Meet Maria Elena Paredes of Chica Project in Downtown Boston

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Elena Paredes.

Maria Elena, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My story must begin with my mother, the moment that she decided to have a child. She was so committed that she decided to do so without a man and without the support of her parents. Once she announced that she was pregnant as a safe-haven she moved with her sister to New York City and spent her last six months of pregnancy there. When I was born, her parents welcomed her back to Mexico, where the beginning of my story takes place. That is the short version of why I was born in the US.

As an only child, I grew up rather quickly as I was surrounded by adults most of the time, which strongly affected my personality to be associated with maturity. Education has always been something important to my family and me. Which is why they always supported me through private education. Back home in Guadalajara, getting a private education is the best one can get, and it happens to be the equivalent of a public education in some states here in the US. That is one of the reasons that pushed me to aspire for more. Ever since I remember, I would always say that I wanted to pursue a college degree in the US. I was that determined, that when I was a senior in High School I only applied to colleges in the US, not even one in Mexico.

I was determined to move to the US since the mentality of people who live here match my own a lot more than the ones I was exposed to when I was growing up. I have simply thought that my way of thinking was more progressive, and my yearly visits to my aunt who used to live in Manhattan, NYC was my constant proof. The amount of diversity, forward-thinking and hustling that I would notice, became a huge motivator for me to move.

Through an AP Psychology class is how I learned that I should pursue a Psychology degree because it happened to match my perspective of the world. People close to me would describe me as a person who thinks in a process-oriented manner, observes and loves to give advice. Most of those characteristics are helpful for those who go along that career path. And so, I was determined to move to the US, pursue my BS in Psychology and eventually my Ph.D. When I heard back from my college acceptances and compared it with my Financial Award Letter, my mom and I agreed that Suffolk University was the best choice. Regardless of wanting to move to NYC, I took a leap of faith and moved to Boston.

My four years at Suffolk were challenging academically wise but above all, they were emotionally challenging because I was alone in this country. Eventually, my aunt in NYC moved back to Guadalajara, Mexico, and so I created my own support system since day one. Through a group of friends from across the world, we became our everything our families couldn’t support us physically.

My senior year, I needed to fulfill an internship requirement and so I spoke to a Sociology professor, who had shared in class that she knew of internship opportunities. Once I spoke to Carmen Veloria, she connected me with Chica Project (CP), of which she is still currently part of their Advisory Board. I didn’t know it yet, but I was about to embark on a three-year journey in which I would discover my life purpose and find a second home. To schedule an interview for my internship, I called the organization’s number and the person who answered was Nurys Camargo, their volunteer Executive Director at the time. We met in person and she hired me on the spot, and I became their “College Access Liaison”, with the main responsibility of creating a manual to aid mentors when they spoke with the youth of the program. It only took a couple of weeks into the internship for me to be able to experience their mission in person, empowering young women with the skills and self-confidence to become whomever they want.

When I graduated in 2016, I knew my time with Chica Project was not over, and so I said yes when Wanny Munoz encouraged me to take over her position. For the next two years, I proudly took the title of “Highland Street AmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring” and decided to serve the young women Chica Project empowers. When I started I was nervous, I knew nothing about non-profits, had no experience facilitating programming and had limited knowledge about group-mentoring; but through the support of Nurys who soon became my mentor and of my AmeriCorps cohort, I confidently finished my service year as the only full-time person for the organization. I became in love with my responsibilities of the programming and mentoring chapter that I agreed to serve a second year and even applied for a promotion with the Mass Mentoring Partnership as a “Father Monan Fellow”. Due to the capacity building that Wanny and I have impacted on the organization, an Interim Executive Director was hired last fall. Slowly this organization has expanded from a community-based model into the school-based too.

