The Manifesting Latina

Career Advice: Try all the Flavors

August 17, 2021 Norma Reyes, PhD. Season 1 Episode 21
The Manifesting Latina
Career Advice: Try all the Flavors
Show Notes Transcript

Today's episode is all about trying all the (career) flavors to really know what you want to do in life.  With me, I have Dr. Pena who just graduated with her doctorate in educational leadership on Aug 13, 2021.  Karla has an amazing career journey to share with us.  She became an Assistant Principal at age 28, the youngest in her community, and a principal at 34.  She is an immigrant student that came to the United States in middle school. Despite all the challenges she faced coming to the US, she graduated Suma Cum Laude from TAMIU with a bachelor's in business administration.  Karla worked in the business industry for five years as an administrative assistant for an international manufacturing company while completing her bachelor's degree.  She went into education a year after college graduation with a different goal in mind but fell in love with teaching.  So, while pursuing her MBA she switched her master's to educational leadership.  I can't wait for you to hear her amazing story!

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Norma Reyes:

Welcome to the manifest your career podcast. I'm your host Dr. Norma Reyes, a Latina career and life coach. With this podcast I help successful women learn how to combine their intuition and logic so that they can manifest their dream career. By listening to my podcast, you'll learn how to go from feeling stuck and lost on what to do next to having the clarity, motivation and strategies to manifest the career of your dreams. Each episode, I'll teach you the skills, strategies and mindset you need girl to get in alignment with your career goals. Now, let's go ahead and get started. Hey, guys, welcome back. This is Episode 21. And I have an amazing guest for you all. Her name is Dr. Carla benya, who just graduated with her doctorate in educational leadership on August 13. Congratulations to her. Carla became an assistant principal at the age of 28, the youngest in her community, and a principal at 34. She has such an amazing story, guys just wait to hear it. She was an immigrant student that came to the US when she was in middle school. She graduated in the top 5% of her high school and a year early. She graduated summa cum laude from Texas a&m International University with a bachelor's in Business Administration. She worked for a manufacturing company while she was earning her bachelor's degree. And I'm not going to spoil that story for you guys, you got to hear that story, which is amazing. When she completed her bachelor's degree, she went into education. Her goal was to go into higher education, but you fall in love with teaching the K through 12 field. So I won't keep you guys any longer. Here is Dr. benya. Great. Well, thank you for being here. Godzilla. Can you tell us about your family background? Where did you grow up? And who did you live with?

Unknown:

Okay, well, first of all, thank you so much for inviting me. I was born in Mexico 1985. I was actually raised there for a good amount of time. My family, my family has a completely different backgrounds, I guess when it comes to two careers. But my parents were teenage parents. So fairly young, they had me at 18, both of them. So they have to find a guess a better life. And that's when they decided to move and immigrate to the United States. And we traveled quite a bit from there. By the time I was six years old, we came to rural areas of Mexico, which is like right in the border town area. And then after that, since there was really no jobs there at the time, they decided to move to Houston, Texas. And that's kind of where I was raised all through my high school years.

Norma Reyes:

Okay, so you guys moved to Houston. And so when you were there, when you were young, and people asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up, what do you recall telling them? Well, you know, I

Unknown:

think in my mind, I already knew what I wanted to be since I was five years old. And I guess a little bit on the background on my family. My great grandfather had 14 children, and that other 14 children, 12 of them were educators, there were teachers and principals. Well, later on, of course, they became principals. But he was a university professor. So he had a big house, he had three floors. And I remember the third floor was all books. So that's how I learned how to read because he was a university professor. So he was all about reading. And to me, he was my idol. Like I wanted to be just like him. And he's the one that taught me how to read. I learned how to read pretty early since. Like I said, My parents were teenagers when they had me, there was really no childcare. So they left me with my great grandfather and with his kids. So they were since they're all educators they wanted to teach me so I learned very, very young how to read and write I was I think like for instance, there was no child care, they just decided to put me in school. So it was just going with them because they were teachers. So since they saw that I could do it. I started school very young, like I just skipped kindergarten went straight into first grade. So that's why I think I always wanted To become a university professor, but not a teacher, because my ads were very mean to me. They were very strict teacher. So I was like, I do not want to be a teacher, you guys are evil. Like, I mean, I guess it's just the way that you're raised in Mexico, you they they like a certain order. Like even when you copy the notes, they have to be first in black and then blue and then red in a certain pen and the certain handwriting, they're very, very strict. So I never wanted to be a teacher. I just remember I wanted to be like, like him, like my, our file stuff. So that had always been if anybody asked me, I'm going to become a university professor one day.

Norma Reyes:

So that was one of your earliest role models. Was there anybody else that you imagine yourself being like?

Unknown:

Yes, well, that was on my grandmother's side. My grandfather was the other person that has always been a role model for me, but he's in business. He's an intrapreneur. So he's parents for from Spain, they both had immigrated to Mexico from Spain. And they didn't have anything. So by the time that he was in third grade, my great grandfather pulled them out of school, and made him start working. So he learned how to weld. But he's one of the smartest people I know, he is another one of my role models. He started his business building school furniture, by himself, like he could just see a furniture and figure out how to build it. And I remember seeing that doesn't the summers, my parents always send me with them. So would see him building his school furniture, things, you know, the seeds, desks, the boards, and then he would just carry them in his little truck and go school to school. And he built a multi million pestles organization just with that, and with a very, very, I guess, low level education, you can say. So that's what I decided to go into business. So my, my actual bachelor's degree is on management.

