Eve Ortega

I was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, and I am the oldest in my family. I grew up in a low-income family, my father was the only one who worked. My mom was a housewife, she took care of our home and did everything for us. I was a single mother of two girls, Claudia and Katia.

In 1997, I lost my job and decided to cross the border with a bag full of dreams. It was very hard to adapt to another county, with no English at all. The first month, I really wanted to return to Mexico because I could not find a job and missed my family a lot, but decided to stay because I wanted a better life for my family.

In 1998, I met and married my husband Javier, which gave me more motivation to stay here in the United States. he knew that I missed my children, so he helped me get my residence card and applied for my children, as well.

I also worked in different places such as restaurants, house cleaning, making tamales and cheesecakes to sell, baby sat, etc. Even though I enjoyed every one of my jobs, my dream was to get an education to get a better job and be able to help people. I studied Career and Economic Development, with a focus on Adult Education.