Cecilia Chavez
Silicon Valley De-Bug
San Jose, CA USA
"My experience speaks louder than anything else you’re going to hear, so I’m going to use my experience to change things. It’s only the people who have been through particular things that are going to be the ones to change it."
Career Roadmap
Cecilia's work combines: Law, Non-Profit Organizations, and Helping People
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Don't pay attention to it and work harder than anyone else.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Criminal Justice/Safety Studies
San Jose State University
Bachelor's Degree
Mexican-American Studies
San Jose State University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
I was born in Mexico, but when I was a young child, my family moved to the U.S. as undocumented immigrants.
2.
As a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) student, I experienced a lot of negativity growing up, but this just made me work harder in school.
3.
My undocumented status and financial situation affected the schools I could apply to, so I only applied to two schools.
4.
After graduating from high school, I used scholarship money to attend San Jose State University as a justice studies major and Mexican-American studies minor.
5.
Once my scholarship money ran out, I couldn’t afford to keep attending SJSU, but I was able to take my last few classes at San Jose City Community College in order to get my bachelor’s degree.
6.
My original goal was to become a police officer and change the law enforcement stigma in my community, but I couldn’t get an internship at a department or a law firm due to my immigration status.
7.
I started volunteering at Silicon Valley De-Bug, a local community advocacy organization that helped me and my family beat my father’s deportation case.
8.
I am now a full-time organizer at Silicon Valley De-Bug, where I work to support families who are facing charges in the criminal, immigration, and justice systems.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
You can't do it.
How I responded:
Don't pay attention to it and work harder than anyone else.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I relied on scholarship money to go to college, but when that ran out, I went to community college to finish. I worked three jobs at a time in order to make enough money to live and leaned on my family for support.
Since I am the first in my family to go to college and my parents didn't speak English, I had to figure out everything on my own. I didn't have anyone that I could turn to for help or guidance.
I was born in Mexico, but my family became undocumented immigrants in the U.S. when I was still very young. I was a DACA student and there was a lot of negativity associated with that. It made me work harder in order to challenge expectations.