Norma Reyes:

Wow, that's amazing to see in such great role models to have at such a young age. So can you tell us about your educational background? And if you attended college right after high school?

Unknown:

Yes, I think, to me, it was never a question because I always wanted to be a university professors. So I think I always knew that I had to go to college for that. The hardest part, I think, at least for me is since my parents decided to emigrate to a brand new country, right? The language was new, the customs were new. So when I first came to middle school, I mean, I still remember I was in the southeastern part of Houston. So it wasn't in the, you know, the very low socio economic. We had about 1600 students, I was in ESL classes. And I remember working very hard to learn the language. So in about six months, I was able to kind of master it. I mean, my my accent was not even like Salma Hayek, but it was like really, really bad accent. Took me some years to figure out how to, and I still have it. I tell my kids as my Salma Hayek accents never gonna go away. But I did work hard to learn the language. And really, I think I was one of two, there was only two students had over 1600 and made it into the magnet schools at that time, in Houston. So I was one of those moments that you were very proud because I remember I was it was second year in the United States when when I went to eighth grade, because I did seventh and eighth grade, and then the United States, and they started giving this little watch, you know, how they have the award ceremonies in middle school. And I remember that day, my parents couldn't afford dresses, we just didn't have money. So it was the only eighth grader with the uniform everybody else was all you know, they get all made do with their, with their hairs and their outfits. And here I am wearing this just jeans and the uniform shirt because that's all we had. And then they start like the principal starts announcing us and they're like, well, the next young woman or young lady, I'm sorry, that's going to be receiving the award is and he just kept on saying my name over and over again. There was no other hate Grail that they they got an award. So my family had traveled from from Mexico, and they were just very proud. I think it was one of our proudest moments, because it just, it was hard, you know, coming to the United States. It wasn't easy. We didn't have beds for like a year because we couldn't afford them. So we had to just live in the floors. And that was I think, some of my background when it came to education. So of course for high school was a completely different world. I think that's the first time that I saw the differences between the haves and the have nots. Because my middle school was like I said a very low socio economic, I mean There were several girls that were pregnant by the time they were in eighth grade, all minorities, you really did not see anything but minorities, I want to say, well, we're probably like 70%, Hispanic and 20%, Afro American, but there was nothing else. Very, very few white students, really. And then I make it into the magnet school. So we go to a way more affluent because it's a magnet, they had to travel about two and a half hours to get to that high school. And that high school was four floors, it had an Olympic swimming pool, I was taking Japanese like things that were not available to, you know, a student with my background had I not been able to, to make it there. I remember well, even because I was starting business, because at that time, I always thought that since I guess it was the economic part of it. I decided to go into business because I wanted to be some, you know, hotshot CFO or a CEO that had a lot of money and would never have to go through what I had to go through when I was younger, or my kids had to go through that. So that's, that's why I went into business. So I was in the business magnate, and at the time before the horrible Enron scandal, we used to have internships there. So it was a very affluent high school class too, compared to the middle school I went to. Yeah. So I guess that that's the Houston background. I didn't get to graduate from that high school, because my dad got into a really bad accident at the time. So he couldn't work. And then my mother, she had a baby, which is my little sister, she was born in Houston. And she was also bedridden, like she she couldn't, she had some complications. So it was just us, because all our families were in Mexico. So we had to go back to Mexico, because we couldn't, I mean, we were kids, we couldn't survive on our own. So. So I went back for a couple of months until they recovered. And then we move back to the border town. I still remember that. I mean, I cried, because I had worked so hard to make it into a good High School. And then we move to a border town, which Funny enough, I thought it was going to be all white people. I was like, why wouldn't Mexicans want to cross over and stay in the border, that was my thinking at the time. But Funny enough, it's a 98% Hispanic community. So it's, it's very different than what I thought it was gonna be. And I've been here for 20 years. So that's, that's been the, I guess, second part of my educational career, which was I graduated high school from this community, I fell in love with the community itself, because it's so different from anything else that you'll find in the United States. My kids, now that I'm an educator, they don't understand that they are minorities. They really don't, because here they're not a minority. So it's just an interesting thing to see what I was raised, you know, being a minority and an understanding the fact that I was. So that's kind of what has shaped my educational career. Yeah, can

