An Agricultural Worker at the onion fields in Salinas California. I like to get closer to the working and essential people of the valley.

My name is Sandra I. Santos, I was born in an agricultural town in Oaxaca, Mex. I lived with my mother and siblings for 10 years in my hometown, until we immigrated to California. After my parents decided to open their own business, we moved to Salinas, CA and have live in here for 17 years now. After high school, I moved to Berkeley, and started school there with my sister. Our financial status was not the best, so I let my sister finish school before me because I was not sure where I wanted to go with my career. I got an AA in Digital Arts at Hartnell College a few years later and became mother. I taught I was done with school and that I could make a living with my short career, multi-tasking, and job hunting. Nevertheless, I was not advancing in my career goals, so a year ago, I returned to school and started to take classes towards a new career focus, Journalism. I am taking media and writing classes because I know how important it is to learn news skills and how beneficial they can be for my career. When I hear the term “New Media”, I instantly think about the internet, social media, and all mass media communication that has evolved through technology.

I became interested in journalism after being part of different community activities. I was part of a local TV show call “Alegria Musical”, directed by Victor Garcia. Here we interviewed local musicians and emerging talents, then we invited them to perform in local events such as “The Strawberry Festival”, “La Guelaguetza”, and “El Grito”. Being part of these events helped be get out of my comfort zone, and I became so interested in getting involved with the community. There are so many talents and interesting people that deserve to be acknowledge. When I was working at the Monterey County WIC, I met so many families in search for health, housing, family crisis information, and I felt so good by helping them get access to all these resources.

After everything that I have learned and all the people I have met with these experiences, I can only say that I want to work had to be a great and influential figure for my community. I want to make a difference and help out people in my community, because after meeting people in need, I have learned to understand and love myself.