AOL & Jeep ® “Life is Legendary” Campaign

What inspires you? This is the question I was asked in reference to the Life Is Legendary campaign that AOL & Jeep® are running. The mission of this campaign is to connect with single ladies like myself and express that single women are marvelous pioneers living inspired lives, and living life on their own terms, embracing their womanhood and freedom.

So, what inspires me? What inspires me to live a legendary life?

The first things I think of are my daughter, my freedom, my nation’s history, beautiful art, and satisfying music. Going deeper, my own experiences inspire me daily to press forward and keep moving. It would have been too easy to have given up at this point. To accept the little voice inside my head that keeps ranting you can’t! I’ve fallen victim to the voice before, but I’ve kept moving, grasping my dreams one by one. Being able to go through the wondrous miracle of being able to give life to a child, I realized that I would be doing my daughter a disservice if I merely existed in this world. That wasn’t enough. I wanted to live. I want to live.

Selfless people who have given their time and often their lives to help others inspire me. Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Mother Theresa, Ghandi, and Ella Baker to name a few. Reading about their journey, about the severe challenges they faced, knowing that they were change makers using nonviolent means, all to make this world a better place for myself and my child, makes me grind harder. I’m not in this life to be a cheerleader on the sideline; I’m in it to win it. Go hard, or go home.

What inspires you to live a legendary life? I encourage you all to upload your own Inspiration Board by clicking HERE. AOL & Jeep® have created this custom destination where you’ll be able to develop an Inspiration Board online outlining everything you represent and what you aspire to be. Everyone who engages in the above site will be entered for a chance to win a random sweepstakes rewarding a weekly $50 gift-card, and all users have the opportunity to win the Grand Prize: a $4,500 gift-card!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by AOL & Jeep® , opinions expressed are the blogger's own views not influenced by any outside biases. 

Education is the Key & Univision’s Es El Momento Campaign

I can’t remember a time during my childhood that I ever disliked attending school. I loved the atmosphere. The sense of community. I was a curious child and my needs were nourished being in school and learning every day. I was heavily involved in school activities and vividly remember a talent show in which I participated in. I practiced Whitney Houston’s Greatest Love of All for weeks before the talent show. I remember my older sisters helping me make sure I breathed correctly and sung the notes until the end. I remember standing on stage in my school auditorium surrounded by friends and teachers, and of course my mom right on the side of the stage singing along with me.

I gave birth to my daughter after I had already completed a year of college. After I had her I didn’t have any immediate plans on going back to school, but it was always in the back of my head. When I began job searching when my daughter was 6 months old I quickly learned that I would never make the type of money to live a comfortable life without education myself and obtaining a degree. I was still passionate about school, so I eagerly enrolled in local college and changed majors to something that was more in tune with my passions.

I’ve always been pretty insatiable about learning. I always crave more. This instability caused me to transfer two years ago to one of the area’s top universities in my area to finish out my studies. Now as a senior, I am eagerly anticipating graduating this September, and am looking back at all my hard work and sacrifice knowing that I have gained so much from choosing to pursue a college education.

There were many times in the past and even now when I want to give up. I’m a single mom, I work full time, and I’m a fulltime student. I often think maybe a college degree won’t mean anything, that it’s a waste of time. Then I look at my daughter, and I remember that I’m not just doing this for me. I’m doing this for my daughter and both of our futures. I don’t want to just be part of this world. I want to make change; I want to help enact change. I want to make a life advocating for those that that are overlooked, invisible, and too often forgotten. I cannot do so without education myself and getting real life experience. This is what has pushed me when I have felt like giving up. Just 6 months away from my graduation, I am an overloaded with a lust for life and learning and excited about all that I will be able to do with all that I have learned when I graduate. 

Being part of the LATISM community[half Colombian], I was so thrilled to hear about the Univision’s Es El Momento [The Moment is Now] campaign that launched in early 2010. It’s a comprehensive, multi-year national education initiative in partnership with the ill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, educators and civic and community leaders from around the world. The Es El Momento initiative is aimed at improving academic achievement among K-12 Hispanic students with a specific focus on high school graduation and college readiness.

According to research, the high school graduation rate for Hispanic students is 55% compared to 69% for their non-Hispanic peers. In addition, only 34% of young people graduated high school ready to succeed in a four-year college and that number drops to 20% for Hispanic young people. Hispanic parents face two key barriers: access and awareness of the academic preparation/requirements needed for college and financial preparation.

Es El Momentum is a crucial resource necessary to ensure that Hispanic youth are equipped with all the necessary tools to succeed and reach their dreams and goals. The statistics are disappointing, but wonderful programs like Es El Momentum are supporting our minority youth and setting up the necessary bridges to ensure that regardless of your circumstances our youth can and will achieve.


This is a sponsored post on behalf of LATISM. All opinions, ideas and thoughts are my own.