Norma Reyes:

you share about when you went to college,

Unknown:

when we first came to the United States, my father had been able to fix his documentation status, he was a resident alien at the time, but he couldn't petition for us. So and this is before that got. So there, you're brought into, into a different country, you learn and you're, you're raised with everybody in the country. So you start, you know, falling in love with it, then you start thinking that you're part of that country. But then when it comes to college, you're told that you might not be able to go to college because you're not from this country. And the good thing is that that to me, had never really been a question. I just didn't really understand that at the time. So I just went straight to my counselor, and I was like, Okay, so what do I have to do to go to college? Like I understand I'm undocumented. My father has documents, right? But he wasn't able to petition for me. So what are my options? And they remember this clearly, she's like, Well, you're in luck, because they just passed a brand new law that says that as long as you have some type of Guardian that has documents, and you know, they go through the whole income tax payments and everything the right way, then you'll be able to go to college and apply for it. So that's what I did. But even that was limited. Because, I mean, you're talking about I graduated top 5% of my class, I skipped two grade levels. So I was always a straight A student. And then I started applying for things and here it is, I don't qualify for a lot of the help. I don't qualify for Pell Grants. I don't qualify for anything federal. So it was all state and whatever the state could give me and scholarships and that's kind of how I did it. Thankfully enough, my grades my grades were high. You know, for me not to pay anything because my friends didn't have anything, they didn't even think I was going to go to college because they they kind of figured, you know, it might not work out for me, they just never told me. I guess their their background thing was, maybe we'll send you back to your grandparents in Mexico and you just go to the university over there. But thankfully, that law that had just passed, provided me with an opportunity to do my college career here. So I went into business, because that's what I thought I still wanted to be a hotshot CFO. Right. So so that's what I was doing. Then, in college is where I met my husband. So when I finished, they still remember and I was like, Okay, so I'm graduating, it was nice seeing you nice knowing you. But I'm gonna have to go back to Mexico because I, I can't work. You know, this is before DACA. So there's, I can't work in the United States, I'm gonna have to go back. And I was okay with that. Because thankfully, my family in Mexico is not that bad. Not like other friends of mine that I had met. And he's like, No, well, how about we get married? He wasn't a romantic proposal, like you usually hear. But it was, well, let me think about it. I wasn't in my plans to get married. But if I was, you know, going to, or we were going to stay together, it was going to have to be that because I couldn't, you know, how was that going to work and stay in the United States, really, I had nothing. So after a while, we decided to get married, and we got married. He's Hispanic, also. So through the whole traditional, you know, asking for permission, the dad and all that stuff. And, and that's how I was able to fix my immigration status.

Norma Reyes:

Yeah. How amazing and yeah, not romantic, but I'm sure that you were still.

Unknown:

Yeah, we've been together for 17 years married 14. So it's like, not because of the documents, like I tell them because I went a long time.

Norma Reyes:

So you, your experience is quite different than anybody I've interviewed so far. So of course, you even already mentioned about how you're thinking was, you're going to go back to Mexico. So you get married? And then what? How does that open career opportunities for you then?

Unknown:

So Carl? So I guess I forgot to mention at the beginning while I was doing my university career, yes, I it was all paid for but not the books. Okay, now, the books, not the transportation, international students in the universities at the time, I'm pretty sure it's still up to today, you have to have some type of health insurance that you pay on your own. Okay, if you're if you're to attend a public university, so all those things, cost money, money that my parents didn't have. So I had to work. Now the beauty about the community where I live in is that it's five minutes to cross to the Mexican side. You know, nobody else has that, that ability to just go between one country and the other. So during the time that I was in high school, I was working, I started working very young, I mean, Mexican laws are completely different, right. So I was 15. And I was already I had a job. And I had to cross constantly the bridge, sometimes every day I became there is a multilateral as what we call over here, which are manufacturing big manufacturing companies from the United States, and different parts of the world that they set up and the Mexican side because of cheap labor. And they always need people that speak English. So just because I spoke English, I became an administrative assistant to a huge manufacturing company, like very, very young. So I was 16, I had my little suit, I was already handling, like over$100,000 in monies back and forth and going to college. So I think that also provided me a very unique experience that, you know, people that just stay in the in the US and at least on my, on my kind of background, don't have, because I was very young and had a very good job, at least in the Mexican side of it. So very good jobs, people that you know, working with engineers, I remember my boss was the actual manager. So it was his executive assistant, and he was coming from Ireland. So that provided me I guess, also a different view on career choices. I still wanted to go that route. I even got offered a very good job, which was a sales associate, because I mean, I spoke English well. And I speak and write Spanish fairly well because my first language, so I can do both. I'm not bilingual, like I tell my students, I'm by literate. I can read write on both languages with simplicity. And since I would work on both areas, I was able to do that he saw that. So I was going to be traveling around the world selling sutures because that's what we used to build. But I wanted to finish college. So I tried on the job, and I was like, No, I'm gonna finish college. And I did. I mean, I graduated with a 3.9 GPA and working full time jobs in these different areas. Another thing in my community Also, since we're so close to the border, there's a lot of money's on transportation because we're the number one port in the United States. So after I had that job, I also during the summer, so we'll take like extra jobs handling the payroll for some of these big transportation companies. So needless to say, I had a lot of work and work experience even before I got married. So by the time I got married, the first thing that they tell you is like, you can't work. So I'm like, oh, my goodness, what am I gonna do, I was sitting for six months waiting for the whole process to take place. You know, you have to submit your paperwork, you have to go to interviews, just to make sure that the marriage is legal, and so on and so forth. And I let's needless to say, I watch way too much sex in the cities, has nothing to do, I had never been without working. It was just six months to just sitting and watching Sex in the City. So right after that, once my my papers came in, and I got my social security and my resident alien card, which they give you like a temporary one, then I was able to find jobs in the US side. And I went with what I knew, so I worked also transportation, and auditing and accounting.

