Stoling Through History
A Brief History of Graduation Stoles
By KDChi Communications Officer, Alicia Bustillos
Growing up in Lywood, CA, and as the only sibling of six to attend (and graduate!) college, Ariana Stein has always lived a busy life. From a young age she has worked a full time job, went to school full time and on top of that with a few close friends began the charter process of starting a little known
organization known as Kappa Delta Chi at California State University - Dominguez Hills. As a charter of the Alpha Gamma chapter, KDChi taught her many values that she still uses to this day in business and in life.
After graduating college in 2006 with a degree in Business Administration Ariana began a career in the commercial real estate business as an analyst then moving on to facilities management never deterred from her more entrepreneurial mindset. Staying busy is something Ariana has been doing for years. In fact not being busy is something she really isn’t too familiar with. While keeping busy building businesses and planning a future with her new husband she one day went with a friend to an iridologist (iridologist: an alternative medicine in the study of the iris to determine information about a patient's systemic health.) who told her she had a fibroid (see blue box). She then made an appointment with her doctor whom then confirmed she did indeed have a fibroid the size of a grapefruit. Luckily these fibroids where noncancerous, but with this scary news, her doctor informed her that she should seriously consider having children sooner rather than later to see how this fibroid would affect her ability to have children.
This was not in her plans, but because of this newfound information her and her husband decided to move forward with a new plan. After getting pregnant fairly quickly, Ariana experienced an extremely painful issue called fibroid degeneration. Fibroid degeneration is when the baby starts taking the blood supply, causing the fibroid to shrink from lack of supply. This pain can be compared to or even worse than the labor itself. Throughout her pregnancy Ariana experienced extreme discomfort due to the fibroid but was fortunate to have their beautiful, healthy, baby boy Ethan. Unfortunately, after the birth also due to the fibroid, the placenta was stuck to her uterus and needed to have it scraped out (it’s as painful as it sounds!)
After going through this physically and emotionally painful situation, Ariana refuses to let this affect her future goals. While she did have the option of having the fibroid removed, her doctor recommended that she wait until she was done having children to do that because of the risk for scarring and even regrowth. So instead, she sees this
fibroid as just an extension of her body and pushes on through with life. While she does experience pain and a heavier flow period, she is able to live the normal, busy life she is accustomed to. In fact having her son is part of the reason she has been so passionate with this next chapter in her life. After owning a couple of businesses already, Ariana was soon approached by long time friend Patty Rodriguez about a new and exciting idea. So what do you do when you have a full time job, a young family, a thriving side business and a friend approaches you about an amazing opportunity? Well you say yes, of course!
Lil Libros is the brainchild of Patty Rodriguez who, in partnering up with Ariana, wanted to create something more in bilingual learning for their young children and others as well. As mothers, both had a passion in sharing with their children a bilingual education in English & Spanish. As a new mother, the idea of creating something that can be read by anyone from your English-only speaking family to your Spanish-only speaking familia while building those early skills was something that was not only needed, but wanted. In less than a year Lil Libros has exploded into a cultural phenomenon, appearing in small mom & pop bookstores and Scholastic, to Barnes & Noble and most recently in Target stores nationwide.
Recently leaving the corporate world, Ariana is now able to focus full time on new goals with Lil Libros. She wants to encourage Latinos to start reading to their children at a young age. To change the mentality some people may have about reading, bilingual education and the Latino culture. Look for Lil Libros in your local Barnes & Noble or Target stores. Or go to www.lillibros.com
Ariana Stein is a graduate of California State University - Dominguez Hills and alumnae of KDChi's Alpha Gamma chapter. She is the co-author of the Lil Libros book series and lives in Los Angeles with her husband Nick and 2 ½ year old son Ethan. She met her husband through MySpace and prefers that no one (or everyone!) knew about it lol.
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#KDChiCon16
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