When I look back at my childhood, the first thing that comes to mind is how often my weight was pointed out to me.
My mom would regularly call it out. Sometimes it was subtle, sometimes it was direct. She would point out that I was getting fatter or chunkier. Sometimes she tried to soften the impact by being playful or cutesy about it, but it still made me very aware of my body.
I remember noticing my own weight gain sometimes, and while I wasn't proud of it, it didn't necessarily bother me until it was pointed out to me. When it was pointed out, it made me feel ashamed.
I was in sports the entire time growing up, so I was trying, but whenever it was brought up it made me feel like I wasn't good enough for her. It felt like I needed to stay below a certain weight so that it wouldn't be pointed out, and then I would feel accepted or loved.
Later on, when I moved to the United States from Costa Rica, things became even more difficult. I experienced a lot of bullying and isolation because I couldn't speak English very well at all. I was the new kid, I was overweight, and I was an easy target.
The people I couldn't communicate with in English didn't really notice me at all. The ones I could communicate with spoke Spanish, but Spanish in Costa Rica has a slightly different dialect than other nearby countries. So even the way I spoke Spanish became another reason for people to pick on me.
So the people I could communicate with would make fun of my accent and my weight. It was a very lonely time because of that. At first, it had a very negative impact on my childhood. Moving to a new country, being isolated, and being bullied because of my weight and language differences was very difficult.
But interestingly enough, that experience also led me to eventually do something about it. My parents were always supportive. Even though they may have made remarks or handled things imperfectly, their intentions were always good and they always supported me. When I told them I wanted to start martial arts, they supported that one hundred percent.
That moment right there shaped the next seven years of my life in ways I can't even imagine. Through martial arts I lost weight, gained a lot of self-confidence, and learned more about myself. So although my childhood initially had a negative impact because of bullying and isolation, it ultimately led me to discovering what was really inside of me.
When I think about the real root cause of the excess weight in my childhood, knowing what I know now, I believe ADHD played a huge role. The compulsivity and dopamine deficiency that come with ADHD definitely contributed. But going through what I went through as a child, emotional distress was also a huge factor.
Food became a very reliable source of comfort for me.
When I was stressed, lonely, or dealing with emotional pain, food was something that felt safe and comforting. Looking back now, I can clearly see that ADHD combined with emotional distress and trauma created the conditions for those eating patterns.
My struggles with food and weight affected my childhood through the bullying and isolation I mentioned earlier. But it also pushed me toward martial arts and toward discovering discipline, resilience, and self-confidence.
Into adulthood, the emotional side became more obvious. It wasn't until my early twenties that I really began seeking help for the trauma I had experienced and learning how to manage my emotions. When I went through stressful periods or depressive episodes, food would often become my coping mechanism again.
For example, I could easily eat an entire pint of ice cream because at that moment it made me feel happy and comfortable.
That created cycles where my weight would fluctuate along with my emotional state. I would yo-yo with my weight and physique, and my emotions would follow those cycles. So my relationship with food definitely carried into adulthood and became one of the things I had to actively work on as I learned to understand my emotions instead of escaping them through food.
Why I Joined Step Together
Whenever I join a team, the most important thing to me is the mission.
When I first learned about Step Together and saw the philosophy behind it and the mission to help families and children struggling with these issues, it resonated with me immediately.
Everything I have done since going to college and becoming independent has been centered around helping the younger version of myself. When I saw Step Together, I realized that this program is about helping kids who are going through the same struggles that I went through.
I didn't make it through those struggles by myself. I had coaches and mentors along the way who helped guide me. I am a strong believer in passing that forward. Being part of Step Together is my way of doing exactly that.
Helping families and children matters to me personally because growing up, it would have been incredibly helpful to have a coach who understood everything I was dealing with. Someone who understood ADHD, emotional regulation, weight struggles, and the psychological side of it all.
My coaches growing up were athletic coaches, and they helped me in many ways, but they didn't necessarily understand the emotional and psychological components behind everything.
It also would have helped my parents. I could see how hard they were trying. Their intentions were always good. They were doing their best with the information they had.
But the truth is you can't act on information you don't have.
Now I have the opportunity to help families who are going through the same struggles that my family and I went through, and that means a lot to me.
What makes this program different is the level of understanding. It's one thing to read about these problems and understand them academically. It's another thing entirely to have lived through them.
Experience is the best teacher. The Step Together team combines lived experience, knowledge, and a very comprehensive program. The program is thorough, and it is led by people who genuinely understand what these families are going through because they have experienced similar challenges themselves.
That combination of lived experience, knowledge, and genuine care is what makes this program different.
How I'm Uniquely Positioned to Help
When I look at my life now, it feels like everything has come full circle. My childhood struggles shaped me. My early adulthood was spent learning from those struggles. And my professional life has been dedicated to helping people who are going through similar challenges.
Even when I was a kid, I always felt a desire to help others. One of my earliest birthday wishes was that I could take everyone's pain away. Helping others has always felt natural to me.
In high school I started the first fitness club at my school, Panther Fit. We would meet after school to talk about exercise, nutrition, and recovery, then go outside and do group workouts together. That was the first time I really started coaching others.
I later went to college to study Exercise and Sports Science because I wanted to learn more about the human body and human performance. I initially wanted to become a physical therapist, but I realized the clinical environment wasn't the right fit for me. Instead, I became deeply interested in performance and how the body adapts.
I had the opportunity to intern with the Texas State University strength and conditioning program, where I helped coach Division 1 athletes. My background in athletics includes swimming, track, wrestling, martial arts, Olympic weightlifting, jiu jitsu, judo, and Muay Thai kickboxing. By the end of my martial arts training, I was even preparing for cage fighting.
I also joined the Air National Guard while in college. During basic training, I was selected as one of the physical training leaders for my unit and helped other airmen prepare for and pass their fitness tests.
After leaving the military, my focus shifted more toward psychology and mental health. I went through significant personal challenges and began attending therapy regularly. Through that process, I started learning more about my own mental health and how my life experiences had shaped it. That experience sparked a deep interest in psychology, and I decided to delay graduating with my exercise science degree so I could complete a second degree in psychology.
After graduating, my first major professional role was as a program director for a nonprofit focused on helping veterans and individuals dealing with substance abuse and mental health challenges. We used fitness and community as tools for recovery, offering peer support groups, group fitness classes, coaching, and mental health resources.
I later worked for another nonprofit supporting survivors of trauma, including refugees, asylum seekers, and human trafficking survivors. As the wellness program manager, I created health and fitness programs designed to help survivors heal both physically and mentally.
All of those experiences together are what position me to help children and families so they don't have to go through the same pain that I did.
What I Want Every Parent to Hear
Lead by example and listen to understand, not to judge.
My parents did a decent job leading by example when it came to fitness because that was something they understood well. But when it came to emotional understanding, they didn't have the tools themselves. They grew up in environments where emotions weren't something people openly explored or talked about.
What I wish had happened differently is that instead of pointing out my weight or criticizing my struggles, they had simply listened to me. I wish they had asked questions and tried to understand what I was experiencing instead of making me feel like something was wrong with me.
Children look to their parents for everything. Parents are incredibly important in shaping how their children view themselves.
Pain will always exist in life. That's unavoidable. But parents shouldn't become an additional source of that pain. Instead, they should help their children move through it, understand themselves, and learn how to navigate their emotions.
If there is one thing I would want every parent to remember, it's this:
Lead by example, and listen to understand your child rather than judging them.