Norma Reyes:

Wow. Wow, amazing. Yeah, you definitely had a lot of different opportunities by having Mexico close by in so much experience at such a young age. I don't know any 16 year old, except that I did have a person that I interviewed. I don't know if you listened to her. She also worked at the age of 15. And being like a kind of similar but not not to that level. But yeah, amazing, amazing. And the opportunities are there if you look for them, because you could have said I can't work. And that's it. And then I can't work and I can't go to college, but you chose to look for that opportunity for yourself. Now, can you tell me a little bit about your experience networking for your career?

Unknown:

Well, the I guess, again, going back to just my hero community, it's so. So close knit to the Mexican side, that I was able to find a job with the same company that was on the Mexican side, because many of those companies have companies on both areas, they have offices in both areas since their transportation companies. So I was able to work on this I'd already once I got my papers, and I was managing accounting for a huge foreign agency. Pay was good is just the hours, the hours were just something that and I was fairly young, we were thinking about starting a family. So that's when I was like well, I said I was never going to do it. But let me try teaching either way, I'm gonna become a university professor. At some point, I was thinking I was going to teach finance, you know, and all this stuff. intrapreneurship economics, I loved economics, I had like a straight 100 in economics. But I was like, I'll try it just for one year, I'll teach something and you know, look good on my resume when I become a university professor. So that's, that's what I thought. And also my mother in law, she was a big part of it cuz she was a teacher. She She was like, just try it. You like it. And I'm like, people have been trying to convince me to be a teacher for a long time. But now she laughs at me, of course. So I go into teaching with all this background knowledge and all I'm thinking as I go in there as I just don't want to be a boring teacher. As my that was like my number one goal in life because I remember sitting in classes, just being bored out of my mind, I got it. I was of course, I was gifted. It's like I told my students that we all have our gifted areas. We're all good at something. I was good at school. That was my that's, that's my superpower. Right? So I just did not want to be a boring teacher. I did not want to be like those teachers I had where I was just bored out of my mind thinking like, when is this gonna be over? So I go in there with that thinking first year is hard, because it was the hardest thing I had ever done. You know, and I think that that that's interesting. When you have people that are very good at things, you know, like, I did have a lot of experience in all different kinds. And I was good at what I did always. And it's just so self reliant because you work hard and you're thinking okay, you work hard, you do good. But teaching teaching, you can be working your butt off and still the kids might not do good. It just depends. It's not about yourself. When it comes to teaching. It's not about how good you are. It's about about how good you can make others And I think that was the most challenging thing that I had ever done. So I fell in love with it. I was like, This is the only time I've been challenged in my life as like this kiddos and I remember my first year. So it took me about three years because it since my background is so different, like I did not go the teaching route. It when you go the teaching route, they throw you into schools, you get to see the classes, you understand what comes with it, and all the personality of the kids and what you have to do. But when you're an ACP, that's what we call them, because it's an alternative certification route. You don't have that. So I'm here thinking accounting and all this other stuff that I used to do and go into a classroom, it was so eye opening, I was like, wow, I am not good at something. That was the first three months. And I'm like, No, you know what I'm gonna, I'm gonna make it happen, because there's no way middle schoolers can beat me, there's just no way. So I started giving them my all and I fell in love with it I, I truly did. And I just can't even up to this day, I don't think I can see myself doing anything else. But at the same time, I think that my background gave me a completely different perspective, and made me a completely different teacher. Because even by my third year, I was already bought as a team leader, I already had, like 12 teachers under me, and I was started teaching at 21. So I was like 24. And I already had, you know, teachers that had been teaching for longer that I had been alive, and I was overseeing them. And by my fourth fifth year, I was nominated for Presidential Award in teaching, because of excellence, because my kids were outperforming everybody else. And I say that that happened because I didn't have the usual teaching background. Like I would go in there. And I remember it because this came from my marketing class and some business major, they always told you, when you have a product, you have to figure out how to sell that product, right? Well, here I am in a classroom, and the product is learning that nobody wants. The kids don't want to learn, you know, they're there. Because they have to sound like how do I make it that they want it? How do I embellish it so that they actually want what I'm selling. So I, I became a gamer, I don't know how I did it. But there was a lot of things that that I taught my students how to do, I used to teach math, sixth grade math. So it was games, games, games. And then by the time they finished my classroom, they could do databases, those kids, because of my background, I was like, Okay, this is how you do color formatting in Excel. This is how you create a graph. This is so so it gave me a completely different perspective into my field.

Norma Reyes:

Wow, amazing, amazing how you took your learning to help you how to be a better teacher, something that not that common and how it excelled for you and your career. But also your work experience. Starting at such a young age, you gained a lot of maturity that if you don't work before you go to college, before you go into the workforce, you got to learn that maturity. And you know, brand new teachers sometimes don't have that maturity, but you already had it from when you were 16 working with different types of professionals, different types of personalities. I can't imagine I mean, you said it was a big challenge for you. I could not imagine teaching. It's funny. You mentioned that because I had high school teachers that have asked me if I wanted to be a teacher when I was and I was like No, I've always been resistant to even to be a professor. When people have asked me I'm like, No, I don't want to teach. So I don't know, maybe one day, so I know that you are about to finish your PhD. Can you tell me about that?

