My name is Marisol and I grew up in Mexico City, Mexico. I got pregnant when I was 16 years old. My parents and my fathers son didn’t want to support us when they found out I was pregnant. I was left to fend for myself. I wanted a better life for my son so I decided to immigrate to the United States while I was pregnant. The stress of traveling to the U.S. caused my child to be born three months premature shortly after my arrival. I met a man in the U.S., got married and a couple of years later had my second son.
Learning a new culture and raising children at a very young age at the same time is extremely challenging. Without a formal education I struggled to gain meaningful employment. I worked in janitorial services for ten plus years while raising my sons. A few years ago I began going to community college to study criminal justice while working and taking care of my kids.