First-Gen Resilience & Being Authentic at Work

This is episode 50 and for today’s episode I have another guest interview for you. Today’s guest is Doctora Ana Guerrero, and she shares her career journey with us.

For more than 10 years, Ana has actively advocated and supported first-generation college students in many capacities. She believes access to information and guidance is crucial for first-generation college students, thus, she founded FirstGen_Resilience.  Grounded in research, practice, and personal experience, FirstGen_Resilience empowers students by providing higher education, information, exposure, guidance, and motivation with a holistic, culturally proficient approach.

EPISODE LINKS

• Connect with Dra. Ana Guerrero on Instagram @FirstGen_Resilience
• Get Your Free Career Guide at ManifestYourCareer.com
• Click Here to learn more about my career coaching services. 

Thank you for listening, please Subscribe and leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, and Follow me via IG @ManifestYourCareer
Visit my site for more information: https://manifestyourcareer.com/ 

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Transcript

Norma Reyes: 0:02

Are you feeling stuck, lost or confused about what to do next in your career? Then the manifest your career podcast is just right for you. I'm your host Dr. Norma Rae is a career in mindset coach. I help successful Latinos who are battling self doubt, self sabotage and impostor syndrome. I teach my clients how to combine their intuition, skills and knowledge so that they can manifest their dream career. It's time you start listening to your inner wisdom and guidance. tune in each week to the manifest your career podcast, and learn how to align your mindset to your career goals. Keep listening and together will manifest your dream career. Hey, everyone, welcome back. This is episode 50. And today's episode, I have another guest interview for you. Today's guest is Dr. Anna Guerrero. And she shares her career journey with us. For more than 10 years, Ana has actively advocated and supported first gen college students in many capacities. She believes access to information and guidance is crucial for first gen college students. She founded first gen resilience, and it's grounded in research practice and personal experience. First Gen resilience empowers students by providing higher education, information, exposure, guidance and motivation with a holistic, culturally proficient approach. So I can't wait for you guys to hear her career journey and how to connect with her.

Unknown: 2:15

Thank you so much for being here with me. I thought I get at all I would like you to first start off with telling us all about your family background. Where did you grow up? And whom did you live with? Well, first, thank you for inviting me in. It's a pleasure to be here. So I was born in Mexico, Mexico City. But my family's actually from Michoacan, Mexico. And we came here to the US when I was one. So that was my parents, myself and my older brother. And we arrived in Galena, California, which we're we're still here. We were raised on a ranch. So I really did have that wild child kind of grainy climbing trees and playing in the dirt. The ranch was called by now the blue Canyon Ranch. So I lived there since I was one up until I believe at 18. I also attended a very small school from preschool to eighth grade. And this is how small west we were less than 100 students attending that school and it was out where a lot of us who lived in the ranches where our parents worked for the owners of those ranches attended. So it was quite interesting. But yeah, that that was my my upbringing. My background. So then when they say it was L Rancho. You could really say yes, your Rancho we rode horses and all that so I had a tree house broken arm or to you know, to say that tonight is maybe not two broken arms. But you know, that's like a completely different it makes you a whole different person. And here living in a ranch, right having the option to be even to go to a ranch. It's like it's a privilege. It's a luxury. When sometimes that's often looked down on, you know, in my home, but really I mean, I would have loved to ridden horses. I guess there's nothing stopping me from doing it now. To Self. So now when you were young, and people asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up, what do you recall telling them? So funny thing, I wanted to be a professional soccer player. I loved soccer, I was obsessed. So and I grew up with a soccer obsessed dad as well. So he fed into that, but obviously that did not happen and that workout. And I was actually really interested in culture history intrigues me to places of the world like I was really I would spend time I'm imagining myself living in, you know, sometime in history is specifically in Miss America, like, I would literally envision myself as a little girl thinking what I would have been like what my life would have been like. So I didn't have a name for that at the moment, I just know that that's, you know what intrigued me. But now I know that I wanted to be a cultural anthropologist, like that is what I wanted to be. That's, that was my kind of like my poll. Again, that didn't happen, for many reasons, right. So I think the biggest one is that there was no like awareness of different career options and how to pursue that interest. So, you know, I doubt that to happen, but I'm still pretty much I dive into this interest of mine this passion by visiting archaeological sites, so traveling the world and reading, you know, watching documentaries on history, and I travel