Unknown:

Yes, of course I like I said my goal had always been to finish a doctorate. That was always my goal. So even before I went into teaching, I had started my Master's in marketing. So funny how things worked out. So here I become a teacher and I fall in love with it, and I'm okay, I'm not gonna leave education. I just saw myself in those kids. And I started thinking my life would not be where it was if it was in preschool because I had nothing we don't have, you know, family wealth, like other families. So we had to work our way to whatever it is that we had. So every single child that came through my class, it just reminded me of what we had to go through and especially here in the border, you know, 99%, Hispanic 98%, low socio economic. They were the exact same person I was at some point. So I fell in love with I'm like that said, I'm not going to change it. So when I was doing the masters and marketing, you had the option of getting a dual degree, which would be valid in the United States and also take the Monterrey on the Mexican side because Since its Texas a&m, international, it focuses more on that since we're so close to the Mexican side, so even, I want to say like, it was 10%, I want to say about between 10 to 20% of the students in the university itself are Mexican. And they're from affluent Mexican families like they'd pay, they're double the amount of tuition to be in the unit to get a degree from the US so. So you still have that opportunity, that connection with the Mexican side. And that's what I was doing. I was actually taking master classes fully in Spanish, taught by Mexican professors, which is really cool. I don't see a lot of universities having that well, at least not in my area. I don't know if they still have those programs, but that's what I was doing. But then I fall in love with teaching. And I'm like, No, you know what, no, I want to become a counselor. Because I like it. I like talking to kids. And I noticed that I had that ability to, to talk to them and make them better. So I'm like, I want to become a counselor. So I go to the graduate school, I sit down, I'm like, okay, I want to become a counselor, what do I do? Like, look, your business, you have classes in your masters that could kind of give you credit for the administration side of school, but not counseling, if you go into counseling, you're gonna have to go back and do several prerequisites. And I didn't want to do that either. So that's how I ended up in administration. That's how we ended up in in school administration. So I changed that they used all those classes, I finished my Master's in administration. And Funny enough, like I said, I excelled that I'd been a teacher, right, I do a good job. And usually, in the teaching field, if you do a good job, they give you more work. Now more paid just more work. So I'm here leading the whole group of teachers doing all this extra stuff, I have mathcounts, I have chess club, I have a bunch of other different clubs that that I oversaw. Again, not extra pay, I just did it because I liked pushing my students as much as I could. And I remember this conversation with my principal, and I'm like, okay, so I know for a fact that when you give my classes you're giving me the kids that misbehave the most in the elementary, because how funny that there's a list of 16 troublemakers and I get 14 of them, and then you give to to all the other teachers. And then I don't get any advanced classes, right? And I provided for you, my scores are good, give me the algebra class. That's all I wanted. Because I really liked algebra, I wanted to teach algebra. He's like, okay, but then the new year comes around, and I don't get that class. And then, you know, being young, you're like, I get upset. And I'm like, you know what, I've worked so hard for everything. The only thing I'm asking is to teach an algebra class like I would like to have an advanced class, I think that I can push those kids to the I don't mind working with kids that are lower levels, because that's what I'm good at. But one class so then with that, I decided to use my administration degree because I By this time, I already finished with my Master's in education so we can become an assistant principal. So I go and I'm like, you know what, that's it. I'm gonna go ahead and apply I haven't applied to be an assistant principal. So I'm going to go ahead and do it. So I apply there's two school districts where I'm at so one school district where I was at is the biggest one, but it's a little bit more bureaucratic. Right usually it was at the time it was very difficult to become as an assistant principal without having been anything or the middle which is coordinators and different job description things where you are a supervisor but you're not at the assistant principal. So I applied to the neighboring district. So first interview I get it

Norma Reyes:

was meant to be

Unknown:

Yeah, it's funny because I mean, I was I was just kind of took you know, testing the waters Could I get upset on my friends I did not think it was gonna become an assistant principal. So so if I was 28 years old, that's you it was usually it's not very common that somebody so young becomes an assistant principal specially in the secondary level, right? Because when teenagers are teenagers, I love them to death but they're, you know, they're hard. They're the hardest age group I think. So I told my husband I'm like oh my god, I applied for this two jobs and I got it so what do i do i he's like look, I system principles very difficult to get to your age, you know, but I don't want to leave my school district I tell him and he's like, well, you go where you know what to do you go wherever you're needed. So that's how I ended up becoming an assistant principal so young and and then I fell in love with it. What it is a very tricky, I was like, I like this. So when when I was looking into my doctor programs, because I always wanted a PhD. I wanted something you know, I want to research I want to write but looking at it, I couldn't find a program that because I also have children. I mean, I had my little girl and then my There's just no way I can travel. And during those years, the universities have decided that any Ph D program was going to be held within their big, you know, their, their parent University. So we're over here is the intern, it's Texas a&m internationals is just kind of like a branch. So I could not do a PhD. So here I'm looking, I'm like, Okay, well, I cannot travel on Tuesdays and Thursdays so far up north to College Station to pursue this, like, I don't have the money. And I don't have the time. And my kids. I mean, imagine what am I gonna see them and work Not to mention, so it just happened that there was this Superintendent here, Superintendent of the year, he was such an inspiration to me, Dr. Nelson, he's one of the best. Well, he was I'm sorry, he just passed away this year. It was unexpected and sad for all of us. So he's the one that hired me. He saw something in me, he gave me a chance. And it's just funny how things work. Because really, I applied for the job, just because I was upset on my principal. So I applied for this job. I go in, and then he's like, you know what, let me see what we can do. I remember going into his office for the because then you have two interviews over here for administrator, you have to pass the first round. First round, it was 40 applicants just on the first round. And then second round, they only pick two And out of those two, you You're the finalists. So they pick in he saw something and make us I actually didn't even get the job. It was a friend of mine that got the job. And then he's like, you know what, let me see what I can do. And he opened up a position for me, so he must have seen something. And as I moved on to this new school district, he had a Ed he had a doctorate from Texas a&m commerce. So I looked into the program that he did, and even my professors remember him and that's the program that I did. Just following your role models like you say, yeah, and thankfully I'm done. I just defended on May May the fourth gratulations like Yes, I'm again Sunday May the fourth

