belle eulalia

Valerie Lopez, has had big dreams since she was a little girl. She indulged in the dream of wanting to be a singer. It wasn’t until middle school, that she was introduced to the world of STEM. Ellen Ochoa, engineer and former astronaut, visited her middle school to talk about her journey as a woman of Science. In that very moment, Lopez’s little girl dreams turned into big girl dreams as she passionately states “it would be so cool to work with NASA and Space somehow.”

Lopez knew from that point on that STEM would be her career journey and lifelong dream. Lopez’s strong passion as a little girl is an example of finding female identity and great determination that would show through her womanhood later on.

She is pursuing Mathematics as a major in college and what keeps her going is that she is the first in her family to pursue higher education. There were thoughts of wanting to quit but she knew that deep down, she could never, because achieving her career and degree means a lot to her. She started her education at University of California, Berkeley where she met many privileged students. Throughout her journey in her education, she had to figure out a path of her own because her family did not have knowledge to guide her. She has learned to ask for her help, find resources, and met other students just like her when she transferred out of Berkeley into a community college. While being surrounded by other students who are in her shoes, it gave her the motivation to conquer and stay resilient. Lopez is finally achieving a bachelor’s degree at another university. She wants to be a teacher and one thing she looks forward in doing with that, is helping underprivileged students because she understands how it feels to be in that position.

Many other women can relate to Lopez, in a world dominated by men, women continue to challenge ideologies and structures that have been placed before women had the freedom of choice and stance. Lopez has experienced the struggles in an average Mexican-American household. “My dream is to break the cycle of poverty in my family” she says. Her goal is to know what it truly means to live in a great house and to not have worries about financial struggles. Lopez knows that by achieving her dreams, she will also make life easier for family that comes after her. She wants to bring generational wealth and prosperity to herself and for her family. Lopez took influence from her girlhood dreams and life experiences then molded them into drastically better outcomes.

A generational curse that she wants to break is dysfunctional relationships. She wants to incorporate healthy and stable relationships into her life. She has taken steps to understand healthy relationships through church. Church has taught her that relationships are more than just chemistry. She wants to instill practices of her faith into her future family when she is ready to settle down.

The reassurance she gives herself is that she has not failed because she has not given up. If there is one thing she could say to her teenage girl self is “you don’t have to have it all figured out.” Her teenage girl-self felt a lot of pressure and the need to be perfect. From the start of her womanhood at Berkeley, the 14 year old girl within her was humbled when her time at Berkeley didn’t go as planned. She realized that her experiences as a teenager does not define her path as an adult in womanhood. She wants other women to know “they should be easy on themselves because we live in a society where women are painted as—you have to keep it together 24/7, you have to look good, and you have to hold the family together.” Lopez wants women to know that not every day is going to be easy but that is normal because it gives us the chance to learn about ourselves and to be your own woman despite pressures from society.

Xoxo,

Belle