The Emerald Newsletter | Kappa Delta Chi Sorority Fall 2016 | Page 13

Pi Sister Featured Women in Business: Anali Martinez

Photo by lelilah

By KDChi VP of Public Affairs, Gina Garcia

It was April 18, 2009, the afternoon of the induction of Kappa Delta Chi’s Alpha Sigma Chapter in sunny Miami, Florida. The parents and families of the young ladies eager to join the KDChi family were gathered in the living room because they insisted upon knowing more about our sisterhood, a sorority, something that not many families of culture are exposed to. The national officers took turns in a line at the front of the Florida State families and shared why each of us joined KDChi and what it is about the organization that makes it such a life changing experience.

The national officers rattled off the many reasons they joined such as “a bonus family away from home,” “we serve our communities,” “we study together,” “we are changing the way people look at people of color on campus…” but the next story couldn’t be told so easily. There were near silent sobs, a wash of tears streaming down one of our sisters faces as she gulped for air. The families, including a young man in the living room audience began shifting his weight and eyes as he sat on the couch. The family members looked worried and nervous. It was then, our National President and Beta Alumna, Akisha Hernandez who could no longer hold back the tears as she shared what KDChi meant to her and how it’s helped her cope with devastating times throughout her life. On that day, she shared just a chapter of her grief. Today, she shares the full story of the greatest lesson she learned about life and its many

surprises.

Akisha got hitched in a Vegas wedding to Isaac Phillip Hernandez, a phenomenal, loving man she’d been dating for four years. They were established in their careers, owned their Houston area home and were in a solid place financially, so a year after their wedding, they set their sights on starting a family. It

was a high point of her life, she shared, “I remember how exciting it was to think about growing our family, and how it was the right time. I was 26 and planned to be finished having children by 30. I learned a good lesson in allowing things to come in God’s time, not my own.”

They first conceived in late 2007, after nearly two years of trying. But one day, while grocery shopping, Akisha felt like something was wrong. Initially she felt the need to walk off some gas. “It’s not pretty, but our bodies do crazy things when pregnant,” she shared. “The pressure and pain started building and getting worse, so I went to the restroom called my husband to meet me. The next day, my doctor didn’t see anything in my uterus, so she said we could be wrong about the date of conception, or it could be ectopic - when the fertilized egg implants outside of the uterus. Leaving her office we knew, but still hoped and prayed she was wrong.” Later that week, while driving home, Akisha felt the same pain again so she drove herself 10 miles to the nearest hospital. “God was watching out for me – no traffic and green lights all the way there. Within an hour I was taken into surgery. What I didn’t realize at the time is that ectopic pregnancy can be life threatening. My fallopian tube had ruptured, so I was bleeding internally and didn’t know it.” They removed a section of Akisha’s fallopian tube, which unfortunately, statistically lowers their chances of being able to conceive without intervention.

“My husband called my parents who stayed with us that week, and I’m so grateful they did. I thought I was ok, but I broke down and had a panic attack as soon as they left. It was so quiet in the house, and I could feel the air leaving my lungs. At the time, I didn’t know anyone who’d gone through anything similar.” At the time, she leaned on her immediate family, and a few of her KDChi sisters. People at work only knew she was out of the office for a week. This was just the start of what came to be an almost impossible dream.

“There were times I felt extremely angry. There were numerous stories about people mistreating children, and I didn’t understand why they were allowed to have them, and not me. When I felt guilty, there was no end to the thoughts: Did I stay on birth control too long? Did I not want the baby enough? I wasn’t excited enough. I let myself get too stressed. What’s wrong with me? What did I do wrong? I shouldn’t have questioned whether it was the “right” time to have a

baby. I grasped at anything that would explain why. I thought if I knew what it was, I could fix it, but there wasn’t anything for me to fix.”

Then, they suffered a miscarriage in the summer of 2009. “Two days before our first doctor’s appointment, I knew something was off in the world, and things just didn’t work out. It hit hard because it was the first pregnancy after the ectopic pregnancy, and we thought we’d already endured any issues we would have.

When asked about what surprised her most, Akisha shared it was the challenge of

having a family later in life. “I have friends who have waited later to have children, and are having difficulty conceiving without medical intervention. We were conditioned to pursue our careers without discussing what that meant for the families we hoped to have. It may not have changed my choices in life, but I believe it should be a part of the dialog we have when discussing how we see our lives unfold.”

“I just thought it would happen when we were ready and decided to make happen, and that wasn’t the case. The month after we agreed to stop trying to control it is when we got pregnant with our son, Isaac Antonio.” Then once Isaac was growing, “OMG – so much excitement, then immediately fear. Worry about another ectopic pregnancy, or not being able to carry to term. Having one ectopic pregnancy placed me in the high-risk category for future pregnancies, so I’m cautious. Because of our difficulties, we shared the news sooner than the first pregnancy. We wanted to have people praying for us and our baby’s healthy delivery.” During labor, Isaac’s heart rate kept dropping, so she stayed on her hands and knees for hours to keep his pulse from dropping. “There is no way possible that I could do anything close to that now, but we do amazing things when motivated by love.” Isaac Antonio Hernandez, born in 2010, was healthy, loved and made them the family the dreamed of, but they yearned for more.

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By Natasha Russ of maketherestup.com

Women should empower other women. It’s something we are always saying and try to live every day. A part of that for us at Make The Rest Up has included getting to know other Austin area business owners and entrepreneurs, especially those who share our same passion, women empowerment. One of the very first such women we got to meet on this journey has been Anali Martinez of The Nueva Latina. Anali came to us when we did a blogger promotion to get feedback on our services and got her makeup done before she competed for Miss Austin Latina. Since then, we’ve had the joy of seeing Anali over and over and each time we get to learn a little bit more about this amazing woman. Her kindness, passion, determination and general badassery is so inspiring that on today’s Women in Business Wednesday, we hope you can get to know her a bit!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and your blog, The Nueva Latina

My name is Anali Martinez. I live in Round Rock, TX with my fiance and my puppy, El Chapo. I am a lifestyle blogger, a freelance contributor, and a civil engineer on the side. I love music and attend live music shows as much as I can. I am super involved in the community and hope to make the Austin area a better place with everything I do.

2. You are a Civil Engineer by trade, what has that been like as a young Latina female? Did you find it was harder, easier or just different?

It's been both pretty easy and difficult. Growing up I struggled a lot with "fitting in" and decided to stop caring by the time I got to college. By the time college was over I was a completely different person and I had found my group of people. I left college feeling like a Big Fish in a Big Pond and like I could take the civil engineering world by storm. Little did I realize that the industry I had chosen was just a more mature version of high school and fitting in would be a little more difficult than I thought. Ever since starting, though, I have made a name for myself and have proven that I am a valuable asset to the industry as a

whole and the industry in Austin.

To read the rest of this article click here

Anali Martinez is an alumna of Pi chapter at The University of Texas - Austin. She is the women behind www.thenuevalatina.com and creator of the Latina Tribe podcast. To contact Anali email her at [email protected]

Photo courtesy of maketherestup.com

#Colorism Spotlight

"Growing up in a Caucasian, homogeneous community, I knew I was different. Not that I personally knew that I was different, but I was reminded (and quite frequently) that I was different by both my community and my family. I literally could not be who I really was, and as a result of that, I grew up hating who I was. I hated my Latino heritage and I resented my Black roots. My family praised and prided our American Indian origins, but my little hometown did not love or nurture anything different from themselves.

Being a woman of color in a white community, the only thing I really had going for myself was the little Irish and German blood that I do have, and “thank goodness” I spoke English. And that is where spent 18 of 26 years of life. 18 years not loving myself. 18 years of not feeling accepted and left confused. 18 years. But God knew what He was doing. Despite the ignorance of others, God made it clear to me, that I was purposely made and in His image—and really, that’s all that matters. He taught me to embrace and deeply love who I was, as a woman of color. He instilled in me a passion to be an advocate for racial and ethnic equality and advancement. Through me, He has enlightened and encouraged members of my own family. But through it all, and more importantly, He has been fire-proofing my faith and my identity in Christ.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, and words may make me cry. But greater is He that is in me, thus my faith will never die. "

- Evoanna Kelley

#Colorism #Melani #BlackGirlMagic #Hope #CDHPoetry #HopeGreaterThanHype

Photo courtesy from Cedric Dale Hoard