My Path to Belonging

I was only seven years old when my parents moved from Colombia to Venezuela.
For me as a child, changing countries is not only changing places — it is changing my voice, my accent, my friends, and my identity.
In both Venezuela and Colombia, people speak Spanish.
It is the same language… but the accent is different.
And very soon, I learned that this small difference could become a very big barrier.

I remember my first day at school.
When I introduced myself, I heard children say:
“She is from Colombia. ”

I felt, not a descriptive word…
for me it was a judgment.
A stigma.
A rejection.
That was my perception and my trauma.

I was bullied because of my accent, my country, for something I could not change.
I did not understand it.
I only wanted to be accepted.
I only wanted to belong.

And so, at seven years old, I learned a hard lesson:
To belong, I had to hide who I was.
I started to change my accent, to erase my origin, to rewrite my identity.
I hid my “Colombian identity” in a deep and silent place, believing that this was the way to be accepted.
And apparently, I succeeded…

Everything stayed hidden deep inside me.
It was a wound that had not healed.

Years later, eight years ago, I immigrated again.
This time, to the United States.

And when I found myself learning a new language from zero…
when the words did not come out…
when my voice sounded “strange”…
when I was afraid to speak because it was not “perfect”…
because I did not speak English…
That childhood trauma, hidden for decades, woke up.

Again, my identity was attacked
Again, belonging felt far away.

As an adult, I took responsibility for myself.

I decided to heal.
I decided to speak English even if it does not sound perfect.
I decided to take back my voice, with a Colombian, Venezuelan, American accent, or whatever it sounds like, because my voice belongs to me.

After a lot of inner work and healing myself—and I am still healing—I have to say that Treetops Collective helped me.

I found
A safe space.
A space without judgment.
A space where my imperfect English does not define my value.
A space where I can speak, make mistakes, laugh, express myself…
and still feel that I belong.

Here, I have been able to rebuild my identity.
Here, I learned that authenticity does not require hiding.

And that is why my mission today, as a community leader, has a deep purpose:
To walk with every immigrant woman and help her discover that she also deserves to belong.
That she does not need to hide her accent, her story, or her identity.
That her voice is valuable, even if it shakes.
That her story matters, even if it hurts.
That here, she is not alone.

My trauma helped me discover a bigger purpose in this stage of my life:
To walk beside every woman who, like me, has had to rebuild herself in a new country.
To help her find her voice.
To reconnect with her identity.
To embrace her story.
To feel at home, first in her own heart… and then in her new community.

Because if there is one thing I have learned on this journey, it is this:
Belonging is not something to found.
Belonging is something to built.
And it needs to built from the inside out.

You belong here.
We all belong here.