I, Maria Elena as I prefer to be called was born in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I am a proud Black, Garifuna, Latina who grew up in New Orleans, LA and have lived in Houston, TX since 2005, I have extensive experience in disaster recovery, serving as a Disaster Case Manager to Senior Disaster Case Management Coordinator. My current role as a Senior Associate, Team Culture and Client Resource is at a Houston-based disaster nonprofit organization. I am employed part-time at a church with a focus on Houston’s inner-city population; serving the outdoorsmen and women. I am also the owner of a small business providing multilingual service; notarization, loan signing, interpretation, and translation. Prior to this, in New Orleans I worked in the field of HIV/AIDS from Outreach Specialist to Early Intervention Case Finding Supervisor to HIV/AIDS Prevention Program Coordinator. My HIV/AIDS and disaster prevention career has allowed me to live my passion and purpose of helping people in need from substance abuse facilities, streets, church, and in their homes. These are people who have been forgotten about or taken for granted. They too need empathy, time, attention, patience and deserve to be treated with respect and dignity like everyone else. I believe in being an advocate and an instrument of solace, peace, and hope if only for a moment. Read more about this authorRead less about this author