Profile

About: I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas and now I proudly get to call Austin, Texas my second home. I am currently a fourth year Bilingual Education student at the University of Austin at Texas and hope to move on to Law School where I can learn to help women and men who are victims of domestic violence.

A little more about me!

I have two amazing people in my life who have stood by my side from the very start, held my hand when I needed extra support and pushed me when I needed pushing. They are responsible for all that I have accomplished and I get to call these two wonderful people, “mamá y papá.” I’m also blessed with two older sisters, both of which are two of my biggest role models and I love dearly!

Some of my passions include running, photography, and traveling! I have been able to visit many places around Europe and just recently got to study abroad in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. I’ve got many more places to see!

Why I Ride

Everywhere I turn there is someone who I care for that is being directly or indirectly affected by cancer. My best friends favorite teacher, my mom’s best friend, my second cousin grandmother, even the man who conversed with me for thirty minutes about his late wife while I worked the night shift at my former job. It is everywhere I turn and as the time passed on it was getting harder and harder to ignore.

My grandfather passed away due to cancer before I was born. My grandmother had to raise 6 children on her own and then following that, she had a hand in raising her grandchildren, her great grandchildren and her great great grandchildren. She had to do all this in a new country where she didn’t know a soul, didn’t speak a word of English and didn’t even drive a car! My grandmother is my hero. She was the person I looked forward to seeing every Sunday morning when our whole family got together to eat menudo and sweet bread. She was the person I would share all my successes and failures with. She was a woman with a big heart who only knew how to give and never to receive. She literally brought a smile to every person she came in contact with. My grandmother was my rock.

On October 5th 2010 I got a phone call telling me she had passed away. This was the first time the meaning of “your world flipping inside out” made any sense to me. It was the first time I had lost someone so close to me and this was the moment so many things were put into perspective.

I did not lose my grandmother to cancer. However, it was then that I knew how everyone close to me felt when they lost someone, as special to them as my grandmother was to me, to cancer. It was then that I realized I did not want one more friend or relative tell me that they are going through the same thing that I went through when I lost her.

When I heard about Texas 4000 I didn’t think twice. I took a flyer, got in my car and drove to the nearest Starbucks where I didn’t leave until I finished my application. I saw my opportunity to do something about it and I took it. So here I am today, still pushing forward, and I owe it all to my grandmother, Maria Licerio aka “Mamá Mía.”