Latina college student finds her own path

By Rocio Ortega, Latina Voices

I could hear the crowd cheering, the backstage crew telling me to get ready and finally, it was my turn to step on stage. Before I knew it, there I was, standing in front of hundreds of high school students, teachers, and mentors as I was about to present my first ever TED talk… live.

I presented my first ever TED talk at the 2012 TEDxYouth@SanDiego conference with hopes that I can raise awareness for the issues girls go through in developing countries like Malala – a 15 year old girl shot in the head by the Taliban for standing up for women’s education.

Additionally, I knew of the 67 million children in this world that aren’t in school, and over half of these children are girls. I knew I couldn’t let these girls down. Thanks to Global Girl Media, I was able to find my voice and speak comfortably in front of the largest crowd I had ever seen. And thanks to Girl Up, I was aware of the issues like education, health and safety crucial to girls living in developing countries.

I discussed both personal experiences like my college process as an 18-year-old Latina and global issues like the importance of an education in a girl’s life – regardless of where she lives in this world.

I hope you enjoy and feel empowered from my TED talk.

This article was first published in Latina Voices.

Rocio Ortega is a student at Wellesley College majoring in political science. She is a reporter for Global Girl Media, Youth Champion for Girl Up, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation, Ambassador for Running Start, alumna and intern for the Chicano/Latino Youth Leadership Project, and intern for Women’s Voices Now.