Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Sanchez.
Hi Michelle, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
“Finding your passion” is something we hear a lot about in our everyday lives. We tell kids that they need to find that thing they are passionate about or excited about. As a kid, I wasn’t encouraged to go to school or aim higher.
I was born in Los Angeles, California to immigrant parents from Nicaragua and El Salvador. Although I didn’t meet my father until I was 14. Like many children of immigrants, we moved around a lot with my mom, and also like many children of immigrants, I had to grow up way too fast.
I lived with my Grandma in L.A. until age 5. At this time, I was being molested by my uncle. I later moved to Oregon to be with my mother and her new husband, my stepfather, and the father of my younger sister. When I turned 12, my stepfather began sexually abusing me. Being just 12 years old, I didn’t know what to do. This situation became hard to manage, asking my younger sister to stay with me at all times became difficult to manage, and I didn’t feel comfortable telling my mom. Eventually, she found out and took me to the hospital to have me examined, where Child Protective Services threatened to take me from her.
This is what led to us fleeing to Georgia for a new start. My younger brother was born when we arrived in Georgia, and because my mom had to work so much, I took care of him. Many people thought he was my son. My mom was emotionally unavailable to me throughout my life. She was verbally abusive and gave little to no encouragement that life could be better. Because of this and much of the abuse, I was exposed to as a child, I didn’t feel as though I know how to say ‘no.’
At 14, I attempted suicide by swallowing a bottle of pills. My attempt failed and made me severely sick, but I’ve since been on a path to coping with mental illness and struggles with ideation.
At 16, I was struggling to stay in school and eventually dropped out. At the time, my mother had a boyfriend who was abusive, and I decided it was best for me to leave and start on my own journey, running away with my boyfriend to Mexico.
I became pregnant with my first daughter at 17 and returned to the United States. Finding ways to make ends meet, I got a job at a junkyard where I was able to make $400 weekly and bring my child to work. Since then, I had two more children and became a stay-at-home mom turned community organizer and political candidate.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Throughout my entire life, I battled a lot of darkness and often felt like the world was working against me. Between sexual abuse, unstable relationships, and suicide attempts, I still found the strength para seguir adelante and find my purpose in life. To overcome struggles, I found something to strive for beyond my kids. I live for them but I also live for myself. Through my personal experiences with the government and politics, I found my passion to seek justice. I made a promise to myself to share my story, which I hadn’t fully shared before, in an effort to talk about my struggles more openly.
We all face challenges, how we deal with them is what shapes who we are. While I share my pain, I also share my hope for the future. I am most proud of all the challenges I have overcome and continue to do so.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My relationship with politics and civic engagement began in 2008 when I cast a ballot in any election for the very first time. I was a strong proponent of candidates advocating for immigration reform due to my personal experience being in a mixed-status relationship. After that, I began a journey of being more involved in the political process and holding our elected officials accountable. In 2015, a friend made a Facebook post asking people what presidential candidates they would like to see. It was during this time that I found Bernie Sanders and felt very connected to his political positions that had remained steady throughout his career. I signed up to volunteer for Senator Sanders’ run for presidency, but Georgia was not considered a battleground state at the time. Still, a grassroots group had formed: Georgia for Bernie. I attended their second meeting and got more involved from there.
Since then, I joined the Hall County Democrats, ran for a seat in the State House in the third most conservative congressional district in the country, was elected to serve on the Hall County Board of Elections, and was offered my first paid position in politics working to elect Stacey Abrams with the New Georgia Project Action Fund. After all that, I joined organizations such as Voter Turnout Project, Our Revolution, Democratic Party of Georgia, Georgia Familias Unidas, and currently serve as Poder Latinx’s Georgia Field Coordinator.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
While it can be seen as taboo in our community, therapy should be normalized and given greater importance. Taking care of our mental health should be as normal as getting a routine check-up at the doctor. Therapy is crucial in unpacking trauma and can even help unlock something you might not realize you went through and how much it affected you. Therapy can also help uncover what personality traits are learned coping mechanisms and how to address them. My experiences will be with me for a lifetime and therapy allows for an active healing process. This process isn’t linear or clean-cut, so it’s important to seek help and find motivational propellers in your life. I fully believe in leaning into what makes you happy and brings you joy, then finding how to incorporate that into your life. Mental wellness includes pinpointing self-limiting beliefs that you have and making the conscious choice to reduce those.
I have had a lifetime of facing adversity and overcoming setbacks, but I have found strength in my community, my children, and myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: poderlatinx.org
- Email: michellesanchez404@gmail.com
- Instagram: @amor.radical
