Maria

In Spring 2023, Maria’s* life changed forever after a car accident left her with $100K in medical bills and physical injuries that would take months to recover.  

She was in immense pain and lacked her usual mobility while in a walking boot for her broken leg. Right when she most needed the emotional and physical support of her partner of 10 years, he left her high and dry.  

“By him leaving me when I really needed him, I realized that he’s not been there for me, and he never cared about me.” 

His sudden absence from her life gave Maria a new perspective. She had space to take a step back and recall the years of their relationship with clarity and 20/20 vision. In hindsight, her eyes opened to the true reality of the continued abuse she’d endured. 

“I went through a lot of domestic violence and sexual abuse. I needed to be strong to let this go.” 

Maria wanted to take a step forward in reclaiming her life but didn’t know how or where to start. She needed to recover from the years of abuse and ensure she was set up for success. 

“I had to look forward and needed the power of women around me, that support to move on, so that’s why I finally came to Fresh Start.” 

In October 2023, Maria started attending Fresh Start’s codependency group, aiming to figure out who she was and get a little support from staff and other women going through similar situations.  

Within Fresh Start’s doors, Maria was inspired to get back to self-sufficiency – a place that she hadn’t been for many years.  

At one point in her life, Maria worked two jobs to make ends meet. When she was in eighth grade, she found out she was pregnant with her first child and dropped out of school. She never entered a high school building as a student. At the age of 16, she was the teenage mother of two kids.  

“It was hard, but I knew I was strong. I built a lot of experience quickly and in every job that I had, I was either a manager or a lead. The only thing that was stopping me from advancing was that I didn’t have my high school diploma.” 

Maria turned to JobCorp to earn her high school diploma and eventually enrolled in its office administration class. With her new skills and diploma, she started an internship that turned into a full-time role that lasted seven years. She eventually left that job after feeling like there was no room for growth.  

By the time Maria arrived at Fresh Start, she had been out of the workforce for awhile and in desperate need of a reminder that she was capable of career success. Following the codependency group, she felt ready to enroll in a career training course at Fresh Start. She researched all the options available on the website and applied to Women in Finance. She was accepted and began the cohort in March 2024.  

“Fresh Start opened the gate again. I had it locked because I had no idea what I was going to do, how I could start, or even how to dress professionally. I wasn’t feeling good about myself. Coming to Fresh Start and Women in Finance, it reminded me, ‘This is where I belong. This is what I am. This is what I was and I’m coming back to it.” 

Amidst the excitement of potentially starting a career in a new industry, Maria was challenged in learning financial vocabulary.  

“I had to work on getting the vocabulary for the banking industry and the basic knowledge of finance. Everything that Sarah taught us, we could bring it to the table now and show it off. But I struggled with soaking everything in within such a quick amount of time.” 

To stay on track with the speed of the six-week cohort, Maria turned to her kids for support at home. They helped her memorize the vocabulary and set up mock interviews to address Maria’s other fear: the interview process.  

“The only part that made me want to give up was my fear of not being ready for the interview… Honestly, I was never going to do interviews, I was so scared but with all the practice that I did in class and then at home with my kids, I realized there’s no reason to be scared.” 

During the cohort, Maria’s resume was also addressed and she learned how to update it to better highlight her experience and transferable skills.  

“Sitting with our Women in Finance instructor Sara and going through my whole resume, she has so much passion and it shows. She helped me modify my resume to really show-off my experience and made me realize that I do know how to do all of this. … Sara, thank you.”   

Maria’s practice paid off and she confidently took six interviews during the cohort’s career fair. Bursting with a renewed sense of self-worth, she smiled as she recalled how empowered she felt to ask about the pay rate of roles from each potential employer.  

“Now that I’ve learned to complete interviews and I’ve updated and improved my resume, I feel ready to go. The resume work was such a big key to my success. By Sandra, Mike, and Nancy breaking it down for us and Sara’s support, I was able to put two and two together. I learned about the importance of key words and when I fixed it, I thought, ‘If I was an employer, I’d hire me.’ I feel like I can go anywhere now.” 

Looking back on the six-week cohort, Maria knew Fresh Start was there to support her with both her personal and professional needs.  

“At first, I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it. But the dedication of everyone that works at Fresh Start was powerful. Since Fresh Start is willing to teach us and help us, there’s no reason for us not to take the opportunity. It might be a challenging time in our lives, but if we really want it, we’ll go get it.” 

Maria now defines success by the number of opportunities at her feet thanks to her skill-up at Fresh Start. She hopes that other women in need of a helping hand find Fresh Start and reach out sooner rather than later.  

“Just take the step to do it. If you don’t take the step to make the change, no one is going to help you out. Everyone could encourage you to do it, but if you don’t take the step, nothing is going to change. Everything is going to be the same. Fresh Start provides so much help, anything you need help with, they’ll help you here.” 

She’s Hired!  

“Women in Finance empowered me to break out of my shell again and remember who I am. I feel good, I feel like I’m worth a million dollars.” 

Maria was hired by BMO as an Associate Banker at the conclusion of the Women in Finance cohort with Fresh Start.