“I feel that with more ladies like me, we should always support each other. I don’t feel alone on my path because we have the same troubles and motivation, and creating a team is important.”
In 2022, Tatiana* had issues with her neck and had surgery to replace three disks of her spinal cord. Her surgery, however, didn’t entirely fix the problem. She would need injections and to consistently practice physical therapy exercises to manage her discomfort.
After the surgery, Tatiana’s doctor prescribed her OxyContin to ease her pain through recovery. Her husband immediately asked the doctor, ‘Isn’t this addictive?’ And they were told that in small doses, it is not.
When her 30-day pill supply ran out, Tatiana was shocked when her body skyrocketed to new pain levels.
“My friend made me realize that I was addicted. She told me, ‘You’ve been off of it for two days, and you feel really bad because your body wanted more of it.”
With the support of her friend and her husband, she detoxed on her own: drinking lots of water, exercising, and practicing meditation to manage pain.
“I understand now how people cannot get off drugs because I had chills and fevers coming off of it… and every day, my friend came in the morning, afternoon, and night to check on me,” she shared.
Tatiana had been off OxyContin for a year when she received the shocking news that her friend passed away unexpectedly. It was inconceivable to lose someone that Tatiana considered family, and the loss made Tatiana go forward in life with an added emphasis on the importance of female friendships.
At over 50, Tatiana thought she might be too old for a new start. She and her husband had been married for five years and spent the early years of their relationship in North Carolina. After her friend passed away, her husband lost his job and they moved to Arizona, where he could find work and rebuild their lives. The move was hard for Tatiana, who valued close friendships and already lived in the United States without any family.
By chance, Tatiana met a woman at the consulate, who invited her to a small business event held at a local bank in Phoenix. It became another moment when female friendships positively affected Tatiana’s life.
At the event, Tatiana took the opportunity to mingle with the other attendees.
“I talked to this man who asked how I felt about the event, and then the speaker announced to the room, ‘Please, let’s welcome our CEO.’ It was the man I had been talking to!”
After he spoke to the group, Tatiana reconnected with him and expressed her interest in working at his bank.
“He introduced me to other bank employees who referred me to Fresh Start. They said, ‘You have a lot of experience in the banks, and you should check out this (Fresh Start) program, and when you finish it, come back to us again.”
In March 2024, Tatiana began the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) program at Fresh Start. With English as her second language, she was surprised to learn new terms and usages for words she’d already understood in other definitions.
“In the first week, I thought I couldn’t continue because I had to translate the vocabulary because the technical English was hard…For example, like securities. For me, security is like security work. I didn’t realize that security was also for shared documents.”
She also felt that her previous banking experience would make the SIE program relatively easy for her, but she discovered that wasn’t necessarily the case. So much of her future prosperity relied on her learning the material and passing the SIE test successfully.
“Every day when I woke up, I thought about the test and how I needed to study for it… If I didn’t study every day, it wouldn’t be good. First, I need to translate the words and then put them in context to understand them. I felt confident with this and knew I would pass the test.”
In moments of doubt, Tatiana found inspiration in an idea of the future for her son and family in Ecuador, and improving her life. She also drew inspiration from within Fresh Start.
“When I saw (Fresh Start team member) Adrianna for the first time, she inspired me. When we doubted ourselves, Adrianna said, ‘Don’t worry, just continue. You can do it. We are here for you.’ She’s always smiling, and she inspired us with her confidence.”
Tatiana felt safe and supported during the SIE program, and if she didn’t believe that she could meet the qualifications at first, she knew it was possible.
“I feel that with more ladies like me, we should always support each other. I don’t feel alone on my path because we have the same troubles and motivation, and creating a team is important.”
Through the SIE program, it became clear to Tatiana how important it was for her to establish and foster female friendships, especially with her family so far away.
“My husband is a really good man, but I think that the men don’t understand the ladies, and I didn’t talk to my husband about how important it is for me to have friends.”
With the completion of the SIE program nearing, Tatiana began to practice in mock interviews and construct her resume with Fresh Start Career Advisors. She was excited about the prospect of attaining a job that she loved.
“I’m looking for a job with Bank of America. I love this company because I feel like they think of their employees. I want to finish SIE, and then I need to study more of my English and keep working on my applications. I plan to finish SIE and apply.”
In early 2025, Tatiana was hired at her dream company, Bank of America. In her new role, she began working as a Relationship Banker at a branch in the Valley metro area.
“I can do this; I can do anything else. When I started here, it was like a big mountain, and now I feel like I’m on the top because I said, ‘I could do that.’ Nothing is difficult now for me because it was not easy, but it was necessary to achieve my goal.”