I was at UVU for a female entrepreneurship conference when I ran into a good friend, Tyler Jennings, who told me about Oriana’s story. Upon hearing it, I asked to be introduced. I knew if I shared her story here, several readers would have resources and connections to help her. I asked her to write her story and email it to me so I could share. She did so the same day. Here it is:
Where do I even start? Well, I was born in Caracas, Venezuela; in a family that has always loved and cared about me. I have one younger sister and an older brother. My mom has always been the person to correct me, guide me in girls stuff (and kind of judge me); and my dad has always been my partner in crime, my soulmate, (he does not say it in front of anyone but I am his favorite), he has always been my example when I need discipline on something or when I need to get the best grades, he has always pushed me in every way; but he transfers any disciplinary action against me or my sister to my mom haha.
My parents are the most important part of my life and I love them with all my heart. I cannot thank them enough for all they do and what they have done for me to be where I am right now. It makes me cry… They have created the character I am today. Even though I can sometimes tell them all they did wrong to me (more joking than serious), they did the best they could with what they had at that time. They have always wanted me to be the best or excellent in all I do. Asking me for the best grades, to be the teachers’ favorite, behave, be prudent, kind, sensitive, empathetic, has made me earned a lot with others, but most of the time lose a lot with myself, being very perfectionist person – will talk more about this later.
My mom completed two degrees, one to be a Lawyer and another in Economics; my dad a bachelor’s in Economics and a master’s degree in Economics of Petroleum (or something like that). They came from the low and poor area of Venezuela, and decided to chase their dreams and finish these degrees in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Then, they met in the Venezuelan version (not even close) of the “Federal Reserve”, called Banco Central de Venezuela, or Central Bank of Venezuela. My dad had already created my brother with another woman and I was the first child of my mom and dad. I believe my life was perfect until my sister came into my life (jk).
I have been the first child trying everything, and my sister copying me. We were always compared by all my family, in things like: I get better grades than her, I am more shy than her, she is more extroverted than me, I am fatter than her, etc. With this and my parents’ upbringing, I started to believe this had to be this way, there were no “gray areas”, and I couldn’t change. I thought I couldn’t be skinnier, less perfectionist, get maybe a C instead of an A plus and be okay with that, be sociable when I want, and maybe not behave ALL the time, or not always be the kindest even though the other person is hurting me. Of course, after a lot of therapy, I had to practice being in the grays, believe that I could change all of these things, and understand that there is nothing wrong with any of those characteristics about me or my sister. It all means that we are different, and that is okay.
I loved sports my whole life. Thank God, my mom could let us try tennis, swimming, or ballet. Tennis gave me my will to compete and be the winner always; ballet gave me the discipline and the consciousness to not be obese (and maybe a bit of eating disorder and body dysmorphia, later improved with therapy); and swimming prevented me from not dying in a pool or a beach haha.
I love going to the beach (it is my perfect place to go), watching movies, playing tennis, going to the gym, dogs, margaritas, traveling, dancing, popcorn, lava cakes, and Texas Roadhouse’s sweet bread.
Going back eight years ago, I would have a decent level of English, I would be in the last year of middle school in Venezuela, and finishing a leadership and English course that my mom wanted my sister and me to do, that we thought was stupid, but I thank her so much nowadays. My mom stopped going to her English classes, so that I could continue, and I cannot be more thankful, even though I can be annoyed when she asks me to order at McDonalds for her. I started picturing my life after school, and I was looking for options. I did many tests for scholarships to study abroad, specifically in the US, but without luck. Two years later, I graduated from high school with the best grades in my class and I was asked to give the graduation speech for my whole 100 mates graduating with me and their families. Once I started the speech, I started crying, kind of embarrassing, but honest, and in the end, everyone loved it. After this, I started at a university in Venezuela – Universidad Catolica Andres Bello – my Industrial Engineering degree. It was the best year of my life, where I met many people, went to parties, and found I could get bad grades and I wasn’t the best of my class anymore haha.
In the middle of the second semester in this university, in March of 2019, Venezuela ran out of power completely. We did not have power to shower (because the water pressure would work with electricity), our food in the fridges would go bad, and there was no service. Some time earlier before that year, my parents started to have a bad situation with money where the bolivar (Venezuelans currency) would devaluate day after day, ending up giving us a harder time to live in Venezuela and without quality of life.
I still wanted to stay in Venezuela, and my parents wanted to move here to the US because part of my family was here already due to the economic situation in Venezuela. I still wanted to travel here, to be with them, spend the summer here, but I wanted to go back to Venezuela to finish my degree, as I always wanted to graduate from the university. Once I was here, I talked to God, and told him that I would let him make a decision and show me the best way for me. I told him that if he let me study here in the US, I was going to stay, but if not, I would go back to Venezuela.
Days later, my mom met a woman that had a contact in the Multicultural Student Center at UVU, called Glenny. She guided me through everything and told me there was an opportunity for me. This was the answer I needed, and I stayed here with my parents, started the last level of the English program at UVU and enrolled in my degree, Business Management, that years later I changed to Finance.
Since I got to the US, I have had to earn things by myself, and pay my tuition for the last 5 years, car, insurance, everything by myself. It has been a very tough journey, sacrificing many friendships and enjoyable moments for my future. Now, I have been thinking of what to do after graduation and it is definitely developing my own idea, leading people, being a business woman and being an inspiration for others that want to work hard and chase their dreams. Since applying to Sandbox, I felt a jump in my heart, I cried the first time the founder, Chris, talked to us and presented the project. Since then, it has been a rollercoaster of emotions where I feel the best version of myself, the most sensitive, the strongest but with a lot of uncertainty as to where this journey will take me, with all my family’s support, my boyfriend’s and all my mentors at UVU that have been THE BEST on motivating me, giving me other perspectives, making me understand that my moment to follow my heart in this idea is NOW and that this world is full of possibilities that are waiting for me.
I said that I did not know how, but these opportunities would come to find me. I have worked hard since the start of the Sandbox program, but I got to the point where I either work my full-time job, that I actually love, or give it "all-in” to my start-up, which is my biggest dream. However, if I stop working, I cannot even pay for Sandbox or tuition at all. My financial aid options are non-existent, as my immigration status does not allow that. Tyler Jennings, one of my mentors at UVU, is my God’s Angel through this process and opened doors for me, giving me the opportunity to look for more options for my situation.
I had always pictured myself, studying in the US and creating my own company, following “The Secret” gratefulness guidelines, and here I am, very close to achieving the two most important goals of my life and I cannot be more grateful for all I have and for writing this to you.
Thank you so much, Scott.
I really want her to be able to pursue her passion and stay in the incredible Sandbox program that Tyler is heading up at UVU. I will match any donations made to help her with tuition. Tyler has been collecting donations via his private Venmo @tmj27 or you can send to me . Here is Oriana’s LinkedIn Profile.
Anything helps. She has raised $2k of the $10k necessary to stay in the program. We are working all other angels to see if there is more scholarship and programs for her, but this will help a lot. Every time I have asked for help here we seem to collect about 4-5k for the person in need. People amaze me when I see how easy it is for them to give without second thought.
Scott X - 4:20 news and more.
Here is a photo of Oriana: