Anyone who has ever been in the process of completing a
dissertation knows what a lonely and frustrating process it is. I started this
blog to not only share my journey while in the midst of it, but also to create
a supportive community of Latinas who are in the same struggle.
There are other websites that provide
support and resources to doctoral students, but I believe Latinas have a unique
set of circumstances that cause an extra layer of doubt and what many studies
have uncovered as the “imposter syndrome.”
I hope to list those resources and share them anyway because they do
have lots of valuable information about the process, the mindset and the tools
needed to get through to completion. Whether
we have always been encouraged to pursue advanced degrees…or not, we still might
share some common feelings of inadequacy, low expectations from society as a
whole and lack of self confidence. I am
finally willing to share some of these publicly – actually, some of the public sharing
began thanks to Dr. Angelica Perez-Litwin, founder of both the www.newlatina.net website and the Ella
Leadership Institute, when I wrote a hopeful reflection piece for the website a few months ago. Here is the link in case you’re curious: http://newlatina.net/entitlement-is-not-a-dirty-word-a-reflection-on-the-pursuit-of-a-life-well-earned/
Every week I will share resources and words of
encouragement. I hope to just “be here” for any Latina
feeling lonely in the doctoral process. I will also ask for words of comfort and support to help motivate me to do something every day to meet this goal. I want every Latina to know that she is not SOLA!
So join me in this journey, whether you are currently
working on your dissertation or even considering starting a doctoral program and
hopefully while completing this goal myself, we can encourage more and more of
us WISE LATINAS to do the same.
Okay hermanas, let’s do this!!!
