A true story about the power of friendship in the worst of times and a woman's audacity to follow her dreams against seemingly insurmountable odds.
This is the true story of a fatherless girl from Spanish Harlem who, through sheer will and the audacity to take chances, made it out of the rubble of the slums to the portals of academia and beyond.
Born in Puerto Rico and uprooted to El Barrio in New York at the age of three, Isabel and her siblings were raised by a volatile mother, whose frustrations led to emotional and physical abuse, and their abuela, their only source of maternal nurturance. Without support and guidance in a teeming metropolis where few understood their language and culture, Isabel learned to rely on her own inner strength to eventually reach summits against reason and others' discouragement.
This autobiography is more than a coming-of-age story. It’s about coming into oneself with as much truth and dignity as possible and not shying away from a life that can sometimes throw one for a loop. It’s a story about the power of friendship, love and redemption, about passion and soul and the difference between being alive and truly living.