a lot. So I, you know, I am still doing what I was hoping to do in the future. And just not as a career, right, so just kind of on my on my free time. And then in high school, I knew that I wanted to work with people I didn't know to what capacity or lack capacity, I just knew that I wanted to be of service to others. And so other underrepresented students, like I said, I grew up in a ranch, which a lot of my friends also grew up in these matches, we were working for the owner. So obviously, we were under resource and very little kind of support there in terms of career development. And then in college, that's when I refined my interest a little bit more. And I knew that I wanted to understand society, and I want to understand why things are the way they are. So that's where I chose sociology, and specifically sociology of education. I just wish I had an opportunity to explore other options. But yeah, thinking back, these are kind of like the the main things that I remember. Yeah, definitely. I can relate with all that. I started my college major in computer science, which was like, I really didn't know what computer science was at the time, right? Like, it was just like, people were like, You're smart. You're good at computers. And whatever that means, right? Because you're good at computers. What is what does that really mean? I think it was before we had the words for being tech savvy. But being tech savvy doesn't necessarily mean that you are a computer scientist. That's a whole other thing. And he really wasn't something I wanted to do. But it made me think about that. And then later when I was going to finish my bachelor's in psychology, I happened to take an anthropology course. And it was like my first mostly female, yeah, female, Dr. Laura Latina. And she was teaching anthropology. And I just fell in love with everything she was teaching, I took a lot of the like, Mesoamerica, the Latino America. And just like being just in awe of all this history of us that we just don't even know about, right, like, isn't really taught about, like the fact that like, our people at one point, like if you go back to like Peru, were like six feet, you know, they were tall people. But it wasn't until the cultivation of corn, that we started to get smaller and smaller, because we stopped eating as much meat. And that's why we're like tiny, right? And you can really see this actually, in this present day. In Guatemala. There people are very, very tiny, but they have very limited nutritional foods. They're especially like they don't have this mostly in the mountains. So there's not as much milk and protein products for them. And so you know, goes back to nutrition, right? You given your nutrition and your genetics will flourish. You have poor nutrition and your genetics, we'll do what they can. Anyway, that's a whole other sidetrack story. I don't even know where I went. No, I love learning. Are you from federal? No, no, I'm my family's from Mexico. Oh, okay. No, it just I really like stuck in my mind. Like, maybe because I'm a short Mexican, I don't know. Was gonna say I just visited federal and I've been to a lot of my life. So I'm a fan of, you know, the places and the people out there that culture. Well, then you've seen how short some of the Guatemalans can be. I've learned to write in five feet so what if we would have you ever went to the mall? I'm just that tall too. But like the indigenous communities because I spent a whole summer there. And the indigenous communities like I was actually taught there. Just to give you perspective, like it is very in the highlands in the mountains, like the cities north of what the mala city Yes, yeah, I highly recommend visiting but I don't know if I need a tour guide at NAMM, specifically you, but in general, anyone listening? Because yeah, yeah, very different. Just a whole different world. It's like you go back in time, but everybody has cell phones in the internet. I will say that that's all I mean. So let's get back to the question. Now, you kind of talked a little bit about what you recall kind of thinking where your interests, but at the time as a child, did you have any career role models that you imagine yourself being like, you know, given the context that I just explained, I can't I honestly can't recall a particular person that I saw as a role model in terms of, you know, career, obviously, my parents were always role models, but no one in particular, it just imagined myself being a professional, no Latina and since we were immigrants, you know, making just like anybody else, you know, making the sacrifices worth that. And knowing that I have many more life opportunities here than I would have in Mexico, you know, who knows what I would have done, he got definitely not been a doctor, you know, a PhD Latina. So, I always saw myself, you know, being disciplined, having my life together, you know, balanced life living a comfortable life. You know, I thought that working hard in school would lead me to this life, I also, you know, wanted to be an advocate for the community. Um, just because like I said, you know, though, the way I grew up, there was much, much support or resources for us. So, I knew that that was important. But other than my parents, I can't say, there was one particular person. Thank you. Yeah, a lot of us don't ever have that. And, yeah, you know, sometimes media, like, you know, mainstream media can understand why a person of color would need someone to look like them on the screen, right? And that's part of it, right? So you can connect with what you're seeing so that you can believe that it's