Through CP, I learned about UWander, a service-learning project that takes place in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. For 10 months, I was a member of a cohort of 8 that prepared for this week-long experience. After facilitating programming with the purpose to empower youth for almost two years, I felt privileged to be given this opportunity to continue empowering youth in my native tongue, Spanish. I took an even bigger challenge by facilitating programming with boys for the first time. I had no idea what to expect, but with the help of our leader, Wanny Munoz and the support of my cohort it was an unforgettable experience. I’m proud to say that I shall be returning in April of 2019, to continue what I started, being a vessel and help the youth discover who they are.

Through these experiences, I have learned that my passion is working with youth. When I was invited and attended five High School graduations knowing that I made a small contribution to those accomplishments, I knew that my life is going to be dedicated to elevating the platform for youth through programming. And so, it’s fair to say that I will no longer be pursuing my Ph.D. but instead continue to gain experience with youth to eventually one day be able to be a consultant for youth programming organizations.

My service year is coming to an end, and I made the decision to support Chica Project through a behind of the scenes volunteer role, so the real question was “What is next?” I knew I had the skills to run a non-profit, facilitate programming and confidently interact with youth. And so, through the guidance of my families (blood, friendship-based and Chica Project) I have started my next chapter as an Education Advisor at Mario Umana Academy through American Student Assistance. In this new role, I can support the administration, the teaching staff and most importantly the youth through early college awareness programming.

Has it been a smooth road?
Absolutely not, anyone who has really lived has not had a smooth road.

In my case, it mostly must do with my own self-esteem. I must admit that until my last years of college it is when my self-esteem dramatically increased to the point that I could feel confident about my abilities and physical appearance.

Growing up, I would constantly compare myself to others and think that I wasn’t good enough, therefore I would throw myself into the one thing I thought I was only good at, school. My school was my number one priority, I truly cared about it, so much that I would be very excited about having homework assignments and projects. I viewed these as a chance to prove my worth, and I think that is where my sense of perfectionism was born. Up until when I was 10 years old, I suffered from perfectionism badly, to the point that it would worry my mom; but slowly together and through the support of my family and therapy I was able to let it go. Now I view myself as a very detailed oriented and organized person.

College to me was my chance to discover myself, and through new challenges I had to face and new friendships, my sense of confidence increased. The more I would push myself out of my comfort zone, the more I felt that I was getting to know my true self, and I really enjoyed that. My experiences have allowed me to be where I am today, but most importantly have allowed me to be who I am today.

I like to describe myself as a strong and confident Latina woman. That statement has taken me a long way to feel comfortable saying so, and I am proud of the journey I went through to get there.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
My role for the last two years has been as a Highland Street AmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring for Chica Project (CP). In a nutshell, I’ve been responsible for managing the programming and mentoring for the organization. It’s been an amazing experience, to see how those two components of this organization complement each other and depend upon one another.

This organization (in my own words) is unique because the goal is to empower young women through self-identity discovery, life and professional skills, and an action-service project. It also happens in a group mentoring setting; every single workshop is unique because of who is present. When I recruit mentors, I keep in mind the workshops ahead and how the attendance will affect the workshop. CP has been very successful at hiring and recruiting mentors who can easily relate with the participants not because of the accomplishments in their resume but because of their life experience and being willing to share.

I’d have to say that what I am most proud of CP, is that they are all about intergenerational leadership. Yes, at their core they are serving young women, but they are impacting the lives of anyone who wants to be part of this movement. I have learned and put into practice all the goals they are expecting the youth to achieve. I am forever thankful, that I was introduced to this organization and that they’ve allowed me to grow into who I am today.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Boston is a great place for the organizations I am part of to be located at. I strongly believe the sense of community and support is very strong, and it encourages for new business and non-profits to start. People who live have a mentality of persistence and wanting to better, I find this city to be a place of opportunity. I do think it might be hard to find the right opportunity for you, but through networking and asking questions, a lot can be done. Boston has been nothing but welcoming, and allowed me to grow personally and professionally.

Contact Info:

• Address: 9A Hamilton Place, Boston MA 02128
• Website: www.chicaproject.org
• Phone: 857-209-4401
• Email: info@chicaproject.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/chica_project
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectChica/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chica_Project

Image Credit:
Chica Project
UWander

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