my story starts in Mexico where I grew
up as a teenager I was a part of an
environmental science club in the
biggest zoo of Central and South America
I’m the one in the yellow shirt the one
who forgot the Hat I got to take a role
on several projects undertaking by
veterinarians zookeepers and other
amazing staff another over the course of
eight years I got to be part of more
things that I probably should have one
of the most interesting things I got to
do at the zoo was recording and
observing animals behavior in their
enclosures one of the things we were
looking for where it signs of stereotype
ease no I didn’t mr. announced that a
stereotype II it’s actually different
than a stereotype it is a repetitive
picture a tiger in the zoo walking back
and forth in its enclosure pacing in the
same path again and again in humans you
can picture someone walking or rocking
back and forth continuously when we
would see the beginnings of a
stereotyping it was our job to eliminate
it to better accommodate an animal’s
needs by enriching their natural their
habitat to the best of our ability now
each design was different we took into
account the animals personality age and
interests we always started by
recreating that natural habitat to the
best of our ability we would include a
variety of elements
that stimulate all of their senses
promoting physical activity and a sense
of purpose pushing those brains out of
those repetitive behaviors we would
normally have the best outcomes or we
included a variety of activities that
fast-forward a few years and I found
myself in a camp of the YMCA teaching
kids about nature riding horses and
other activities that stimulated their
senses also capture their attention
that’s where I met my future husband and
after four years of long-distance dating
and some very expensive phone and travel
bills we got married and I moved to the
US I think we can all agree that moving
it’s scary but a long-distance move to a
country that speaks a whole other
language than you
it’s especially scary you’re removed
from your family your friends and the
places they give you comfort at first
the Elco air conditioning it’s too cold
and also you’re getting sick or lost all
the time
the worst thing it’s people don’t
understand you and you don’t understand
them fast forward another few years and
I found myself in a class in this Coast
culture shock and reading the definition
said of some light bulbs first that
culture shock was a real thing and
second that I had gone through it a few
times I believe that it’s a little
different well really a lot different
than what you read in the book though to
me it’s like that first day of high
school when it feels like everyone knows
living in the deep south amplified that
feeling the constants there of
unfamiliar faces made me aware of a new
sensation like a sense of otherness when
I was growing up I knew the culture the
customs history and I spoke the language
where I moved I had none of that not to
put too fine a point on it but to put
too fine a point on it it wears a new to
constantly be reduced to a taco when you
say you were born in Mexico and as you
can imagine the political discourse
around immigration in general but Mexico
specifically didn’t help either it
polarized me to humanize me it made me
feel less like Elizabeth and more like a
thing a thing that had no voice and no
value and suddenly I remember all of
those years working in a zoo with
animals in captivity and I recognized
that I felt captive captive in my own
environment captive of other people’s
ideas of what I should be like if my
accent was too strong or too foreign or
to articulate to be coming from a
Mexican woman I recognized that I had
spent too much time molding myself to
those ideas of what I should be blending
into the background and forgetting about
that’s when it hit me how did I get from
knowing the importance of in reaching
animals environments to where I was too
busy to reach my own so I stopped I
stopped participating in empty routines
I stopped internalizing what made me sad
and I stopped being a passenger in my
own life I engaged in meaningful
conversations by opening up about the
things that I thought and felt and share
my own experiences even if people
couldn’t relate to them I questioned
everything and anything that I was doing
and if it didn’t bring me absolute joy I
stopped doing it if there’s anything
I’ve learned from working with animals
in captivity is that everything counts
when you’re trying to help a brain move
forward so I started to pursue the
things I loved I paid attention to what
excited me regardless of how
inconvenient it seemed at the time to
balance it with my life as a mom wife
and owner of two very demanding puppies
I started school and study landscape
design an old passion of mine but also a
tool that helped me modify my
I took some time to be around nature
since it suits me and by doing so I
learned that I have a very compulsive
love for plants okay
I see compulsive my husband says
expensive but either way it’s brought me
joy at a whole new level I found time to
volunteer in constants that I cared
about I got to know people in my own
community trying to make it a better
place this allowed me to share my own
knowledge and gain some in return and
I’m there to explore things that I never
thought I could do like art and music
and okay
so far music has being a terrible fell
but I consider art a success because
sometimes my kids introduced me as an
artist and every time I hear them say my
mom is an artist I’m reminded of the
ripple effect the pursuing my own
interest has had on those around me in
essence I had to push myself out of
those repetitive patterns in order to
move forward the more I pushed myself
out of my comfort zone the more that I
grew and the better I got of what I was
doing and the more I embrace my be
friends is the more I could contribute
to my own environment and by doing so I
found my voice a voice that wants to be
so what I’ve learned is this making one
small change can have a big impact in
your life and the environment around you
when I was first I committing to America
as the small things the kind gestures
from random strangers that made
everything okay and that helped me fall
to find a small piece of common ground
in my new home we all have that power
you have that power the power to reach
your life and the lives around you if we
do that individually we can make small
contributions but collectively we can change the world
