I’m a strong woman, mother & wife. I have a life & I pursue my dreams, like Jay Z once said, “I dream in color”. Today’s women are continuing to overcome society’s stigmas and labels of how we should be if we are a mom and a wife. You can easily imagine the cookie cutter image of her being at home baking, cleaning, taking care of her babies, then waiting for her man to get home with a hot plate. Don’t forget the foot rub that’s waiting for him. Alright, I probably went a little extra, but you get the point right? Now speaking from firsthand experience you can be all of this and more.
I grew up in a traditional Latino household and very proud that I was taught these domestic qualities to apply to my own home. However, at a very young age, I knew that there was more to me than just that. I wanted to preserve my individualism and pursue a career. I wanted to have a voice while being happy in my own skin. That’s not much to ask for right?
When you are younger, you have yet to decide what your life purpose is and the career path you choose to pursue. Sadly, I just put myself on the back burner. Regardless of my inner turmoil I still had to raise my daughter and be a wife. As if that wasn’t enough, I had the added pressure of dealing with postpartum depression. This was due to my previous loss of my first-born and having a high-risk pregnancy with my daughter.
This took a toll on my mental health completely. This is another stigma that is not discussed enough, but let’s save that for another time. It was too much to handle at the time and years started to go by. I’ve remained on autopilot in my life.
However, I soon started to take baby steps in life to feel better. I re-enrolled in school, I sought help for strengthing my mental health and even today it’s still a work in progress. My life started to progress again. I’ve received a great career opportunity that gives me the luxury to work from home. I’ve created great personal & business connections with other strong queens throughout the years. Even getting to travel and being able to participate in “me time” with my girlfriends. One of the greatest things about my progress is being blessed to have given birth to my son in my 30’s. It feels like a refreshing do-over for me. Now I get to reflect and do things differently with a new set of eyes.
At the end of the day, I am a strong woman. I still cook, clean, take care of my man and raise my babies. All of this while pursuing my goals and obtaining a life outside of my home. It gets exhausting but, that’s why I have wine!
We need to link arms to empower one another and set examples and set a tone for the younger generation our young queens in training. I’m not out here trying to be a life coach we already have plenty of those. As women, never limit your roles, beliefs, or lose your authenticity to fulfill your domestic roles. The sky is the limit and we can conquer all no matter what, yes it takes courage to challenge the status quo but it’s truly an empowering process. I’ll leave you with this quote queens…
“I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want, if that makes me a bitch, Okay” –Madonna.
The Queen Sessions 