From Lejanías, Meta,
to the world.

I didn't grow up in a perfect family.

I grew up in a family that did the best it could to survive.

I learned to solve problems from a young age.

To adapt. To build opportunities even in the midst of chaos.

I was born in Lejanías, Meta — a land of infinite savannas, horses, mountains, and open horizons that you never really leave behind. Proudly lejaniense.

When I was small, guerrillas killed my father there, on our land.

I never got to really know him, but I grew up understanding something important: everything he did was aimed at building a better future for us. Many of my decisions come from that absence. Every achievement of mine also carries his memory.

After my father's death, my mother was left alone with several children in the midst of fear, poverty, and uncertainty.

In school I did work for other students to be able to buy food, pay for buses, and help my siblings. It wasn't malice. It was survival with ingenuity.

I worked since age 15 while studying. I entered SENA in Bogotá, where I studied Environmental Management and found a sponsoring company that saw something in me: ability to innovate, solve problems, and learn fast.

Thanks to that sponsorship I studied Chemical Engineering at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, becoming part of the first university generation in my family.

She gave me my first opportunity: an interview as an environmental intern where she saw in me what others didn’t. She let me grow, learn through projects, and change the way I think as a professional; she taught me there were no limits, always trusted me with more than she had to, and let me take my first steps in leadership. She showed me that being a woman who leads is never easy — but it is always possible.

She knew who I was, and I wasn’t perfect: she forgave my rebellious teenage years, and she stood by me when I became pregnant — studying and working at the same time, not knowing which way to go. She understood. She was, in essence, a mother to me.

Those were nine beautiful years at that company, and I carry everyone who supported me — even in my hardest moments — inside my heart.

A chemical engineer with an impeccable career. Wherever she is, I hope she feels proud of the mark she left on me. We never got to say goodbye — but the doors of my life and my family will always be open to her. Thank you, especially you, Yolanda.

When I arrived in the United States, I had to start completely from scratch. I worked cleaning houses. Then cooking. I did what I had to do to survive with dignity.

And I never felt ashamed of that. Because I understood that rebuilding is also a form of courage — and that every honest job teaches you something no degree ever can.

Growth didn't arrive all at once: it came in early mornings of study and in small decisions nobody saw. I began my Master's in Mechanical Engineering at St. Thomas University, in a language I was still conquering. I became a mother — and understood I was no longer building just for myself. In 2023 I officially opened León & Asociados LLC, and in 2024 we turned the key to our own home.

Today I am Shipping and Staging leader at Crystal D — the company that opened its doors and let me show what I know how to do: innovate, improve processes, read the data, automate. There I confirmed something I now tell every client: trust isn't requested — it's built with results.

My English hasn't always been perfect. Even so, I have been recognized multiple times for my innovation and leadership. Not despite the accent: with the accent on.

I dedicate every step, every victory, every person I've helped to my inner child.

To that girl who always knew that studying was the way. Who never — ever — set limits on herself. Who didn't let herself be defeated when she was mocked: for her accent, for being a woman in science, for being surrounded by such a complex world that thrives on connections.

With nothing else, she did it. And she will.