Sometimes it’s good to look back and see how far you’ve come.
As a kid, school was always a challenge for me. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Reading had always been difficult and only later would I find out it’s because I have dyslexia, which makes it difficult to read words, letters and symbols. But while my dyslexia made reading difficult, I developed a unique gift. I always had a camera in my hand and I had a passion for capturing beautiful images. I realized my way of seeing things was different and I had developed a creative eye for production and photography. I thought dyslexia was one of my worst traits, but it ended up being the key to my superpower.
The difficulty with school made me question my abilities, but I never questioned what I could do with a camera. I worked hard to make it through school and graduated from college.
Originally from the border town of El Paso along the frontera, I was nervous about moving to Dallas for a corporate job. When I was in my early twenties, I became a wife and mother of two in a new city at a new job with no friends or help around. I needed help! My husband and I decided to invest in live-in help. It’s not an unusual practice in a Mexican household to have live-in help. We were blessed with Fausta. She became part of our familia. I gave her a place to live and she helped us create our home.
At the same time, I was making my way through the corporate world, young, eager and full of ideas. To my surprise, management and my colleagues wanted to hear those ideas, and scheduled a meeting to discuss them for an upcoming marketing campaign. I was terrified, and questioned why these top executives wanted my ideas and whether I was ready to share them.
Meanwhile, back home, having Fausta around was not only helpful, but her spirit and wisdom were always a comforting presence. She was a hard-working, nurturing woman who knew how to cook authentic Mexican food and I would soon find out she had an entrepreneurial spirit as well. There were new houses being built nearby. Fausta saw an easy way to make money: make her delicious, homemade gorditas and sell them to workers who were building those homes. So that’s what we did. Everyday, she’d make gorditas, we’d pack them up and everyday we would sell out. It was one of my first experiences with entrepreneurship. I asked myself, “what would my colleagues say if they knew I was selling gorditas in my spare time?”I had confided in Fausta about my nervousness regarding the upcoming meeting to share my ideas. She gave me a piece of wisdom that continues to guide me to this day. She said, “Margie, if you can talk to God, you can talk to anyone. You’re very creative. Tu lo puedes hacer.”
She was right. As I went to the meeting that I had been dreading, where I lead the conversation and shared my ideas, I pondered the dichotomy of it all. The fact that I was a woman from la frontera, who had trouble learning but excelled behind the camera and at the same time, the fact that I was the brains behind a national marketing campaign for a huge, successful corporation. I looked out to my colleagues as I lead the conversation and smiled to myself, thinking if they only knew I was selling gorditas just before this meeting. It made me realize that both of those things could exist alongside each other. I could be humble, smart and creative in my own way. It also taught me about the power of belief. When someone believes in you and you can believe in yourself, you are unstoppable.
