An Immigrant's Journey to Salesforce

If you asked me three years ago if I would have thought I would be a senior in college and spending my summer interning with a global technology company, I would have thought that you were crazy.

Three years ago, I was a high school senior in Alief, a socio-economically disadvantaged area in Houston, Texas. Three years ago, I was questioning if I would be able to attend a four-year university.

Wondering whether or not university would be a possibility for my future was not an anomaly among my peers that grew up in Alief. It’s important to note that the students in Alief were more than capable of not only attending these colleges and universities, but also excelling. Capability was never the issue; it was the financial toll that became the center of what was possible and what wasn’t. Many of my classmates in Alief had a collective worry about what life after high school would look like. We all knew education was the key to helping us break away from a cycle of poverty. The unfortunate reality was that education, as it seemed to us, wasn’t as accessible as we so desperately needed it to be.

As an immigrant and a first-generation college student, I was always taught that education is the key to success. Education opens doors. Education is everything, and that I just have to work hard to get there and walk through those doors. I’ve found that this is only half of the truth. Although education may be a stepping stone in one’s path to success, it is opportunity that empowers one to become successful.

Entering college, I began to understand more and more of the challenges that might hinder me from reaching success. My economic background, sexual orientation, and being an immigrant were just a few parts of my identity that would become perceived hindrances to my pursuit of education and career opportunities.

Although I’ve found that my experiences with these parts of my identity have not resulted in an immense amount of lost opportunities, I know that I am the exception. There are many students I know from Alief who have had a less fortunate journey. My hope is that for these students, resources become plentiful in the future and the pursuit of opportunity is normalized.

I am immensely grateful to my university for providing programs and resources to help bring much needed equity to students like myself, and so many others from areas like Alief.