ABSTRACT
Patricia Herrera offers an inspiring testimonio of her experiences as a Latina woman who became a mother during graduate school. She recounts the judgment she received from her professors, fellow graduate students, and familia when she revealed each of her three pregnancies. The odds of her finishing her PhD and landing a tenure-track job were already slim as a working-class first-generation immigrant Latina woman; others attempted to convince her it was totally impossible as a mother. However, she remained determined, making several difficult decisions in order to juggle dissertating, working, and motherhood. At times, she also forced others to acknowledge, rather than ignore, that she embodied the seemingly contradictory roles of graduate student and mother. But in attempting to navigate professional expectations, cultural and familial norms, and advocating for herself and her family, she notes that her bravery perhaps looks different than it does for other women of color: “My bravery doesn’t always look brave from the outside. It is not always aggressive, confrontational, or even outspoken.”
