Source: Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers
Let’s go to the late 70’s. I once lived in a far, far away land.. Just kidding… Ok, I was a rambunctious little girl and quite the handful. My father toted me off to his construction job sites to work with him, getting me out of my stepmom’s hair. I was laying brick at 8 years old.
My family’s background like many hispanics, has over 100 years of construction in their history. We were Makers without even knowing it.Then at around 10 years old I was placed in Mac School where I learned to code Lemonade stand in the early 80’s. Those two experiences brought together my love for using my hands and my passion for technology.
I remember being a small girl and picking flowers to make perfume. I would smash them up, add water, and put them in used Gerber baby food jars. I tried to sell them. I don’t think they smelled to good. I made and built all kinds of things as a child. I was fortunate enough to live as a child during an era where it was encouraged to go outside and explore. Imagination was golden.
Fast forward a few years later, I left home at 14 years of age. I was a runaway kid living on the river. Stealing my food and foraging what I could to survive . This eventually landed me in juvenile hall for shoplifting. When I was there I was tested for school placement and I tested out of every grade up through high school. I always got good grades and enjoyed school quite a bit. School was something I missed so much being a runaway.
I left home once again after juvenile hall and had my first child Jessica at the age of 16.
I was very poor and had to learn very quickly to utilize what I had to live and become resourceful with very little resources. I started thrifting and crafting to decorate my home. Second hand everything for myself and daughter. During this time the father of my child opened an auto shop and we went into business. Buying and selling cars. My job was sanding, dismantling, and taping the cars to prepare for paint.I eventually had 5 kids by the age of 22. I had a 7th grade education and I was on welfare. Being a mom of 5 and poverty stricken, my journey of entrepreneurship came into play. I opened my first store at a flea market and eventually opened a thrift store for kids.
I painted my signs and with my father’s help, built my own racks. I had a knack for procuring things on a dime for my personal life and my businesses.
Being poor and having so many kids, you learn to make things that you want instead of buying them. Buying and re-making furniture become my passion.
When I was pregnant with kid number 6, we were so very poor. I had 6 kids in a two bedroom duplex. 5 kids slept together on two twin beds and the floor. We didn’t have a car and I was on welfare. A couple years earlier I had begged my father in-law to help me purchase a computer. At the time a PC was about 2000 bucks. He bought me one on credit because I said I was going to be rich and famous if I got one and learned how to use it. Two years later broke, not knowing what to do with my life, I desperately wanted to get my kids out of poverty. I decided I was going to make a herbal website and sell my herbal remedies…
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