possible. So now, can you tell us about your educational background? Did you go to college immediately? Or did you start later? Okay, so my, my education was quite a long journey. As a high school student, I applied to eight schools, right, because we have a fee waiver. So for for Cal States. And here in Santa Barbara, we have a fooler if you're considered under resource for Cal States and for UCS. So I did that. And that was a total of eight schools. And I got accepted to all but one and this one was the one I wanted to go to because it was a local college UCSB, UC Santa Barbara. So then I had to kind of make a decision. If I go out to a for a school that's further out with no one like absolutely no one I knew. And I would be the first one to leave home and everything, or stay at the local community along with my friends and older brother, and it was comfortable to be home, it wouldn't be too much of a life change for me. So that's what I did. I that's the route I chose. And I was there for three years at Santa Barbara City College. And then after that, I transferred to UC Berkeley. So that was another two years and at Berkeley, I studied abroad twice, which I know is not very common for transfer students. But I was able to do summer abroad. So that was easier instead of taking a whole semester abroad. Since I was a transfer student. After I got my bachelor's, I still didn't quite know what to do with myself and my life. So I took two gap years. And in those two gap years, I was exploring possibilities. I went back and I worked at the City College that I attended. And it was there that one of my supervisors kind of proposed the idea of attending graduate school and I said, oh gosh, I don't know if I'm capable. I don't know if I have what it takes, right. We we thought ourselves a lot. And well, she really was insistent and she made me kind of really then consider it so I reached out to one of the faculty member there at UCSB in the program in education, and they let him know that I was interested in graduate school and small world. It's quite interesting. He was the pi then principal investigator of a program that I was part of as a high school students. So when he learned that you're super excited, and he learned about my interest and how aligns with his interest. So he said, I'm gonna apply, I will be your advisor, your PhD advisor, and I was like, yikes, this is i Let's do it then. So that's how it happened. And that's how I happened and that at night. I was at UCSB for six years and a half. It took me some time to figure out the ropes and how to be you know, just do research. searched and all that because I did not do research as an undergrad. I didn't have a path laid out, there was no roadmap for me. I kind of just took decisions as the information I had available to me at the moment. And so that's why it was a little bit more of a lengthy journey to finish my my education. And fun fact, since I did go to school at UCSB, actually, I don't think I said that, but I went to grad school at UCSB. So that is in my local community. So it was like I was from the community for the community, which is empowering yet interesting. And my dad was also the gardener there at UCSB. So while I was a PhD student, he was one of the he was he was a gardener or a staff at UCSB. So it was unique experience. I think it's important to mention, too, that I was not a straight A student, I did struggle academically in school, you know, understanding how to school, how did I best study, how to approach a professor for support, you know, all those things. Took me you know, it was challenging for me as a freshman in college to them. But you know, I think that my inner drive to reach my goals was stronger than my fears and stronger than myself out. And certainly the knowledge challenges, systematic barriers that are that are in place. So I just kind of showed up day after day, day after day, and then the world just opened up. So that's a bigger kind of that. Yeah, definitely. Persistence. Persistence isn't really important. It's also important to know when to stop persisting, but that's for another day. Yeah, yeah. And in my case, I knew that this is what I wanted to do. And I didn't know how or what it would take, but I just kind of advocated for myself a lot. And people were there willing to support so it was kind of just been taking initiative on my end. And things just kind of happened. Not just happened, right, there was a lot of work that took place, but fell into place, I think is more more the words for it. Because this being opened, a lot of times, I think, especially as a first gen college student, you know that the resources exist, like part of you knows, and then part of you wants to, and I'm speaking from my own experience as a first gen. And it was really that like, I want people to just know, know me, I just want them to know me and know that I'm valuable. Because all of high school, I was seen as a smart student, you know, like opportunities, were always coming to me, which I think going into college, then I just expected that same type of treatment, but I'm just another person another it doesn't matter, you know, my personal color or not, doesn't matter. Like you have to go and make those opportunities for yourself. And I think it took a good while for me to understand that. And I think it's that resistance of like, well, maybe maybe a form of entitlement I hadn't even thought about before, right? Like, I am entitled to special treatment because I'm a person of color and and I'm smart and blah, blah, blah, right? All these things that we these barriers we create in front