's PD or not, but that's been transformational for me.

Analiza: What's your definition of a Boss Mama?

Viridiana: I will say that's your superpower. or being a boss and being a mother is a superpower. The same year I started ImmSchools, I became pregnant and I gave birth. So I had two babies at once. And while it was opening. I'm so glad that it happened and thank my ancestors for making it open. Because I have all this additional power from trends and super things that are possible, because I'm a parent. And so I just feel this extra power that I have for being able to be a boss and a mother.

Analiza: Maybe what advice would you give your younger self?

Viridiana: To believe. To believe that I already have everything within myself to make it happen. I will say believe.

Analiza: And then where can we find you like LinkedIn or any other social media?

Viridiana: Google me out there? Yes, you can find me on all social media platforms, you can find ImmSchools, which is organization that I lead and all social media platforms except Tik Tok, and we're still making our way. For me, it's either @viricarrizales or @viritule. And you can find me also on social media or, you know, out there, and the world.

Analiza: And last question, do you have a final ask recommendation? Or any parting thoughts to share?

Viridiana: Yes, I will say, and I think this is connected to your question about being a Boss Mom. You know, I have two young kids. And it's so challenging. It's so challenging to be a parent to show up and the way that you feel they deserve to show up, and to also be a CEO and to be a leader. And, you know, one of the things that I've been reminding myself, and this is what I hope to share with others, especially like, boss moms out there is to give yourself that space to be more than a boss and mom.

Do not feel guilty for the times that you want to go get a massage or for the times that you want to do things for you. Like because I was living my life as a CEO. And then after I'm not a CEO, I'm a mom. But I'm like, No, there's also Viri in there. You know, I still have all these other things. And I used to feel very guilty. And I think this is so so maybe being a person of color or a woman of color where you feel guilty when you're not giving to others. When you're doing something for yourself. And you're like how dare I do something for myself. My whole thing is, like I've been lately saying, screw that I'm not like I'm gonna squeeze time and power to find time for me.

For me, as a woman, for me as a person, that does not mean that I'm less of a boss, less of a mom. But I deserve that too. I deserve my me time. So that is my wish and hope for others out there that we can be all of that and we are enough. We are enough. Right? I have not cooked a meal in I don't even know how long and that's okay, I'm okay with that. I'm enough. I show up in other ways for my kids. And I'm grateful for that. So that's my advice to give yourself some grace to be human too.

Analiza: Love it Viri. Thank you so much for all these beautiful stories, so inspiring and touching.

Viridiana: Thank you, Analiza. Thank you for creating this space. Like I said, you know, I'm coming from here. So feeling like my story was feeling tons of shame and embarrassment, to feeling lots of power. So even going through this every time I get to share my story is like this light within me keeps shining brighter, and it's a reminder and I just it's a way for me to touch and feel my power. So thank you for gifting me that by sharing my story today.

Analiza: Thank you so much for carving out time today to hear today's podcast. Three things before you go. First, if you found it helpful, please leave a five star review. Second, please share with someone else you can share the link and posts on Facebook and say check it out. Lastly, I want to thank you for being a listener and you can go to get a free self care bonus called juicy your joy at analizawolf.com/freebonus. Thank you so much