Norma Reyes:

what an excellent day. That's also my husband's birthday. Yeah, I defended on April Fool's Day. But you will never will never forget those dates. I think. I know minds. Yeah. It's my favorite April Fool's. I was like, of course, of course. So that is amazing to hear. So you currently are a principal now?

Unknown:

Yes. Now I'm a principal I stayed on that school district which is funny because I when I we first moved from Houston over here, I come to this High School, which is completely different than my last one. Like it's over there. It was, it was no more high school. So it's right next to Galleria, so it's more than the more affluent kind. And then I come over here to Martin High School, which is back again, in the inner city. It's the community itself because I love them. But it's it's it's hard living in this area that that high school itself, I'm in the state almost took over that high school. That's how how bad it was. So then, right, I was an assistant principal for six years in the same district where I graduated from, because that's where I when we moved over here, I ended up graduating from that high school. And then I applied to become a principal. And this is already going to be my third year I got on Elementary, I need double valina Elementary, which is literally 15 feet from the river, the Rio Grande day. So it comes with its own set of challenges. It's a beautiful community, my kids, I fell in love with them, too. I'm telling you, this is just where I belong. I think when you do career choices, and you have this set idea in planning your head as to what is it that you're going to become when you're older, and yet life throws stuff at you and you just end up in the right place. But I think for the most part, not everybody cuz I have seen teachers that do not belong in teaching. But I just feel that, hey, if you follow what you like, you'll end up there and be happy doing it. So I started my principalship three years ago, and I didn't even know where the school was, and I'm from this community. So I was like, how can I? Well, I didn't know where it was because it's literally right next to the river. I didn't even know that there's a small little community called labrie yet right so old, and their houses are dilapidated. It's most likely I want to say the lowest economic neighborhood, in our whole community, easily one of the lowest and I Just, I fell in love with it. It's a blue ribbon campus, it has awesome teachers, and you would never expect the Blue Ribbon campus to be in that area. Just this school year, we dealt with about seven apprehensions within our school, because what happens is that we're so close to the river, we keep on getting people crossing the river through our side. So it's hard. I'm not gonna say it tonight, it's very, it's very difficult, because like I said, there might be families looking for a better life crossing that river. But it also might be got to fail people crossing that river with bundles of different types of drugs. And then I have to protect the kids that go to that school. So that's the hardest, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I mean, I love being there. I've met some wonderful educators. And right now we're building a $15 million brand new school. So we're split into three. So it's construction pandemic, and all this border patrol issues happening on a daily basis at the campus.

Norma Reyes:

Amazing. Well, they are so fortunate to have you someone that's passionate and in love with the students with the community. It's a rare find to find people like that. And, you know, you mentioned that everything has worked out for you. And but there's people, right, there's people everywhere that are unhappy with what they're doing. And something that you did that I believe people who are unhappy are not doing is following those opportunities that open, right? We say no, no, no, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do that. But hey, how about just giving it a try? Give it a try and see what happens? I mean, I feel like that's been everything you've said, I'd like okay, well, I'll go ahead and just give this a try for a little bit. Right, and we all can all do that. Give it a try for a little bit. And if it's not for you, then try something else. being open to those ideas,

Unknown:

