By KRISTI MAYFIELD
kmayfield@oakdaleleader.com
If you can dream it, you can be it was the theme at the recent Dream It, Be It, College and Career Workshop that the Soroptimist International of Oakdale hosted for area teen girls. Women from various career paths and socioeconomic backgrounds came together to meet with and discuss the many different roads that you can pursue to find a career that will fulfill and challenge you. Highlights of the event included a live self-defense demonstration from the Oakdale Mixed Martial Arts Team along with the creation of dream and vision boards to highlight areas of interest and aptitudes.
From Anna Pedroza-Garcia, Women’s Ministries Director at the Modesto Gospel Mission sharing her story of rebuilding her life and finding a rewarding calling within the Modesto Gospel Mission to Leslie Onsager, CEO and General Contractor of Realty Design Services, relaying how even now she still faces some sexism because she works in a male-dominated industry, the young women in attendance were treated to a variety of stories about how each of the speakers found their callings in the world and the obstacles they had to overcome to do so.
Pedroza-Garcia related how some of her early choices in life determined her fate. Though she admitted that having four kids and going back to school at 40 wasn’t easy, she believes the struggle was worth the reward as she now gets the opportunity to help others grow and achieve things they never thought they could.
Cristina Magana, Investigator for the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office, shared that she ended up joining law enforcement by chance as she went to complete the tests in support of her husband, who was also looking to join the police force and she was accepted into the academy so she began her career in law enforcement. She reiterated that the path that you set out on might not be where you end up and that is okay. Being the oldest of five children, she went to Cosmetology School after she graduated from high school at the urging of her parents and even operated her own salon for a while but found that she wanted to do something else, but she just wasn’t sure what that was. After spending many years out in the field, she now works as an investigator for the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office where she focuses on cases that involve child abuse and intimate partner violence and she was recently honored as a 2024 California Woman Making Herstory Woman of the Year.
Many members of the panel including Deputy District Attorney for Stanislaus County, Margot Roen, reminded the group to say yes to challenges and opportunities, even if you’re not sure where that yes will lead. Roen also reminded them to “Be confident in what and who you are. When an opportunity opens up say yes and stay focused on your principles but don’t be afraid to veer out to experience other things because it enriches you as a person.”
Of the many avenues that one can pursue, the speakers reminded the young participants that it is important to follow your passions, things that really speak to you and inspire you because if you follow those inclinations, you most likely will find your true calling.
The full list of presenters is as follows: Colleen Hawks-Pierce (Teaching Artist-Musical Theater Performer), Anna Pedroza-Garcia (Director of Women’s Ministries at Modesto Gospel Mission), Domenica Escatel (UC Merced Project Coordinator for medical education), Cristina Magana (Investigator Stanislaus County DA’s Office), Margot Roen (Deputy District Attorney Stanislaus County), Kate Allen (Social & Programs Coordinator Visit Modesto) and Leslie Onsager (CEO/Principle Realty Design & Construction).
For more information on upcoming programs hosted by Soroptimist International of Oakdale, visit their website at Soroptimist International of Oakdale.
