This week’s guest is Maritza Perez from MP Virtual Assistant. She runs a VA company, but before she started her business, she worked at Disney for about ten years. Maritza was born and raised in Colombia, and she came to the US when her dad’s business partner made a business proposal for him. Her older sister was already living in the US.
Shortly after moving to the US, they discovered that her father had stomach cancer. Read more about Martiza’s story as she shares about growing up in a strict Catholic family, moving to Alabama as an adult, and how she started her business!
Maritza’s episode is an example of how technology doesn’t always work when it comes to podcasting because she was the first in-person guest I recorded. When I went to edit the episode, I realized that the file transfer had been corrupted because, after nine minutes, the sound was in slow motion. If I sped up the audio, we would sound normal but with chipmunk voices. I’m so thankful that Maritza was willing to re-record the episode – this time virtually – and it came out great!
Let’s get into Maritza’s story of living in the land of dreams!
Growing up Catholic
As stated above, Maritza was born to a strict Catholic family in Bogota, Colombia. Her mother stopped working to care for her and her siblings. Maritza went to Catholic school and eventually to a Catholic university. Regardless of being strict and religious, she says her family was full of love! They used to go to farms and get fresh fruit, veggies, and juice on the weekends. The town where Maritza’s father was from was the town of Coffee Maker.
Moving to The Land of Dreams
Maritza’s sister had already moved to the United States when she and her parents made the move. So, her father had a business, and one of the clients proposed doing business in the US.
However, shortly after moving, he got a stomach ache – an unbearable pain. They took him to the hospital and found out he had stomach cancer. So there was a lot of back and forth, but eventually, he decided to go back to Colombia. All his doctors were already established there, but Maritza stayed in the US.
Early in the move, someone helped Maritza with her transition and gave her solid advice. He said, “Don’t stay where you are; move up, don’t forget that you have a degree, and don’t forget who you are, so pursue your dreams. You are in the land of dreams.”
Maritza had many jobs in the US; she started babysitting because she wanted to perfect her English and felt that it was easier with children because they didn’t judge and helped.
Starting Her VA Business
Before starting her own business, Maritza worked in construction, project management, as a secretary, and then as an administrative assistant. She then got a part-time job at Disney as a merchandise hostess. Maritza told herself that within a year, she would have an office job, and she got promoted within nine months.
Once the pandemic hit, she realized this wasn’t how she wanted to end her career, so she decided to open her own business. At first, it was to be another income stream, but it’s become her primary source of income.
Maritza’s business is virtual assistants who help book guests for podcasts. She works with established speakers, authors, and coaches. Check out more information on her website. And if you’re interested in contacting her, you can email her at MP-VirtualAssist@outlook.com
Watch Now – Living in The Land of Dreams
Listen to Maritza’s story about living in the land of dreams on The American Dream in The Eyes of Immigrants Podcast.
With Love, Heidy
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