Cassandra Alvarez

Cassandra Alvarez

For the longest time, I had trouble in deciding what I wanted to do for my career. As a college freshman, I had already changed my major twice. After so much decision making, I finally settled on Communications and Technology. Even after choosing this major, I wasn’t completely sure on what I wanted to use this degree for until recently I decided to pursue a career in motivational speaking.
What influenced me to become a motivational speaker was attending seminars where several speakers were headlined. The latest one I went to was of Ovi Vazquez, a speaker who talked about how to achieve all your aspirations even when you’re going through challenges. His speech was so compelling to me, especially because I felt a personal connection. We were both undocumented immigrants who came to the Unites States and had to overcome obstacles to come to where we are today. Disregarding his status, he got to work for several big companies like Uber and Univision.
Although, I myself haven’t reached that level of accomplishment yet, that is the level I am aiming for. Due to my status, I’ve had to face several obstacles ranging from discrimination to education limitation. I am a big believer in not letting negative energy affect anyone, including myself, but after going through so many obstacles, I sometimes felt like giving up. Luckily, I have a mother who is one of my biggest supporters and constantly reminds me of my value to this world. Instead of allowing my undocumented status to limit me, I embrace it. Not only do I try to motivate myself to do better, but I try to help others who relate to my situation in any way possible to let them know that they are not alone.
I’ve been told that I have influenced the undocumented culture to feel more confident in their status and embracement in it. I decided to take this into consideration and start an organization where undocumented students can feel safe and united. The mission for the organization is to empower, advocate, and educate the community about immigrant issues. With this organization, my officers and I provide students with DACA workshops, educational seminars, and a speaker series that educates them on different issues. Along with these benefits, I am also planning on funding a scholarship for undocumented students since not many opportunities are available to us.
As the oldest sibling, I have a lot of leadership and caring in me. I want everyone to have a chance at succeeding in anything they’d like. With motivation and support from others anyone can thrive. I hope that my focus in motivational speaking would positively impact undocumented people by demonstrating that anything is possible in a country where they might have not been born in but have come to call home.