Diana shares the journey that brought her to Padua, our signature long-term case management program. Learn about the challenges she overcame and the life she embraces today.
Her Navigator, Kristi, became a mentor for her. From budgeting to FAFSA, Kristi kept Yanelie on track. When Yanelie’s dad was in a car accident earlier this year and couldn’t work, it was Kristi who helped Yanelie manage her finances so that she could still afford tuition.
I was born in a third-world country in Central Asia. The country is under dictatorship. We had to escape illegally and took off hoping that nobody would catch us. We lived in Russia for 10 years. My mother only could hold jobs that paid under the table and those are not high paying jobs.
I grew up in Perrin, Texas, a tiny, little country town. It was a pretty typical, mostly happy childhood. We might not have always had the nicest things, but we were raised knowing that we always had each other and that’s what really mattered.