My native language is Portuguese (the Brazilian flavor) and it has helped me a lot since it was either a requirement or a “desirable skill” in my last 3 jobs...

Being fluent in English and Spanish has helped me immensely at work, giving me the opportunity to participate in media interviews in both languages. It has also helped me establish a closer bond with our clients...

Speaking more than one language has been an enormous help to me professionally. Without English I may have had to flip burgers when I arrived in the US...

The key is to live a lifestyle that is within your means and finding satisfaction in what you can afford...

Sometimes is better to say “no” to some money, but have a well balanced life...

This industry is an Old Boys Club. Coming in as a young, female, Latina professional, I’ve been overlooked often as too young or inexperienced when meeting new people in the business...

I knew at that moment that what I did for families was a good thing and I knew at that moment that I didn’t want to do anything else...

I learned by working in the ghetto that there is a tremendous misunderstanding of the industry. I noticed that the scripts we use have no fit with the low income families I serve...

I’m Mexican-American and early on in my career it was a little more difficult because they didn’t classify us as Hispanic... at that time there was a bit more of a stigma being a professional Mexican. Even today there is still a stigma out there but it has gotten better...

Once you get in the workplace, no matter what your surname is, when you perform well, the creme will rise to the top...

’m Mexican, first generation in the US. I’ve had a wider range of cases at the Shelter due to the diversity in San Diego and the strong Hispanic population, so it has helped me a lot. Speaking Spanish in Southern California is a must at times. It has helped me tremendously and I’m glad my parents enforced that I remained fluent in Spanish...

I deal with Hispanic media and am good at what I do because I not only buy, plan and place the media... I also consume and understand the programming choices.

When I am teaching a particularly complex lesson, and I get an “Aha!” moment from my students, that is an amazing feeling. At that moment, your world feels complete...

Fresh out of college, I was working late and one of the managing partners came over and asked me to empty out the trash cans from the offices before I left for the evening. I was shocked, but then I laughed at her. I just reminded her that I was part of her team. I don’t let these kinds of things get to me.

Once I had an agency share proposals for a TV spot and they presented an ad containing paper mâché piñatas, ceramic figurines, and all the stereotypical souvenirs a tourist in Mexico would be interested in. This was only 5 years ago with a major ad agency, and even though we had a VERY long meeting with them about it, they never really understood what the problem was.

When I was starting out and I was put on the spot by management and was asked to explain something I did and why, I would be told not to be defensive. After many years of hearing it and not quite understanding it, I realized I wasn’t always in front of a firing squad for my actions, and that I wasn’t always being blamed for something going wrong. Sometimes management just needed to understand what decisions were being made, and the reason behind them, so they would know how to move forward, or how to best change direction.

People who come to the US from other countries seeking the dream tend to work very hard to achieve their goals and that is why most of us succeed.