local storiesNovember 4, 2025

Meet Alejandra of Los Angeles

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alejandra.

Hi Alejandra, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
As a first-generation Chicana and daughter of immigrants from Chihuahua, Mexico (Ajúa!), I grew up in East LA surrounded by extended family and a church community. I knew by sixth grade that I wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know any writers personally and I felt the pressure to pursue a career with financial stability.

I became a school social worker (MSW from UC Berkeley in 1996), and then in my forties, a social work researcher (PhD from UCLA in 2015) to understand the “why” behind pain and the “how” of transformation.

Over time, I learned that true healing takes everything — evidence-based tools and ancestral wisdom, science and spirit, and core beliefs based in secure attachment. That understanding led me to write Stones, Flowers, and Lessons Learned, a book that blends personal storytelling, cultural wisdom, and reflective practices to help readers connect with their purpose and heal from within.

I recently heard a writer interviewed on the radio. She said she’d lived a lonely life as a writer. Now she volunteers in the community for connection. It hit me that my career in social work taught me so much, gave me community and something to say. All in divine timing.

Today, I am semi-retired (with pensions from Los Angeles Unified School District and California State University, Northridge) and continue the work through therapy, speaking, and writing. My mission is to help women of color reconnect with their worth, power, roots, and heart’s desires. My hope is we all remember that healing is about coming home to ourselves.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Smooth? Jajaja! I had a reader (a Santera named Sara) who said, “has tenido una vida dificil, es como limpia espiritual para ti.” (you’ve had many difficulties in your life, they have acted as a spiritual clearing/cleansing for you.)

After I was accepted to UCLA’s PhD program, the final deadline to submit my intent to register was April 15, and on that morning, I sat at my desk, staring at my computer screen. My employer had already denied my request for a part-time leave to balance work and school. I felt unsure of what to do. I asked myself, Does this mean I don’t go? Or does this mean I trust God, my Creator, the Universe to figure out how I’m going to do this? In that moment of uncertainty, the still small voice inside me whispered, Vámonos. We’re going. The voice felt enthusiastic and certain, cutting through my doubt and fear. My soul seemed to leap out of my body, shouting, Heck yes, I’m going! With excitement and shaky hands, I clicked “submit” and watched as the confirmation screen appeared. A surge of joy and hope filled me, even though I had no idea how it would all work out.

Not even two hours later, my phone rang. It was a department leader calling to tell me my part-time leave had been approved after all. I burst into tears and laughter. Overwhelmed with gratitude, I whispered, “Thank you, Yesus!”
At that moment, I felt the wisdom of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. come alive:“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Taking that leap of faith without a visible net beneath me marked the beginning of a journey that stretched me, challenged me, and ultimately transformed my life. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth every step.

While pursuing a PhD, I filed for divorce. A challenging experience that, according to research, is not uncommon among women in graduate programs. Divorce can be a dark time. Have you seen the film Beloved, based on Toni Morrison’s book? There’s a scene in which thirty Black women sing and pray to a grieving mother to encourage her to come out of her house. I thought, I need thirty women to sing and pray for me. So, I grabbed my phone, scrolled through my contacts, and texted every spiritual woman I knew. Anyone who I believed would understand this petición: ‘Going through a dark and difficult time, please pray for me.’ Thank you, Yesus—I’m still here and living my life like it’s golden.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve waited my whole life to be called a writer. I write stories from my personal and professional experiences as a Chicana – a daughter, a mother, a social worker, and university professor.

Now I’m semi-retired, so I have time and energy and a room of my own to reflect and research what I want to share with the next generation (and my peers too!). It’s a sense of freedom and excitement that brings me to the page.

I have so many stories! I have delivered so many lectures (over 20 years of teaching)! I still conduct research. I integrate my head and my heart, my left and right brain, data and stories. All of it.

I see myself as spiritual, creative, authentic, logical, and visionary (my daughter agrees and she’s a tough critic). Both my mother and my daughter had/have a wicked sense of humor. When I can make them laugh, I feel accomplished.

My research interests and writing passions include children, youth, and family attachment and resilience, parenting, cultural traditions for wellbeing, mentoring the next generation of people of color, and making healing and fulfilling our heart’s desires simple and accessible to all.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Lots of memories, thankfully. One of my favorites is from the summers we spent visiting family friends in Teocaltiche, Jalisco, with my mom and sister — swimming in the river, (stealing and) eating fresh carrots from a neighbor’s farm, going to the center of town to watch movies and stroll around the zócalo while boys tossed flowers at my older sister. I’d buy candy on credit at the corner store, and my mom would settle the bill at the end of the summer, just before we drove away.

I remember eating pomegranate seeds on the sidewalk while playing Lotería, savoring the most delicious bean-and-cheese tortas for lunch, and watching Zenaida, the family matriarch, make corn tortillas from scratch. I rode a horse there when I was five — and nearly fell off when he decided to chase the faster horses galloping by. Every summer, I’d get sick on the drive home — a mix of carsickness and Montezuma’s revenge — throwing up while my mom handed me a cold 7-Up. Thankfully, it was always only at the end of our adventure.

Pricing:

Stones, Flowers, and Lessons Learned, paperback including workbook – $25
Individual therapy – $250/session or insurance
Consultant (program evaluation) – $300/hour
Keynote speaker – $1,000-$5,000 (depending on length and topic)

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural and Bookstore for flyer only. The rest are mine.

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