I was the oldest of four. While my mom worked long hours at our family’s small retail store, I was the one at home — changing diapers, keeping my brothers and sisters fed and safe. I didn’t always get to go out with my friends. Someone had to stay with the kids. That someone was always me.
By my early twenties, I turned that love into a career. I hosted a live children’s show called Tía Luna — “Aunty Moon” — every Sunday, outdoors, dance and play and confidence-building. Then I became a broadcast journalist, and one story changed everything: a child, a victim of trafficking, sitting across from me. I couldn’t just report it and walk away.
So I acted. I raised money every year on my own birthday for nonprofits fighting child trafficking. I ran the Rock ’n’ Roll half marathon for St. Jude Children’s. I fundraised for Susan G. Komen in the fight against breast cancer. I built my own fundraisers for homeless children right here in San Diego. I spent years as a hospice volunteer, sitting with families in their hardest moments.
Then came the children with autism and Down syndrome. I became an Early Childhood Interventionist, and I learned what actually works: play, consistency, and correction with love — not punishment. I watched a child go from 13 words to nearly 70. Not from more discipline. From someone who refused to give up. I became a certified NLP coach because I needed to understand not just what kids do, but why. I became a certified supervised-visitation monitor, protecting kids through their family’s hardest moments — when the only ones who really suffer are the kids.
Today I’m still that same person. I volunteer in my own child’s classroom, face paint and all. I teach the school’s art class. And I sit through Poway Unified board meetings, watching parents get talked over and shut out on decisions about their own children.
I’ve spent my whole life showing up for kids — as a sister, a journalist, a therapist, a coach, and now a parent. I believe every child can succeed. I’ve seen it with my own hands. And I am not backing down.