please move on. I just don't think I could be in a place where I'm not happy. And that's what I tell my students because it's it's so difficult when it comes to career choices. Students always ask that, and they default to stuff that they've seen, even with my my siblings, because since like I said, My parents were teenage parents, right. So I had to mature. Also, like you said, I had to mature for one way or the other faster than everybody else. And I will take care of home because my parents were always working they you know, even up to this day. They're both drivers, my parents. So the one that that had to kind of take ownership of those kids were with me. actually funny story that this the youngest, my sister was my student. Wow, she was my student that was so wholly interesting and completely different story. But it was really fun. even up to this day, she always comes and comes with me. So all her friends are my students. You know, they're her friends. So we became very close, because she was, she was with me for three years. And she blossom as a student, and I wouldn't have it any other way. So my daughter, the youngest one, because I have a toddler, she just turned four. She's also my student, I also put her on my campus, because I just feel like you work as hard for your own kids, you know that. So if I treat every single one of my students is my own, then I'm the best place for them to be. And that's what I saw with my sister like she she was my student. And she blossom just in the three years that I had her she went from always failing to a GT student, just because I was there to guide her and not every kid has that opportunity. And it's important when it comes to career choices. But one of the funny thing is is like also my brother, my brother, like he was, I'm the oldest. So it's like, I took him to college. And I was like, all right, start looking, what is it that you want to do and kind of trying to guide them? The first thing I told him is you're not gonna become a teacher. Hear me out, hear me out this. This is my theory. And I stick by it up to this day, the more I see, like I don't I'm not saying like education is such a big, diverse, controversial and really difficult field. Because it's not the same in every community. It's very different for every community. But I have a big problem with the education field itself. Because if you go into education to become a teacher, what happens if you hate it, then your degree does not allow you for anything else. That's my big beef with it. Because what happens is that you end up in education, and then if you hate it, you're stuck. And that's when you have you really bad teachers. So when I had my brother and my sister, I told them, Look, guys, you're not going to become teachers. You're not going through the education field. And you're not going through it because what I want you to do is have a degree that will allow you to move if you don't like it because if you don't like it, then it's bad. For you, and it's bad for those kids that are under your care. And it can be so bad that you're going to mess up their life. And I had my share of bad teachers, I had one in particular that I'm telling you stuff happens to me. And I had one that was a really bad teacher, remember in high school, and the community that I serve, and one of the things he said, he was very upset with me because I always corrected him. Because I was a nerd. You know, I knew stuff. I read a lot. And I was like, sir, the way that you're teaching, like, what you what you're telling us, I remember up to this day, it was it was biology. It's wrong. Like it's wrong. I know, for a fact, I just read this, it's wrong. So he took me out. And he told me, You know what, you're never gonna amount to anything. You're never gonna amount to anything, because you Here you are, you think you're smart, but it's the people giving all this stuff like, I just remember those words. You're never gonna amount to anything. And then I become an administrator. And guess what? I become his supervisor.

Norma Reyes:

Wow, wow, well,

Unknown:

so I feel for those kids that have to go through people like this, that are so bad at what they do. And they're bad at what they do. Because they hate it is not because they're bad human beings. It's not because they're bad people, they just become so upset about their life situation that they take it out on kids. And that's not right. So that's why I feel like I told them, you're not going to go through the education field. Like, it's, I feel like you need to get a degree in something else. So my brother got hurt in biology. And then my sister got hurt in management, like me. And then from there, I was like, you want to try teaching Go for it, you might fall in love with it, like I did. So my brother actually became a teacher in the same school where I taught for three years. And then later on, he's like, No, you know what, he took a I mean, I don't mind teaching. And he wasn't a bad teacher. But he's like, I don't see myself doing this for the rest of my life. So he applied for customs. And now he lives in California. But see, it gave him an out.

Norma Reyes:

Yeah,

Unknown:

yeah. If you have an education degree. And I know people that decide, you know, what, teachers not for me, after you have an education degree, so you've spent all this amount of money and you don't like it, and now you have to start from scratch somewhere else?

Norma Reyes:

Yeah, well, and it goes back to perspective, because there is people with education degrees that go elsewhere, it's really about believing that you can find something. But those in the education field really feel stuck. I'm sure

Unknown:

some of them and some are great at it. There are some that did the education field, and they become and they love it. And they're good at it. It's just those few that don't.

Norma Reyes:

Yeah. So now looking back at your career so far, were there any missed opportunities that you look back at and think, Wow, like, I'm so glad that I didn't go for that opportunity, or that you didn't actually have that opportunity, after all?

Unknown:

Well, you know, that thinking about back, I did have some opportunities. I don't know if I'm to the point where because I really don't know where my life would have been right. But like, for example, that that position, what they offer me where I would be selling, and I would be traveling all around the world, I don't know, maybe my life would have been better. I don't know. And not that my life is bad at all. I'm just saying. It's just that I wanted something really bad, which was to have a career and I don't regret it, because it is what I love. And I'm in a place where I love. But I don't know, it's all about opportunity cost, I guess. That's, you know, that's a business business concept for me, but it's just, I wouldn't I wouldn't have it any other ways just at the time, you really have to look inside and figure out what is worth to you. And I think that's into me having an education was worth for me. And even now because I graduated with a doctorate and eight on August 13. And like, Tom, so my family is coming over you know how Mexican Mexican families are but they're huge. And they're so I have to like already set apart the whole house that we're gonna have to ran for the graduation because they're all coming over. And, and I mean, I don't regret any of those missed opportunities. Just because I found the career that I love. That's just I guess all I have to say for that question.

Norma Reyes:

Yeah. Yeah, they are the nose got you to where you are now. And so I know you mentioned that you are doing a leadership program. Tell me about that.

