Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jessica Vera.
Hi Dr. Vera, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born to immigrant parents who left their homeland for a better future for their kids. I’m one of five, the only female. My childhood was riddled with complex trauma resultant from dark experiences of sexual abuse, rape, and exploitation by those who I should have been able to trust. These early experiences in many ways shaped who I’d become as a young adult, as the pain fueled my existence at the time. It helped me to focus and to clarify my goals and ambitions and led to seeking higher education, conquering the world of business, and gaining many accolades from the world.
In my late twenties, by all accounts, I was a picture of success on the outside. I owned and operated several international multi-million-dollar companies helping others, achieved an alphabet soup of initials behind my name, and in 2003 I became the first one in my family to complete a doctorate. I also concurrently got married and gave birth to two beautiful daughters. Those who knew me then would attest that I was fierce, unstoppable, and charmed, as everything that I touched seemed to turn into gold. But behind the veil, there was only growing pain, insecurity, brokenness, an empty vessel of a woman. For a season, I tried to fill the void with things, people, more achievements, always amidst a belief and conviction that everything that I was doing was to help and change the world. I am a socially conscious entrepreneur, I believe I was born with it ingrained in my DNA. Yet, there is substantial truth that even with good intentions, one does not always reap the expected outcome.
As a member of Generation X, I’ve had the privilege to learn from some of the great thinkers and doers of the past century, while also bearing witness and contributing to the rapid paradigm shift occurring in our world today. As a visionary practitioner and business woman, it has meant continued self-evolution and actualization while concurrently having the honor of inspiring and equipping others in their worst circumstances in life, to become all they were created to be through the renewing of their minds. I am a lifelife learner, teachable, adaptable, and primed for the quickly evolving information technology era. In addition to serving people directly, I love to create and develop business innovation, that not only scales but adds social value to the world.
In 2014, after some years of work in c-suite corporate America, academia, and providing expertise to social services, I became intimately aware of an insidious evil plaguing our vulnerable children and adults in our communities in the USA. It resonated with my childhood experiences that albeit now overcome, remain to this day so familiar. You should know that I do not believe in coincides. Rather my beliefs are predicated in a relationship between my core and my Creator. Therefore, I knew without a doubt that there was a purpose to what I had experienced all those years ago and what I was seeing unfold before me. Concurrently, the darkness of this evil infringed upon my family, affecting one of my precious daughters.
I have climbed and figuratively moved and transversed many mountains in my life but this one stumped me for a minute. The crime of Human Trafficking is a mammoth of a mountain. For me, it meant having to dredge up the past in order to unleash that Warrior, as she gets repressed and only manifests when needed. Until now, she had been instrumental in leveling the power differentials that exist in the world but this was different. This was intrinsically personal. I found myself at a crossroads. Not because I didn’t know what had to be done but because I knew what it meant to take the road least desirable. This choice meant stepping into spaces of little influence, tremendous perils, and the pain of vicarious trauma. There is no way that once you experience even indirectly the results of this inhumanity for profit that you won’t be affected. I have found that the difference is that people can become aware of human trafficking but it is just so unfathomable that either it does not seem real to them or it is too overwhelming to fully conceptualize.
In 2016, I founded a nonprofit flagship, Elite Foundation. Elite stands for End Lost Innocence To Exploitation, in honor of all the victims of sex crimes. The Foundation is a survivor-led, trauma-informed, volunteer-based 501(c)3 organization fueled by people coming together to prevent the crime of human sex trafficking through prevention – awareness education, intervention – empowerment interventions and restoration strategies – direct trauma care services, to save lives. Our vision is to co-create a future for every survivor. Through the Foundation’s leadership, we have developed a strategic business model that allows for unique projects, programs and campaigns for at-risk individuals that are best practice-based and client-focused. We focus on micro-planning with an ecosystemic approach that we believe has social value.
The key? To inspire generosity, compassion, and empathy from the masses in order to save and set free one life at a time.
This multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise exists due to human depravity that preys on the vulnerable for profit. Human Trafficking is predicted to surpass the gross income estimates of drug trafficking for the simple reasons associated with risk management. A human being is reusable, low risk, and easily accessible and transferable in comparison to illicit drugs. Simply it is based on supply and demand.
There is no coincidence that I lived through what I did as a young person. It uniquely equipped me for the call I have over my life today to inspire and equip others in their worst circumstances to become all they were created to be. Your purpose is found in your passions, and if you take the time to learn your story now, you too will find the clues to your call in this world. Know that every person is valuable and uniquely created to contribute to our collective. When we lose a soul it impacts us all. I’ve had the honor and privilege to work with hundreds of thousands of people and many organizations, as well as systems of care. My greatest takeaway remains that each of us when in clarity can laser-focus on executing exactly what gives meaning to one’s life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There is no smooth road to success. It is always met with challenges. Whether it be due to intrinsic change that has to occur or from external circumstances that appear outside the realm of control. In my early formative years, most of my challenges were circumstantial. As a vulnerable child, things happen to you. Things you do not understand at the moment, but that can develop within you erroneous meanings that can have longstanding influence over your self-concept. That is why during the early years of my career development, there existed a disparity between what I was manifesting outwardly in the world versus my internal reality.
For many years, I became a masterful chameleon adapting to environments as needed to succeed. The outward accolades reinforced these behaviors to the point that they became normal and part of my operating system. But eventually, due in part to growing internal dissonance, I had to stop, and do the hard work, to reset, realign, and reconcile (Dr. J.’s Transformation PrincipleTM) my past with my present. This meant putting myself first, which was no easy task, as it is so very outside my comfort zone. Women are socialized in western culture to be master switch taskers, assuming multiple roles, and are expected to find a balance between them all with grace and poise. But there was nothing graceful about the internal chatter that became louder and louder, even more so as I focused on myself. Then something incredible occurred, some call it an epiphany. I call it an awakening. For me, it was a realization that there will always be struggles but what is important is how we face them. Will our attitude be one of defeatist or opportunistic? You have to intentionally choose. I chose opportunistically. This did not mean that the outcome was always favorable but when it wasn’t, it created an opportunity to learn and evolve. I’ve learned the most from my ‘failures’ rather than my successes.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a socially conscious entrepreneur, licensed, and fully accredited Transformation Practitioner who is best known for inspiring and equipping others in life and business. I hold several advanced degrees with specialized training in psychology, trauma, human potential, and wellness. An award-winning bestselling author and indie publisher I believe that your story holds the keys to your success. I have various passions that are leveraged through my work with people, organizations, and systems of care. I love strategic problem-solving, edifying strengths, the creative, and serving others. I’m most proud of the influence I’ve had in the lives of those, who had lost hope, and who now choose to live, love, and work in joy and gratitude. I know that I’m set apart simply because I was created uniquely. There is no duplicate of me or you for that matter, in this world. We each have a meaning that will be fulfilled, our only responsibility is to be intentional with our gifts for the good of others.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was a joy-filled, precocious competitive child who wanted to be one of the boys, as the only girl of five. I respected my mother, missed my father, and developed defense mechanisms that evolved into what is classified by some as a type-A personality. I had early interests in physical sports, performing arts, and learning. Born with dyslexia, I struggled with simple reading early on, but this later led me to learn how to rewire my brain to perceive and learn things differently. As I got a little older, my interests evolved into wanting to figure out how things worked, particularly systems where there were obvious inequalities.
Contact Info:
- Email: drj@drjvera.com
- Website: drjvera.com, www.elitefundsfreedom.org
- Instagram: drj.integrativewellness
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.JessicaVera
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoundationElite
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj_JekJsjpJa7rgqHtDFt8w
Image Credits
Miranda Parma-Vera Graciela Valdes Justus Martin
