but I do believe that we all have

I never thought of building the business that I have today. I worked for more than 15 years as a teacher and although I loved what I did and how I impacted the lives of kids and teenagers, I felt that I could do more. So I combined my personal and professional experience and the desire that moved me to help others and founded Family Secret Helpers, Inc and all its projects.

When I started my business, I wasn’t sure what I would really do, I just knew that I wanted to help people. The first service we offered was helping teenagers living in low-income communities. We motivate them to go to college and change the course of their lives. We also got involved when natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes affected our area, we made donations and gave emotional help.

A short time later, I got involved in offering motivational talks to veterans and helping women who did not speak English translate documents even if they had an appointment and needed a translator. During the holiday season, we sent Care Boxes to the active military, full of products and letters that my students wrote so they would feel closer to home.

In the years that followed, I decided to dedicate myself to working with women, especially victims of domestic violence. Not only did we provide them with the support or service they needed, but we also helped them regain their identity and improve their self-esteem. We created a program where we provided the tools they needed to start a business, that would help them get back on their feet and could be able to support their families. To learn more and how you can donate to our project BEmpower Victims.

Time passed, and when I realized it, I already had a business that impacted the community and helped and motivated people to be a better version of themselves. It was not always easy, there were many moments when I thought about taking myself out of the business and that I could not continue with all this responsibility. I didn’t want to lose the essence of why I started and that is precisely what helped me stay on the right track.

I had the opportunity to have my own radio show, in which we discussed different topics. I remember one Sunday, after finishing my radio show, I received a phone call from one of the listeners, who thanked me because she had been thinking about committing suicide. I can tell you, that moment gave me goosebumps. She told me that for some reason she had been on the station and listened to the program that day, the words that I had said helped her understand that the solution was not to end her life, but she faced what tormented her so much.

Life is about working with what bothers us, not about empowering the problem but about looking for solutions. And that is precisely why I tell my story and run my business all around helping people. I had every reason to give up and be a “nobody” in life. I offer tools to people so that they can get out of their comfort zone and challenge them to start doing wonderful things and see life with different eyes.

Being a woman, mom of two, in a relationship, sister, niece, granddaughter, cousin, friend, and entrepreneur is a challenge, but I wouldn’t change anything, because this is me.

If I go back to 2012 and see how I started with my business everything we have managed to do and how far we have come, I have to say that I am satisfied. Starting a business, a project or a dream seems to be difficult and it is, but when we do the things that we are passionate about, everything turns out to be more interesting.