About me

I grew up in Monteria, a small city on the Colombian Caribbean coast. I am the youngest of my siblings (they are older than me by more than 7 years), so I grew up mostly as an only child. I have a big family, vacations at my grandma and aunt’s house were always fun, I particularly enjoyed being around my cousins. Since I was a child I have loved dancing (I even joined a dance team), as much as reading, doing outdoor activities, and learning a little bit about everything, just a very curious mind. I consider myself sociable, and adventurous.

Getting to know my country's history motivated me to focus my professional career on studying the science that allows you to understand the reasoning of people behind decision making, therefore I decided to pursue a bachelor's degree in Psychology, and give my best to help build healthier individuals, which in turn, contributes to a healthier society. From my studies, I got a holistic knowledge about human beings' behavior, and how each one of their areas (biological, emotional, and social) interact with each other to create a personality, but the most important lesson of them all is that I learned humanity: the relevance of being tolerant, emphatic to one another, and non-judgmental.

I started working when I was 14 years old selling homemade desserts to help with our finances. When I was 15, one of my dance partners invited me to work in a summer camp as an assistant with him and since then, I have been working with children in different contexts. This experience gave me the perspective of teaching children through play, and completely changed my vision about life and development. We traveled to small towns and recreated characters such as Mickey and Minnie. Seeing so many kids happy was the best part. I did face painting, worked with balloons, designed activities for every age, planned, organized, led fairs, and made birthdays the best day ever. I worked with children from 2 years old to 15 years old. The opportunity to work with children at the same time that I was studying and I can for sure say that child development opened my mind to how important it is to provide children a safe environment to grow, develop, and build themselves. In order to get my degree, I had to do internships. The first one was as an educational psychologist internship in a school. During my time there I led different programs which were set for specific ages. Stimulations programs to focus on providing opportunities to reach milestones in different stages (six months to 6 years old); assertive communication, and coping strategies programs to give children tools to build deep and healthy relationships (7 years old to 14 years old); and vocational orientation programs to help them make decisions regarding their future (15 years old to 18 years old).

My second internship was as a clinical psychologist intern. The programs were focused on offering tools and emotional support to parents and children under cancer treatments (2 years old to 15 years old). This experience puts into consideration all those situations that as individuals we do not choose to live in, but that sometimes we have to face. From this experience, I learned that our job as adults is not to take away everything that hurts them, our task is to give them tools to navigate their lives during difficult seasons, letting them know that there is someone around supporting them, rescuing them (in case they need it), and loving them for who they are.

During my studies, I had the opportunity to move to Buenos Aires, Argentina to participate in an academic exchange program. I was 19 years old, and without any doubt, it was one of the most challenging experiences in my life. I moved and lived there by myself and used all that time not just to grow as a professional, but to grow as a person. Being around other cultures became for me an opportunity to see the world through other people’s eyes. After my graduation, I signed up for a cultural exchange program as an Au Pair. Living with families from other cultures immersed me in their daily lives, and nurtured my knowledge about raising children and communication with parents. It also gave me the opportunity to take classes that updated me in discipline and emotional health. My first host family was located in Colorado. I took care of 3 young children with special needs. Boy of two years old, a girl of one year old, and boy of 3 months when I started. It ended a year later. My responsibilities were taking care of them at the same time, designing, planning, and executing daily schedules and routines, catering to and adapting the learning outcomes for each child’s age and developmental stage, providing therapeutic support, and working closely with professional speech, physical and occupational therapies to teach and reinforce developmental skills. Preparing healthy meals, bath time, and nighttime routine was part of my tasks too. Adapting the environment and myself to their developmental needs as required.

In my second year, I moved to New York City, and I took care of two girls, 6 months old,s and two years old when I started. My program ended a year and 8 months later. I took the responsibility of taking care of them, designing, planning, and executing daily schedules and routines adapting the learning outcomes for each child’s age and developmental stage, scheduling and supervising playdates and trips to parks and museums, preparing healthy meals, keeping open communication with parents about the day, behaviors, meals and naps, teaching and reinforcing healthy habits such as bath time and brushing teeth, dropping and picking up from school, maintaining children spaces and belongings clean and neat, and being support inside and outside the household. We traveled together.

Once my experience as an Au Pair ended, I kept looking for opportunities to continue working with children, and contribute to their development and lives. Since they are part of my career focus, being close to them drives me to give my best. I decided to learn from every situation and person in my life (including them), this makes the relationships authentic and genuine, and ultimately contributes to facing tough times with a different approach.
Further, I worked for one more family. I took care of two girls, 4 months old, and 4 years old when I started, and I maintained daily records of children’s behaviors, meals, and naps, met schedules and organized, and supervised playdates, trips to parks and museums, drop, and picked her up from school, prepared healthy meals, kept open communication with parents, the team worked with them and offered support for the household’s environment maintaining children’s spaces, toys, and clothes clean and neat.

Being in New York gave me the opportunity to pursue a certificate in Childcare Management at New York University. I took 9 courses related to development, safety, and communication with parents. I went to Long Island University to get a certificate in Child Development, and I took classes in Positive Discipline too. I updated my certification in Adult and Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED recently. Keeping updated on new resources is really important for me, therefore I keep looking forward to reading new information, research, and books related to my professional focus.

Every situation that has happened to me, and every opportunity that I had, led me to this point of my life where I am sure that I see myself offering children and families tools, information, resources, and support in their growth, and development process.

Finally, I would love to add that one of my favorite quotes is: "mistakes are opportunities to learn", and I have it present all the time. Mistakes do not define us. They are just one more opportunity to see life from a different perspective. We are allowed to feel, to be, to change, and grow.