my story

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Understanding emotions and the value of sharing them have been a constant in my life.

I grew up in Bogotá, Colombia, in a loving and caring family where difficult conversations would likely end in failed discussions. For this reason, as a child, I turned to music and singing to convey my feelings, and as a teenager, I discovered that drawing could do the same. However, I did not sing to other people or show my pictures; art was just for me. Later, while studying fine arts during college, I focused on exploring and depicting the sensations that emotions produce in the body. Although I started sharing my work, I rarely verbalized what those images meant to me. After graduation, working as a school teacher, I learned to use my speech to encourage my beloved students to express their feelings and experiences through art, and other media.

 

After teaching in contrasting socio-economical environments, New York City welcomed me in 2016 to undertake graduate studies in Sociology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Living in this beautiful city was like packing TEN years of life into three; I had many jobs and went through one of the most challenging periods due to complicated family circumstances. I worked as a research assistant for my university's Arts and Humanities department, as a special needs tutor, as an educational consultant for an international organization, and as a curriculum developer for an after-school program. This time was just as beautiful as painful; facing grieving and depression took me to discover mindfulness and reinforced the importance of expressing myself in every possible way (painting, singing, and teaching). 

In NY, I learned to analyze all the variables that may influence our individual and collective behavior as well as the value of social and emotional skills to navigate challenges. With that insight and learning from the courage of people in this city, I gained the confidence to openly and skillfully communicate my most complex ideas in English.

 

Back in Bogotá, after working on some curriculum development projects, the pandemic hit. I took time to self-reflect and realized that my most rewarding experiences have always been as a teacher/tutor/guide, so why not return to it? It was then when I started my communication coaching practice, first as a contractor for an international online company, Lingo Live, and now on my own. 

 

I'm a long-time educator, I love neuroscience, and I'm constantly reading about how can we learn best.

I am an advocate of sharing our emotions and needs, and I know that to collaborate more efficiently and have better relationships, we need to master communication.

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Language accuracy, agility to grasp and use our culturally dependent non-verbal expressions, empathy, and all of the hardest soft skills, especially self-awareness, are fundamental to achieve assertive communication and thrive, personally and professionally.

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Let’s book a meeting, and I’ll help you get there!