06/05/2026
I spent a lot of my life feeling like I wasn’t enough. Not that I wasn’t smart, just not enough. When my dad, my biggest cheerleader, passed a week before starting highschool, I suddenly had to figure out growing up mostly on my own. My mom needed help herself, so I leaned on my best friends, boyfriend (still my BFFs and now husband), and my neighbor, a schoolteacher who gave me a key to her home so I could use her computer.
I was a B student. Sometimes honor roll, sometimes repeating classes. Senior year of high school, I got rejected from UC schools & USC. But as Aaliyah said, dust yourself off and try again. So I did. Life took me in many directions never ever thinking I would get to where I am today- PA, MHA from UCSF and CEO.
Yet despite all the successes, I still struggled. The PhD program was hard- every two weeks I wanted to quit. But my Vida Salvi sister Karla always encouraged me. ❤️
As the only Latina in my cohort, I was intimidated, but I shouldn’t have been, my cohort was brilliant and comprised incredibly kind people whom I admire deeply. ✨
4.5 years, and a baby later, I am done with my PhD program, thanks to God and the support of friends, family, and classmates who refused to let me fall -And I kept replaying something a Vida student (now PA student) once said to me: “I’ve never met someone with a PhD before.” That sentence also kept me going. 💚
Thank you to all of the Vida fam- you helped me get through this. My research focused on Latina PAs in clinical leadership roles. What an honor it has been to do this.
If you feel like you don’t belong, remember your seat is there. Claim it and enjoy every moment. -Ana Ruiz Peña, PhD
