Hispanic Heritage Month – Recognizing the achievements and contributions of Hispanic American champions who have inspired others to achieve success!
Hispanic Heritage Month kicks off today. Hispanic Heritage Month recognizes the achievements and contributions of Hispanic American champions who have inspired others to achieve success!
For those of you who may not know, I am 100% Puerto Rican proud. I came to what we call the “big island” back in 1978 when my single mom brought the five of us here. When I think of how far we have come to have an entire month to celebrate the achievements of Hispanics is something that I thought I would never see back in those days when Hispanics were very few.
I remember a girl who…
-was afraid to talk because her accent was made fun of
-had to endure being sung “I’d like to live in America” every day in middle school as he walked past her on the bus
-wanted to hide every morning when they called her name (at the time I went by dad’s last name Rosa) because the teacher couldn’t pronounce it and all turned to see whom this “strange” name belonged to
-was pulled out of class for ESL (English as a second language) and wondered why I had to be singled out once a week
-had to walk in the cold and wondered where had my mom brought us to that my snots were freezing as I walked to school
The challenges as a Hispanic on this big island were not always easy but we overcame and here I am running a successful Marketing Agency and doing what I love! Elevating others through marketing on my own terms and is what we are celebrating today. All the Hispanics that contributed to the life we all enjoy now had their challenges. We had to first learn a new language and then overcome all kinds of obstacles. Most of us did overcome the challenges because the opportunities that we had here were better than back in our motherlands. I am the non-famous version of contributions. When I think of Hispanics that I admire I think of Raul Julia, Roberto Clemente, Rita Moreno, Ricky Martin whose song The Cup of Life became the theme song for the World Cup in 1998 and it opened up the road to Puerto Ricans being cool. I think of Freida, Julia de Burgos, Ellen Ochoa (first Hispanic astronaut) and Gloria Estefan.
Happy Hispanic Heritage to ALL of the amazing Hispanics that have changed and continue to inspire and change the world by just being themselves.