A Tenured Knowledge Seeker®️ is a dream come true for me! Tutoring and offering academic support came very naturally to me. I was an excellent student, and my classmates would ask me to help them. I soon realized it was very effective and loved how it made me feel. It started with classmates but soon reached family members and the children of some of my mother’s coworkers. I learned so much from each of them. I left high school with a Medal of Excellence and two other awards for companionship and solidarity.

From then on, my path became deeply associated with being one of my grandparents’ primary caretakers (which I still am today to my grandma) and also being able to finish my degree in Tourism Information. I worked in that field for the first few years of my career. I say this because I didn’t see what I was doing before as work (even though it was). 

It took reaching a state of burnout to find the courage to finally take action (regardless of other people’s opinions or expectations) on something that I really wanted. I didn’t have enough confidence in myself to believe I was capable. However, I found that continuing to follow a path that didn’t feel like mine was no longer an option and I was sure (which I rarely was) that this was the right decision.  

When I decided to let my creativity and vision take the reins, I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. But I embraced the discomfort, and it helped me figure out what worked and what didn’t work for me and the people I wanted to help.

As I look back on my journey today, I find it surprising that the same Diana who always said she absolutely did not want to be a (tour) guide became a different type of guide: someone who supports others in their learning journeys, helping them achieve their aspirations and embrace their own unique paths.

I am honestly grateful to myself for being brave enough (even though I was utterly terrified) to embark on an unknown path since that was the most effective way to find and build mine.