Fulfilling My Dreams
If there was ever a perfect storm for a
life poised for hardship and steeped
with trauma, it was the childhood I
lived through.
I was born to a single mother battling
drug addiction and mental illness, whose
abandonment of her children was
About the Author
heartbreakingly a regular occurrence. I lived in abusive
and poverty-stricken homes for most of my early
childhood years; if not for the intervention of my
grandmother, I would have ended up in the foster care
system. As a teenager I desperately searched for a
sense of self-worth in all the wrong places. These are
the elements that produce a vicious cycle of chronic
adversity, generation after generation. And I was well on
my way to perpetuating that cycle by age 17 – as a
high school dropout and welfare-dependent teen
mother with a prison-bound drug dealer boyfriend.
Fortunately, however, I was able to break the cycle
instead of allowing the cycle to break me.
Using a combination of grit and faith - and by
recognizing the right opportunities and the right
people to guide me - I took control of my future and put
myself on the path to success. This led to me entering
a welfare-to-work program for the late Governor
Ann Richards in the Texas state government and
eventually climbing the political ladder with President
George W. Bush, working alongside him at the White
House. Now, as an entrepreneur and the CEO of my
own thriving business as well as an organization to help
disadvantaged youth, I can look back on that path and
take pride in my strong work ethic and determination
to fulfill my dreams.
Of course, the path wasn’t always clear to me,
and was far from easy, but I learned any challenge or
failure I encountered could either be seen as a
roadblock to prevent me from reaching my goals, or
as a bump in the road to overcome. I chose – and still
choose – to see the latter.
By Rebecca Contreras
My book, Lost Girl, is the story of my path. I wrote
it to show how hope can still be found in even the most
seemingly hopeless situations. No one expected this
Texas border town girl living in destitution and neglect
to grow up to become a self-made millionaire.
However, I didn’t do it alone, and no one should be
expected to. My resolution is what helped me get back
up when I fell (or when I was pushed down), and I took
a helping hand when offered. I am now in a position to
offer a helping hand, and my hope is that my journey
can be an inspiration to others.
LS
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Rebecca Contreras is the President & CEO of AvantGarde LLC, a minority-and woman-owned consulting firm she co-founded in May 2011.
AvantGarde offers a “one-stop-shop” approach to addressing complex organizational, people, and technology needs. She has dedicated her
entire career to the people business, serving in executive leadership roles driving large-scale people and organizational change initiatives. She
spent 12 years serving under the leadership of Texas Governor - and then-President George W Bush. She has also received several awards and
recognitions, including most recently the Silver American Business Award for Minority Business of the year (2021), “Women in Enterprise”
(Women Enterprising Magazine, 2020), “Women 2 Watch for 2020” (Women President’s Organization), Texas “Women Profiles in Power”
(Austin Business Journal, 2017), and the “Latina Entrepreneurial Excellence Award” (2017). To learn more about her recently authored book
Lost Girl, visit www.rebeccacontreras.com.
42 www.latinastyle.com LATINAStyle V ol. 27, No. 5 , 2021
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