Jose-Andres Alegria The Wise Up Girl program is a coaching program for at-risk High School and College aged girls, providing life skills and relationship education content. Scholarships incentivize the girls to stick with and complete the program. Why? Because we want to invest in new leaders.
Clarybelle Camacho’s Story
Clarybelle Camacho grew up in Logan Square in Chicago. She had always been passionate about fine arts and being someone who is their authentic self. Clarybelle was always attuned to her feelings and the feelings of those around her. But things changed when alcoholism entered her house when she was still young. Her father is an alcoholic, and because of this, she saw things that were hard to understand for a young girl.
After a few years, her parents divorced, leaving her mom as a single mom of four, working and going to school. Because of her mom’s heavy workload, Clarybelle had to grow up fast. She helped around the house. While other kids enjoyed their parents, Clarybelle had to be independent. She had to figure out who she was, why she was here, and why all of these things had happened to her and her family. This independence made her unable to rely on and trust others. At 17, she was a person who didn’t know how to love. She didn’t know how to forgive, and was so exhausted because of it. At this moment, her faith in God showed her a way out of her anger. She saw a road she could take. All Clarybelle needed was to “put some skin in the game.”
Clarybelle’s 3 Lesson’s Learned In Life
- Invest in yourself. Get involved and try new things. Talk to new people, people who don’t look like you, and learn from them. We all come from different backgrounds, but taking the time to invest in yourself and learning from every source possible will set you up for success.
- Lean on people who truly love and support you. We all need a support system. Life would be cold and lonely if we didn’t surround ourselves with love. Learn to love and forgive so you can lean on those who truly want the best for you in life.
- You will never know unless you try. Do the thing you have always wanted to start. You don’t know if it will fail until you try. Failure is not the worst outcome. Never trying and living with the regret of never trying your best will eat away at you. You can always come back from failure.
Key Takeaway
Don’t be hard on yourself. Everything takes time in life. Start your mornings by a window taking in sunlight, and have a moment of gratitude. As you start your day, remember to think of the things that will bring your joy throughout the day. Stop to smell the roses, or whatever your version of roses is. There are small pieces of purpose hidden in your everyday life. Enjoy the ride, and don’t be so hard on yourself. And don’t forget to celebrate the big wins and the small wins. If you believe in yourself and always have faith, you can accomplish anything you set out to do.
For more Wise Up Girl stories read about Martha Razo
