About Me
“Everybody is a hero, a lover, a fool, a villain. Everybody. Everybody has their story to tell” — V
I am writing this from my apartment in Ecuador. Living in a city, especially the capital, is both a blessing and a challenge. On one hand, living in a big city gives you the privilege of going to a huge supermarket whenever you want, discovering many hidden gems scattered around the city for different types of people, and enjoying the pleasure of ordering exotic Greek or Indian food. On the other hand, it sometimes offers an isolated environment, where everyone is in their world, busy with their jobs, and therefore, it does not offer a sense of belonging or community.
Recently, I had an amazing trip to Miami with my boyfriend. We both enjoyed it so much, obviously for the food and the tourist attractions that we visited. During our first three days, we went to Latino restaurants and ordered Cuban, Mexican, and Honduran food. In each restaurant, they spoke to us in Spanish, and I felt like I was at home. People there are very welcoming, friendly, and kind. On one occasion, an elderly lady even offered us some cents to cover the bus fee — we politely declined since we were going to pay with a credit card instead.
That is the sense of community that I so much craved and didn’t know until that very moment. Miami is very well known to be the home for Latino people who are looking for better opportunities outside of their home countries.
Bilingual
The language is a dead giveaway that I am bilingual. Ever since I was a little kid, I have been learning English primarily from school, and later on from music, movies, and TV shows. I did not grow up learning how to speak good English. My mom’s side of the family would usually say that I learned pretty quickly, but in middle school, I struggled to continue learning new vocabulary as I didn’t have anyone to speak English with. However, that changed when I started working as a consecutive interpreter, where the circumstances made me learn English quickly — especially with abbreviations and slang.
Being bilingual has opened up a whole new level of world understanding for me, from reading academic journals for college to watching my favorite shows on Disney and laughing at Deadpool’s pop culture references. It has also allowed me to think in different ways and communicate better with my boyfriend (he was born and raised in London but with Latino parents, so we communicate in both Spanish and English). Ultimately, it has helped me land many remote jobs.
Profession
As a remote work advocate, I specialize in maintaining a great remote work culture while providing what the HR department encompasses (training and development, recruiting and onboarding, payroll, etc).
Ever since the COVID pandemic hit, I fell in love with remote work. I love the flexibility and personalization it offers. I first began as an interpreter, specializing in medical and customer service settings. As a psychologist, I knew that I couldn’t stay as an interpreter for much longer, so I decided to grow in my professional career.
I knew that I wanted to be a psychologist since I was 16. The book that drove me to study more about psychological and social experiments, was “Blueeyedboy” by Joanne Harris. Undoubtedly, that book showed me what dysfunctional families are, and what synesthesia means, and that curiosity brought me to study psychology. However, for different reasons, I knew that I could not become a psychotherapist, so I decided to leverage my expertise in other psychology areas, and that was one of the best decisions I made.
Why you should follow me
Being a 20-something-year-old, I know that changes can be overwhelming. As someone who loves routine, I constantly look for different ways to find stability in a constantly changing environment. I love to find ways to improve myself, whether that means listening to mental health podcasts or reading self-development books.
I’m here on Medium to extend my knowledge and share my personal experiences. Hopefully, one might resonate with you, and you can also apply them to your personal life. Helping others is something I deeply care about. Through my writing, I hope to make a positive impact by sharing practical advice on handling change as a 20-something.
I hope to learn from the amazing writing community and have you along for the ride.
