It took me twelve years to land this position because no one else would hire me due to my lack of experience in organizing. In the meantime, I built up a respectable resume working at fine dining restaurants in Miami and Miami Beach. I earned my undergraduate degree in Political Science and did an internship with Public Allies in which I was placed with a Community Justice Project and still, I would have needed someone to give me a chance. I did everything you were supposed to do to move up the ladder with no results. After my internship, I had to go back full-time to the restaurant business for three years, which led to some of the lowest points of my life. I felt lost, I felt like I had no purpose, and I felt like I wasn’t good enough. But then COVID happened, and I decided to give it another shot at getting an organizing job. This time I was successful. That experience in itself has forever humbled me, and I will never take anything for granted. Even though the journey to land this job was harsh, I wouldn’t change anything about that process because it made me who I am today. This job has given me the purpose I was yearning for, for a long time. 

I feel honored to have been Power U’s first Intergenerational Organizer. I spent the last three years and a half talking to almost two hundred teachers about their experiences in Miami Dade Schools. I learned that teachers are at capacity. Older teachers are the ones who have leadership roles in schools, and they are counting down the years to retirement. Younger teachers don’t last because of the harsh conditions created in public schools due to neoliberalism. This all sounds sad but yet despite this reality, I was able to convince our core group of teachers that we can do something about it if we organize. I continuously pointed out the work teachers unions such as UTLA and CTU did to inspire teachers in Miami. We taught teachers the importance of organizing their worksites by building relationships with their co-workers and getting them involved in their union. We took teachers to conferences such as the Labor Notes conference and the UCORE conference. We established a working relationship with our local rank-and-file teachers caucus, MCORE. We even had our first teacher internship.  I feel fortunate to have been able to create something from scratch because it has given me so much confidence to do this kind of work. I felt a bit of guilt for leaving our teachers behind, but I know that I did what I was supposed to by playing a role in their leadership development. That aspect right there is what has allowed me to take the next step and sleep better at night. The work is bigger than myself, and I am confident in the leadership of our teachers. 

As for me, I think the natural progression for my career is to work for a union and, more specifically, a base-building union that puts its members first. I have spent most of my time as an organizer working outside of the union. I would like to know what it feels like to work within a union that is militant and ready to kick ass for the working class. That means that I will most likely be leaving Florida. Although that makes me sad, I am willing to ride the wave I’m on to see where it takes me. Hopefully that wave one day can return me to the sandy beaches of Miami. 

But no matter where I go, Power U will always be my political home. This is the organization that molded me and taught me that base building is how you build real power for working people. It breaks my heart to leave this organization, but I know that it will continue to be just fine without me. Thank you to all the people I worked with, to all the teachers who allowed me to politicize them and get them to believe in themselves and in organizing. 

No matter where I go, I will always continue to swim in the honey……..