First-generation college graduate Estefany Flores shares the successes and struggles she encountered while being a Latina woman on the road to becoming a nurse.
Written by: Yeiri Flores
Estefany Flores shares some of the challenges that she has experienced being Latina and reflects on how her culture has impacted many of her life decisions. Despite being born here, she has faced discrimination as well as the realities of being a Latina woman living in America. She recounts occasions where people assumed she did not speak the common language, or events where she was stereotyped due to her appearance. Estefany shares her unique perspective on what it means to be Latina for her and the struggles she and many others have faced living in the U.S. Despite the challenges she has encountered, she nonetheless persevered and defied stereotypes, moving on to be graduated from Molloy University and currently working as a nurse at a children’s hospital.
Estefany Flores, born in July 1995, is the eldest of three siblings. Her mother immigrated to the country a little less than one year before that in July of 1994, leaving her parents, siblings, and the only life she knew at only 17 years old. She embarked on a grueling and dangerous journey by herself, in pursuit for a better life for her struggling family back in El Salvador. She was the eldest of 7 siblings, so the responsibility fell on her to help her family. When Gloria arrived in this country, she arrived alone and vulnerable not knowing what her next step would be. She soon met Estefany’s dad at the restaurant where she found a job and they got pregnant with her almost immediately. She was born on her mother's 18th birthday and was the best and most unexpected gift she would have ever received to this day.
Migrating and assimilating into a new country was no easy feat, especially when you are a minor expecting. Estefany recalls what it was like growing up and learning alongside her young parents. Estefany did not learn English until she entered the public school system and around that time is when her parents learned as well. She states, “I was put in ESL classes, and I remember my parents trying to do my homework in their heads before I did so they could learn with me.” She also recounts experiences where certain responsibilities that children don’t normally have fell to her due to my parents not speaking English. Estefany’s main objective as a little girl was to facilitate life for my parents as much as she could, because she felt she owed that much to them. She stated, “I went into school only knowing Spanish and often got bullied for not being able to speak English, but I was only 4 years old and wanted to play with the other kids.” So Estefany did what anyone would do and tried her best, she spoke a gibberish mix of what she thought English sounded like in her head and hoped some of it made sense. She recalls getting made fun of a lot, but after a while she got better and spoke English just as well as any other kid there.
Being Latina and keeping in mind the struggles her parents had endured influenced Estefany in making the decisions that she did growing up. Estefany is a first-generation college graduate who completed her bachelor’s degree in nursing with a minor in psychology and minor in Spanish literature and cultures. From a young age she knew she wanted to be a nurse and make her parents proud, she states “I always felt drawn to nursing because I know for sure that in this career, I have the ability to be more hands on and make a difference in my patients lives.” Being bilingual allows Estefany to be a bigger advocate for her Spanish speaking patients and more equipped to be able to serve the Latino community. She works at a hospital for children that serves a large Latino community and recalls times when she is simply doing her job and providing basic care to her patients and is met with gratitude that often surprises her. Estefany states, “sometimes the parents of my patients feel in the dark or not heard due to a language barrier.” Her favorite part of being able to be communicate directly to her Spanish speaking parents is when she knows that they feel a sense of relief speaking directly to the person treated their child, and not only hearing from someone else what was done.
Being raised by immigrant parents in America gives you front row seats to the discrimination you face due to being Latina/o. Estefany recalls times when her parents were treated unkindly or when she was even stereotyped. She stated, “once a man at work refused to check out with me speaking in English because he said he never got a chance to break out his Spanish with Mexicans.” This was a comment that she found so disgusting but nonetheless ignored and laughed off. When discussing how navigating both Latino and American culture has shaped and affected her, she stated, “there have been times that while living in two cultures, I feel in a sort of a limbo and not quite aligned with either.” She describes not feeling American enough due to her darker complexion and Hispanic name, yet not Latinx enough because when she goes home to El Salvador, she sticks out like a sore thumb due to her overly proper and foreign sounding Spanish.
Estefany has been working as a nurse for three years now and has an almost one year old daughter. She states that she has “only just begun” her journey and that she hopes to pursue her master’s degree to become a nurse practitioner soon. As a closing statement Estefany states her favorite quote, “we all have a moral obligation to leave this world a better place than what we’ve found it” and hopes to leave her mark on this world and will influence her daughter to do the same.
