Author: StorytellingconMarissa
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365 Days and no regrets later
A year ago I left behind everything I worked so hard to build. A 6-figure salary. A loving community. A stellar professional reputation. The apartment I’d made a home. The independence. The ‘Rich Tia’ status. That one might hurt the most. Not because of the money. Because the money opened opportunities to share some of…
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Why I’ve been MIA…
First Gen Latina Sabbatical Travels #4.5 This blog/substack started as a space to develop my writing voice and dabble in topics that matter to me personally without waiting for approval. Or being afraid to make mistakes. I want it to stay that way. But I haven’t posted the final installment of my First Gen Latina…
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Mexico City, mi amor
The first time I visited la Ciudad de México, I was nervous. It was July 2017 and all the news reports and state department advisories stressed extreme caution when traveling to México – of course I worried. It’s a poorly kept secret that drug cartels run big chunks of the country and political corruption has…
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Peru: The spiritual journey and gastronomic experience
Lima, Cusco, Mexico City, and Oaxaca, in that order. I wish I could tell you I made these travel decisions practically. That I followed a set of rules and did some kind of process of elimination to land on the right thing. But the truth is I didn’t. I made every decision based on instinct…
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Setting the stage for an Intentional Sabbatical
A Sabbatical is something you do with intention. After making the decision to take time off from work, there were a lot of choices I needed to make about what that would look like, but before I could structure it logistically, I had to get clear on a few things. First, why was this the right…
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That One Time a First Gen Latina Took a Sabbatical
In 2025, I went on Sabbatical. This isn’t a traditional “Sabbatical”. I don’t have a job to go back to and my employer is not funding any portion of this because… I’m not going back to work for them. In many white-collar professions, particularly academic ones, there are provisions built into your contract that permit…
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The Power of the Specific Story: Benito’s Super Bowl Moment
As soon as Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio walked onto the field last night with the name Ocasio splattered across the back of his jersey, I knew this was going to be deep and demanded my full focus. Ocasio is a choice. In most Latino traditions, the second last name refers to the maternal parent and…
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Pushing Through the Heavy to Experience Joy: Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama
Pushing Through the Heavy to Experience Joy: Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama My arrival to Panama City was heavy. I only booked a short stay (2 full days) in the city before flying back to the states to face reality, so I’m supposed to be enjoying its beauty and its culture and its people as…
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