up as a teenager I was a part of an
environmental science club in the
biggest zoo of Central and South America
I’m the one in the yellow shirt the one
who forgot the Hat I got to take a role
on several projects undertaking by
veterinarians zookeepers and other
amazing staff another over the course of
eight years I got to be part of more
things that I probably should have one
of the most interesting things I got to
do at the zoo was recording and
observing animals behavior in their
enclosures one of the things we were
looking for where it signs of stereotype
ease no I didn’t mr. announced that a
stereotype II it’s actually different
than a stereotype it is a repetitive
picture a tiger in the zoo walking back
and forth in its enclosure pacing in the
same path again and again in humans you
can picture someone walking or rocking
back and forth continuously when we
would see the beginnings of a
stereotyping it was our job to eliminate
it to better accommodate an animal’s
needs by enriching their natural their
habitat to the best of our ability now
each design was different we took into
account the animals personality age and
interests we always started by
recreating that natural habitat to the
best of our ability we would include a
variety of elements
that stimulate all of their senses
promoting physical activity and a sense
of purpose pushing those brains out of
those repetitive behaviors we would
normally have the best outcomes or we
included a variety of activities that
fast-forward a few years and I found
myself in a camp of the YMCA teaching
kids about nature riding horses and
other activities that stimulated their
senses also capture their attention
that’s where I met my future husband and
after four years of long-distance dating
and some very expensive phone and travel
bills we got married and I moved to the
US I think we can all agree that moving
it’s scary but a long-distance move to a
country that speaks a whole other
language than you
it’s especially scary you’re removed
from your family your friends and the
places they give you comfort at first
the Elco air conditioning it’s too cold
and also you’re getting sick or lost all
the time
the worst thing it’s people don’t
understand you and you don’t understand
them fast forward another few years and
I found myself in a class in this Coast
culture shock and reading the definition
said of some light bulbs first that
culture shock was a real thing and
second that I had gone through it a few
times I believe that it’s a little
different well really a lot different
than what you read in the book though to
me it’s like that first day of high
school when it feels like everyone knows
living in the deep south amplified that
feeling the constants there of
unfamiliar faces made me aware of a new
sensation like a sense of otherness when
I was growing up I knew the culture the
customs history and I spoke the language
where I moved I had none of that not to
put too fine a point on it but to put
too fine a point on it it wears a new to
constantly be reduced to a taco when you
say you were born in Mexico and as you
can imagine the political discourse
around immigration in general but Mexico
specifically didn’t help either it
polarized me to humanize me it made me
feel less like Elizabeth and more like a
thing a thing that had no voice and no
value and suddenly I remember all of
those years working in a zoo with
animals in captivity and I recognized
that I felt captive captive in my own
environment captive of other people’s
ideas of what I should be like if my
accent was too strong or too foreign or
to articulate to be coming from a
Mexican woman I recognized that I had
spent too much time molding myself to
those ideas of what I should be blending
into the background and forgetting about
that’s when it hit me how did I get from
knowing the importance of in reaching
animals environments to where I was too
busy to reach my own so I stopped I
stopped participating in empty routines
I stopped internalizing what made me sad
and I stopped being a passenger in my
own life I engaged in meaningful
conversations by opening up about the
things that I thought and felt and share
my own experiences even if people
couldn’t relate to them I questioned
everything and anything that I was doing
and if it didn’t bring me absolute joy I
stopped doing it if there’s anything
I’ve learned from working with animals
in captivity is that everything counts
when you’re trying to help a brain move
forward so I started to pursue the
things I loved I paid attention to what
excited me regardless of how
inconvenient it seemed at the time to
balance it with my life as a mom wife
and owner of two very demanding puppies
I started school and study landscape
design an old passion of mine but also a
tool that helped me modify my
I took some time to be around nature
since it suits me and by doing so I
learned that I have a very compulsive
love for plants okay
I see compulsive my husband says
expensive but either way it’s brought me
joy at a whole new level I found time to
volunteer in constants that I cared
about I got to know people in my own
community trying to make it a better
place this allowed me to share my own
knowledge and gain some in return and
I’m there to explore things that I never
thought I could do like art and music
and okay
so far music has being a terrible fell
but I consider art a success because
sometimes my kids introduced me as an
artist and every time I hear them say my
mom is an artist I’m reminded of the
ripple effect the pursuing my own
interest has had on those around me in
essence I had to push myself out of
those repetitive patterns in order to
move forward the more I pushed myself
out of my comfort zone the more that I
grew and the better I got of what I was
doing and the more I embrace my be
friends is the more I could contribute
to my own environment and by doing so I
found my voice a voice that wants to be
so what I’ve learned is this making one
small change can have a big impact in
your life and the environment around you
when I was first I committing to America
as the small things the kind gestures
from random strangers that made
everything okay and that helped me fall
to find a small piece of common ground
in my new home we all have that power
you have that power the power to reach
your life and the lives around you if we
do that individually we can make small
contributions but collectively we can change the world
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