Unknown:

Okay, so we're working with middle schoolers is has its own set of challenges and anybody in education are going to know that. I think it is the most important age group though. And then And because once you're in the middle, and that's what I would tell my students like, right when you're in the middle, is when you start deciding what your life path is going to take you. You can go, when people tell you you can be anything you want to be is not necessarily a good thing. And that's why I guess adults try to sell that to kids, you can be anything you want to be. But what if they want to be gang members? What if they want to be you know, especially since Netflix comes out? Well, there's Narcos and larina, Sue, and here in the border that is difficult, that guides students to not the right thing. And embellish is the life of crime. I think, you know, this is just again, my perspective. So one of the things that I wanted to do is build the group, and I tried it with boys, but it's difficult, being a female, and I'm more of a feminist. So I noticed that the relationships that are built with my female students were a little bit different than the ones with my male students. Right. So I started a leadership program for only female students. Because to me that serve as a guide, and I noticed that fairly early in my career, especially when I became an assistant principal, because I like eyeliner, I put a lot of eyeliner when I have my makeup done. You don't see it right now. But I put a lot of eyeliner. And then little by little, I started noticing that my some of my sixth graders were doing the the eyeliner exactly like me. And so that's role modeling. So you have a lot like kids are just absorbing everything they see about you. And to me, female leadership is important. And it's even even in education, let's just look at the educational career. 80% of our teachers are female, and then you go into administration, and only 50% of your administrators are female. And then you go to superintendent and maybe what 10% are female. So how is it that that's happening when you had 80% female at the beginning, you see, so when you start looking at this things, then you need to start building or making your girls and especially as a girl, Mom, because I also have girls, they need to start understanding that there is a discrepancy. And not so much about that there is a discrepancy is how we're going to fix that discrepancy. So the female leadership group that I started, they were called the lionesses, because I was her mascot at the middle school that I started with. And then I left but it's still going on, I was able to get female teachers, they kind of guided and it became a thing. And it was all about empowering them and getting them to work together. Because one of my big theories is that if you notice males, even on the educational field, in the business field, they like to push each other up, like one moves up, and then they pull their friends with them, you know, they pull their people with them. And females are a little bit more competitive. So you move up, but yeah, like I don't, I don't want her to move up. And it shouldn't be like that. So that's kind of what what that was about. We wanted to instill in the girls since they were young, that it's not about so much competition, like it's about forming alliances and building each other up. So you can compete at the same level, the manner and then we'll we'll do a bunch of different things like visiting universities, having a we had Miss Texas, USA coming and talking to the girls about it, different types of leadership positions that would do community service for the community, they would go to Bethany house, and all these other different nonprofit organizations here that we have to build to our community. And that was the whole idea, like build your community, build your people up. So it was nice, with the little ones is a little bit different. Because they're little, I mean, I have pre K through fifth grade. I think it's a but it was a very good program for the middle schoolers.

Norma Reyes:

Yeah, that's, that's and that's perfect timing, like you said, it really is when people start when you get that divide, right, which way you're going to go. And that's amazing, amazing. And especially the building each other up instead of seeing each other as competition that is so true, you know, you stop being friends and you know, start fighting over a boy or you know, who looks better than what and by really instilling that in these girls at that age when we are beginning to recognize the differences in us to support each other. Well, is there any other career advice that you would like to share with the listeners?

Unknown:

Um, I guess My only advice is, is find something that makes you happy. I mean, I know it sounds cliche, but having a business degree and being in so many different fields from in sales, you name it. This is what makes me happy working with kids. It's what makes me and I'm not saying it's all like pink roses and flowers because it is not there are some days that I want to pull my hair out specially with some parents, or some teachers or even around no different things. But every day when I go back to work, and I see their little faces like yesterday, I just took over a class and I started teaching math to them. And then just the way they seem me like the way they see the adults, you know, with their little eyes and hope. They're the best people to work with, because they are people. You know, they have their own set of personalities, their own set of ones, their own set of needs. It's just that sometimes adults don't stop and listen. And that's just my advice is the same advice to give to them. Like one year, when you're looking to find what you want to be in life. It's difficult to know I am I'm telling you, there's it's difficult, you got to try all the different flavors until you find the one you like, I think. So working young is important. Because I that's just my perspective, when it comes to careers, like trying different things is important. Because how are you going to find what you like if you didn't try?

Norma Reyes:

Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate having you. And congratulations on your graduation. Dr. Pena.

Unknown:

Thanks. Thank you so much. I appreciate thank you so much for the invite. It was fun. I hope I didn't ramble.

Norma Reyes:

No, no. And if anybody wants to reach you, how can they reach you?

Unknown:

Yes, of course, will. We do have a Facebook page? I think that's the one that I keep up the most. Since I'm a business major. I market my school tremendously. So you can find me Facebook, I need double valina Elementary School that are Facebook page. And my email is Kay Pena which is just PSM, purple e n a, and we'll have the NG it. Add Laredo. isd.org

Norma Reyes:

great. And I'll include that in the show notes for anybody that is interested in connecting with you and learning more about you or how they can support you and everything that you're doing. Thank you again, so much. Your story is so inspiring. And I know that so many people will hear your story and just know that they can do it. I can do it too. Definitely.

Unknown:

Well, I appreciate your time. Thank you for inviting me.

Norma Reyes:

Thank you for listening to the manifest in your career podcast with me, your host Dr. Norma Reyes, a Latina career and life coach.