Educated Chola

About Rosa Valdes

Growing up in South East Los Angeles, I struggled with crippling anxiety and depression without being able to identify them.

Even after completing my Master’s degree at NYU graduate school in Public Administration - I still had not officially been medically diagnosed with having a mental health disorder.

It is through this graduate school experience, along with the other adversities faced in my upbringing as a 1st-gen Latina from a single-parent household, of Low Social Economic Status, on top of the social stigma of mental health within the Latinx community, that I know I am not the only one facing this issue.

I have taken my personal struggles and am sharing them with the goal of reaching those in the Latinx community, see my willingness in beginning this dialogue because it has been yet to be seen. I want them to know that they can take a break and still be a ‘successful’ person, among these unattainable social expectations.