See President’s Message p. 6 I’m a Generation X Latina/Chicana. For my generation, it was common to get married young and have kids in your early 20s. I got married when I finished my sophomore year in college. My husband, Israel, and I are very close. We grew up together. We’ve been there for each other during our struggles, challenges and happy moments. My husband served eight years in the Army. He was a soldier and proudly served his country. I was an army wife. The military has a special place in our hearts. While in the service, we made friends for life. Years later, we still keep in touch with our Army friends. My family instilled a strong work ethic in me. It was instilled in our culture that “Latinos” work hard — you earn it and it will be hard. It was common for myself and everyone in my family to have two jobs. I got my first job “being officially on the payroll” at the age of 14. I started working for McDonald’s. My sister worked there and I started chatting with the boss. He offered me a job to be a party hostess. I worked up to having every weekend full of party celebrations because I became good at it. I would work the maximum hours allowed by labor laws. I eventually worked up to being a supervisor and would be in charge of people my age or older than me. This boss helped me get the next job — a job at the bank where he banked, Bank of America. He put in a good word for me knowing I would leave my supervisor job. I worked at Bank of America as a bank teller but learned how to do many other positions. The branch managers entrusted me to run the teller line and, on weekends, to do the job of a personal banker. My first branch manager is still a friend today. She gave me a chance and continued to help me move within Bank of America while I attended college. I also worked in retail while working at Bank of America. I did it to get the clothing discount so I could buy “nice clothing” for work and school. These are the “nicer jobs.” I also cleaned toilets and houses, and managed apartments (so I could live rent free while I attended college). Even while in high school, I always held two jobs. Study hall for me was studying then sneaking out of class to make it to my first job before school ended. While in law school, I continued to work at the bank and clerked. I would put a minimum of 20 hours during school and 40–50 hours a week in the summer. As a young child I lived in a trailer home. It was probably no bigger than 600 square feet. In a child’s eyes everything looks bigger. My mom gardened outside to make the front yard look nice. As a young child, until I started earning my own paycheck, having a lot of clothes was a luxury. I only had three pairs of jeans for school, however, my clothing was always clean and nicely ironed. I had more tops to give the impression I had more. I only had one pair of dress up shoes and one pair of sneakers. I never felt that I “lived in poverty” even though I knew we were poor. Society reminded me I was poor and made me feel as if that was wrong and unacceptable. I hated those feelings. I wanted a better life for me and someday for my kids. Education was my ticket out of poverty. My family had no money, nor was I the valedictorian of my class. Back then, I had no clue what that meant. School loans allowed me to get an education and opened doors. My first mortgage was my school loans consolidated as one loan – loans to be paid off in 30 years. My college education started at Western Washington University. I hated it. After the first quarter, I wanted to quit. I felt so confused and lost. Before attending WWU, I thought I was moderately intelligent. WWU made me feel ignorant. I had no idea what it meant to “drop in during office hours,” why the class was taught by two TAs and no professor or why my class was the size of my high school graduating class. I hated living on campus. I did not fit in with the campus culture. My “Perhaps the biggest impact on my career path was when a personal injury attorney helped my mom.…He treated her with respect, making her feel important even though her case was small.” 5 Trial Lawyer | Fall 2024
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