Before nursing, before corporate healthcare, I had to survive

Most of what I share here is about career pivots and money. This story is about the pivots that came before any of that.

From the age of seven to twelve, I was sexually abused. I didn’t have words for it then. For years I carried it in ways I didn’t understand, and it followed me into my teenage years. It showed up in my choices and my relationships long before I knew they were connected.

At fifteen and a half, I got pregnant. By sixteen, I had a baby. I was sent away to a convent home for girls like me, girls who had become pregnant outside of marriage and were treated as the black sheep of their families. What I endured there was hard in ways I still carry, but it also taught me resilience, hope, and endurance in the face of hardship.

My son was given up for adoption. It was not my choice, and to this day I wonder what became of him.

If you want the fuller story, I’ve shared it in my 40-day series, “Inside My Brain,” Parts 1–12.

At seventeen, I moved to the United States and started over. Once again I had no roadmap, just a new country and a lot to learn as I went. I chose nursing because my father told me to. It was less a suggestion than an ultimatum.

If you had told that girl she would one day earn a doctorate, teach as an Ivy League professor, build a career across nursing roles, and become a corporate leader, she wouldn’t have believed you. No one around me was drawing that map. I moved forward with conviction and learned along the way.

What it gave me: Long before I learned anything about résumés, certifications, or investing, I learned how to rebuild with very little. I survived the convent at an age when many girls in my situation didn’t come out whole. I came out, finished high school, and lived through the rumors, the black-sheep label, and the scarlet letter. Years later, moving from home care nursing to hospital nursing showed me how much more I could build from a nursing career. Every pivot since, from the bedside to pharma and from no financial plan to a real one, has drawn on that same muscle.

Why I share it: This isn’t the headline of my story, but it’s the foundation. I share it because many nurses and healthcare professionals, especially immigrants, first-generation professionals, and women who started over young, carry something underneath their career questions. If that’s you, where you started does not set your ceiling.