of ourselves, instead of stepping out of our where we're at and being like, Okay, what is it that I want? And what do I need to do to get it? Right? Am I doing what I need to do? And oftentimes if you ask yourself those questions, am I doing what I need to do that? You're probably going to say? No, I mean, no, I definitely didn't wasn't doing what I needed to do in regards to getting that help that I need it. I wasn't asking anyone, I was just hoping that somehow somebody could read my mind. There's also the point of not knowing what we don't know. So we don't always know what we need to do, or what we need to get from point A to point B. And I think that's where a lot of like I said that just knocking on doors and connecting with people just you being very proactive about understanding that but it's interesting you say that because I was the complete opposite in high school, I was not the person people would go to for support. People did not see me as a smart one. Like, I didn't develop my college identity until perhaps at Berkeley. Like I still had a lot of that like, oh, do I really belong here. Thought mentality. Well and into Berkeley, actually. So I think we had different experiences in that way that getting in college. I was like, Oh, wait, people want to hear what I have to know what I have to say, oh, that's new. So it took me time to build that confidence that I now I don't want to say I have 100% but I sure feel confident now in my abilities and all that so anyway, we can go on. Yeah, no, no, it's important to hear the different perspectives right because you only know yours and I know mine. And I think that, you know, it ended up hindering me in some ways right where you I feel like a lot of times a students like minorities like ourselves, who are A students who are top students who always have opportunities coming to them. A lot of people don't talk about that a lot of a students, people of color drop out of college within the first two years, and the C students and the B students are the ones that are succeeding. And part of that is because they had to work all throughout high school that they already learned how to do some of these things, how to ask for help, how to know like, Oh, I'm struggling, versus a person than a student like myself, who I'm like, Oh, I get what it is, I, I'm fine. And then I take a test and I make a C, and I'm like, Why did I make a seat? Well, you didn't study? You know, you just assumed that you would remember it all, because that's the pattern that you had before. You know, so those were things I needed to learn. And I wouldn't say that my confidence was hit at that time, I think it was more in the career, where my confidence, like, you know, like, you know, that did that shift. Instead, I was like, oh, okay, I don't feel as confident in as maybe after so long of feeling like little veiled battles, then going and moving into a career, assuming you know, degrees, just gonna get open a door for you, and it does open the door for you. But you still have to kind of step through it, you still have to take those actions. You can't just assume that it's going to give you something. Exactly. So now you finished college and you start your career. Can you tell us about that? How did that unfold? Yeah, so I actually, you know, I finished my PhD just a little over a year ago. So it has not been that long. I finished in December 2020, which was quite interesting time to be out in the real world job market, right? There were challenging times, people were being laid off, right. And I was just coming into the job market. So I was unemployed for a good five, six months after my college graduation. And you know, it kind of blessing in disguise, too, because I was able to take some time for me, I think if I would have jumped right from my dissertation during a pandemic, to a full time job with a lot of demands, I think, Oh, my my health would have taken a hit taken a toll. So, you know, it happened. And I in the meantime, I was connecting with people, I was really trying to tap into what the landscape look like in the fields I wanted to go in, which was like sitting affairs, you know, director of a program that supports first generation college students. So it was really kind of reaching out to people. I was also attending, like, conferences, workshops, all of that. So I stayed connected. And then I got a job as a program administrator for race ID program in counseling psychology. So I work with doctoral students in counseling psychology, and I also do student affairs work with them. However, I always have been passionate to work with undergraduate students, specifically, the two year college students, some because I identify and I understand kind of the importance of that kind of timeframe in their life. So but all you know, all undergraduates. So I said, Gosh, I have a lot of experience. So my research was on this as well, personal experience, professional experience. And my research was all on supporting first and college students. So that's where first gen resilience came to be, and was born. But you know, before that, people had always reached out to me for support, either for scholarships, college applications, you name anything, from high school students, to college students. And so my mom cleans houses, right, and one of her clients, she's a business oriented woman, so she just wanted to connect with me and you know, see what I was kind of up to up to my PhD. So I kind of told her the situation, what I what I just explained to you and she said, you know, you have to stop providing your expertise for free you This is really