Some of the toughest battles I have faced in life came from within: Not feeling accepted, doubting my self-worth, feeling angry and depressed. It all seemed to hit me at once in a series of unfortunate...

When I was 4, my dad was shot outside of our home in Tijuana. Though he survived, my parents knew we had to leave but where to? The answer was clear: Maywood, California, where my mother was raised. That...

It took me five-and-a-half years to finish college. Go ahead. Make fun. I can laugh about it now because I am on the other side. I have a degree that nobody can take away and found a career that...

That annoying ringing. I often asked myself, “Why?” when I heard it. I would stare at the pitch dark ceiling for a few minutes then look to my left.  The time: 4:25 a.m. I’d turn off the alarm,...

It started when I was 10 years old. “You need to start eating less,” my friend told me. That’s when it hit me: My classmates are almost all thin. Over the next few days and weeks, self-doubt...

“Godzilla vs Kong.” I keep wanting to write “King Kong vs Godzilla” since that was the title of the original 1962 showdown between these two nasty heavyweights. A film that I actually owned on...

“Sweetheart, could you transfer me over to a guy? I’d like to speak to someone who knows what they’re talking about.” I had heard versions of that a number of times before working at the Guitar...

In some ways, Oct. 29, 2017, was a typical morning. I woke up early, showered and got ready for work. But something gnawed at me all morning and my anxiety only grew worse when my mom, Susan Raya, called...

I will never forget the night my dad returned from work to our home in Highland Park. It was March 18, 2020. COVID-19 had done little damage on the United States at that point, so I didn’t expect...

The past several months have been the most challenging of my entire life, by far. They have been the most rewarding for my work and school career, yet the worst for my mental well-being. The COVID-19...

I grew up in a small town in Hawaii in a household of seven: myself, my three older brothers, my parents, and my grandmother. Grandma was always home, and when she wasn’t, one of my parents was. And...

What started as one of the greatest years of my life, 2016, nearly broke me as a person. I was in my junior year of high school at Luskin Academy in South Central Los Angeles.  I remember receiving...