Teri Arvesu is not just a mother of two toddlers, but a successful News Director at Univision Chicago. This Miami native proves that being mother and having a career can be done but at a price.
“I questioned why, God why is it that you prefer me to work than to be with the kids. Because you know when you become a mom you kind of like live with a little bit of guilt; because you don’t do the work great and you don’t do home great. So, I thought about it for a long time and umm realized that God wanted me to be at work, and he wanted me to do well through what I do.”
Teri believes that her mission is to be a great journalist and to help people under her succeed.
“Number one we are here to inform people what is going on in the world, and number two is helping people under me succeed. These have been a huge driving force for my career and being a good person.”
However life wasn’t always a walk on the beach. Teri faced a hurdle when she almost decided to give up and not even enter this crazy world of broadcast journalism.
“I was 17 and I had this conversation with myself. I’m a little tough with myself… I to myself. Are gonna let your like an insecurity or like how we say in Spanish un complejo be the thing that holds you back?”
No, she didn’t. While continuing her courses in college she added extra Spanish classes, and now she speaks Spanish fluently.
While some may find it hard to make a huge transition from growing up in Miami and having a successful career there to moving to the Windy City were one maybe seen as the minority. Not Teri, she explains how her deep Cuban roots in Miami made her the woman she is today.
“Being from Miami where everyone is Hispanic and it gave me the confidence to try things that probable no one else would. Growing up Cuban here in Chicago probably would not have tried anything.”
She goes on to explain that when people grow up feeling like they are not the exception, but the rule; like she did. There was no need to doubt herself confidence because she took pride in who she was.
The advice that she leaves to everyone is don’t let race, insecurities or anything else terrier you from your dreams and goals.