valuable experience and knowledge that you have to share that you need to be compensated for, like you can't, I know you care, and you do this, you know, just kind of you no love for people, but anybody else would be charging. And you know, I said, and she said you need to start your own business and provide coaching workshops, all that just for your, for your time, you know, financial aid, whatever it may be. And that just planted a seed in my head, it planted a seed in my head, and it took a few months before I actually said you know what, I'm gonna see how this thing turns out, but I'll try it out. So I did and that's when first and resilience came to be and I do share a lot of information as you as you have probably found me on social media for students, and that's just, you know, just helpful information resources that I think are important for undergraduate students to know or even grad students, first gen students so So, that's that. And that's kind of where I'm at. Now, I know that there's a lot for me to learn and grow from, like I said, I'm one year out of, you know, completing my education. And I actually did take a class for women that want to be business owners. So either you're in the beginning stages are considering it. So it was a business class or something that led to first gen resilience as well. Again, this has been very organic, no kind of set, laid out plan, it's kind of been making decisions with information that's available, like in my, like, it happened in my education, you know, as first and professionals. And I have a little bit of an issue with first and professionals because it isn't, for example, my parents, I don't want to say they're not professionals in what they do. They are right. And so I don't know how else I would call it but you know, just being in the different kind of work sector and being the first they're like understanding the culture of it. You know, even just just the how to communicate and the norms and how to present yourself all that is different, right, then, for example, my parents had to do. So, yeah, I think you just been kind of open to where things take me and open to learning. I'm a lifelong learner. So even though I'm out of college, I'm still going and participating in different things and connecting with people. Like it's just important to continue that throughout. And I'm just excited to see where it all takes me like, I'm going to be going in with the same mentality of, you know, just open to ideas and initiative initiatives, taking talking to people I know that, you know, one thing will lead to another, but that's why I'm a big advocate of being preparing for life after college while you're in college, right? It's not just about getting the degree that can do very little nowadays, just a degree, you will need some sort of connection experience letters of rec skills. All of that is so important. Well, while we're in college. Yes, yes. So now, here's some of my more interesting questions. I like to ask what has been some of the worst advice that you've received worst career advice, I think I was really thinking about this one. And I think one that stood out was what how to present myself professional attire. So kind of what to wear, what not to wear, right, how to dress, how to be your makeup, your earrings. And basically, basically that was like not bringing on not to these spaces, it was leaving myself out. So it's important for me to be me fully in places where we're already underrepresented. So by not bringing my home, me and my real me to these places, I feel like it's a service, and it's disempowering. So I think for me, showing up empowered is important. What makes me feel empowered are like statement pieces, big earrings, colorful, epic, as you can see my hair, it's blue, and fuchsia. So have these streaks in my hair. So I love color. And I know that this isn't a professional look, but again, by showing up, and if you can see my earrings, I actually love the symbol. You know, they're big, and they're colorful, it's a turquoise earring. So it makes me feel empowered. It makes me feel like I mean, these spaces. So I think that would be one that I had to unlearn because it wasn't serving me. Yeah, yeah. And really, I mean, you could you could be looking, quote, unquote, as corporate professional as possible, and people stone overlook you, right? Like you can try to fit in and people will still not accept you. So be who you are, of course, make sure to follow what is it called the dress code? Yes, they'll still be appropriate, but make it twisted to for it to be you, you know, bring yourself feel empowered. Yeah. And color is not, you know, inappropriate. I think sometimes, you know, people may because I know when I see people come in to work and they are looking stylish and like now I wish I had some style because these will look great. So what it has been some of the best career advice that you've received, you know, two, one was from my parents, and what they said was to choose a career where I could be a service to others because that will make me a happy person by helping others while at the same time getting money for it. So it will make people happy and they'll have a career by being of service to others. So I always kept that in mind and it's worked well so far. And then the other one is to surround with people that are where I want to be so you know kind of they will help me We grow and learn their ways and their approach to things the way they speak about things or thought process. Because obviously, they have a lot more experience than I do. So if I surround myself with those people and