I haven’t shared this with many people. I really can’t tell you why, but I can tell you that I’m looking forward to no longer allowing it to rent space in my brain (and maybe deep down, in my soul too). I was sixteen when I won a national modeling contest. That part most of you know. But the purpose of this contest was to find and encourage more Hispanic models in the industry. And for the year that I held my title, I traveled with the contest’s main sponsor and listened to derogatory remarks behind closed doors about Hispanics.

For a year, I sat there and listened. I didn’t have the courage to speak up. They knew this. This was an amazing opportunity for me to leave an impoverished area, to make something of myself, and all I had to do was endure. It was my only opportunity. All I had to do was be okay with hearing how worthless Hispanics were and that the only thing we were good for was having babies.

Then the night before I was to pass on my title to the next lucky little Hispanic girl, something daring crept into my mind. What if I did something? What if I said something? What’s an opportunity if I sold myself out to get it? I was going to walk out on that stage—alone. I was going to tell that room filled with thousands of people that the contest was a sham. It was a marketing strategy created to shed a positive light on that sponsor, but it did more harm than it did good. Hispanics are proud people. We work hard. We want to believe that the American dream is possible for any and every person. So when they announced my name, I strode across that stage, not knowing what I was going to say, but determined to speak from the heart. I was going to share my truth. I was going to be daring…

Today the contest is no longer around, and from that moment on, I have truly lived an amazing adventure on my own terms.

I’d love to hear how you’ve been daring and how it’s paid off for you…

What’s one of the most daring things you’ve ever done and what did you learn from the experience?