connect, like I will be there one day, so kind of like be with not, I don't want to say, people smarter than you, but just people who understand things more than I do at the moment. Right, right people that will elevate you, I like that you mentioned that. For the longest time I was I live in San Antonio. And for the longest time, I lived in the South side of San Antonio. And I felt this need to have to stay on the south side of San Antonio. And it kept replaying in my mind, like, I literally make more money than all my neighbors, right. Like, I can't be the person at the top, like, there's nowhere for me to go. There's no people, you know, there's not that aspirational goal, right. And so, I am removed. And I'm pretty sure that you know, I'm not saying that I'm at the bottom or anything, but you know, it opens up your world really, right. If you're at the top, like they always say you're the big fish and in the small pond, it's time for you to go to a bigger pond. Right? So is there any career advice that you would like to now share with the audience? Yeah, so something that I think is very important is to is understanding the power of knowing yourself. Because when you take the time to know yourself, you understand your leadership style, your learning style, I think it's called biological clock when he just wouldn't when you're most alert, I believe that's what it refers to. But But my point is, like when you can do deep work, and when can you maybe be more productive when superficial work, you know, when is just the time not to schedule any writing sessions, because you're just not mentally there, you're able to identify your strengths and your areas of improvement, you know, you also want to know what grounds you because when things get overwhelming, you want to make sure you have that thing, or two or three, that just brings you back to your purpose, it grounds you what motivates you know, to have that somewhere in sight. So it keeps you kind of like going, for example, funny thing I have. So little ona is what motivates me. So like kind of my younger self and seeing her like, so I have a photo of myself when I was younger, next to my workstation here and my computer, and I look at it, and I was like, Oh, this is for you. And I keep on going. So things like that, you know. So I understand that. For me, that's something that's important. It also helps you be more intentional with your time, right? So knowing yourself will let you be more in touch with your time and having systems in place that work for you. So you want to work smarter, and not harder, but you need to know yourself, I think it's important to understand the way you work before we can have that. So that's one, that's one piece of advice. And we don't want to just kind of get by we want to thrive, right, we don't want to like kill ourselves doing, trying to get better demands in our careers, we want to thrive, we want to have a happy life, life is too short to just hustle and hustle, hustle. Right? So I think that's, that's why it's so important to to know who you are and, and set the systems in place. So you can have like, just kind of thrive. And then another thing I was gonna say was what we say and what we do is so important, if we say, I'm going to do this, and we don't follow through, there's sort of like, we feel bad about ourselves, like a self or self confidence kind of goes down, or self confidence. And we kind of experience like a sense of like, we'd let ourselves down. So I think it's important to always try our best to follow through with what we say we're gonna do, and that will really help with the way we feel about ourselves. And it will give us more of a motivation and a positive energy to kind of keep going. So if I say, Oh, I'm gonna work between three and five on this article, I'm want to publish right, and three columns. And I kind of feel like lounging and watching TV instead, or something that's gonna make me feel horrible and later down, you know, down the road, whereas I actually do what I say I'm gonna do like, it's just like, Wow, you did this girl like, now you can go lounge and watch TV as long as you want, you know, but I think that's so important, just kind of following through with with your word. So your actions align with your words and your values, too. So that was another piece that I think I wanted to share with people. Thank you. Yeah, it's so important, right? When we let ourselves down, you can also call it a cognitive dissonance. There's that belief and then you know, doing the opposite of the belief that we want it and then it causes all this internal struggle and frustration. Exactly. Exactly. So how can people connect with you if they would like to reach out to you. So the easiest way to connect with me is either through social media and first gen resilience. Or you can click on my website through there as well. First Gen resilience.com, you can find my email. And I also have like a inbox that you could communicate with me through there. Great, thank you. And I'll make sure to have all the links in my show notes, including you know, your website, your email, and everything else so people can connect with you. Thank you so much, Dr. Anna, for being here with us and sharing your wisdom and your journey. No, thank you for having me. It's been such a pleasure to also learn about you but I feel like we had a lot of common things in common yet a lot of differences as well and in our journeys. Thank you for listening to them manifest your career podcast with me, your host Dr. Norma Reyes, a career and mindset coach. Learn more today on manifest your career.com