They moved to Charlotte, N.C., away from her family and friends, where Anamaria had her only daughter, Kelli. He didn’t want her to work, so she didn’t, at least until she was offered a job in her apartment complex as a leasing manager. She grew to love her work, especially because it opened her eyes to the real world. Most of her residents were people of color who were not treated well and needed their voices to be heard, so she became that voice. She tried to help them by bringing in new organizations and funding amenities. This was the beginning of what would become her career and where she learned that, as long as she made the owner money, she could do whatever she wanted to help the residents. After a while, her husband decided she wasn’t being a good wife and moved them to Ohio. She had to start over again, and this time, he wouldn’t let her work at all. He told her that she had to pick her job or her family, so she picked her family and focused all of her energy on volunteer work instead. “When you’re in it, you don’t really realize it,” Anamaria says. “You think, ‘OK, you’re right, I don’t want to be a bad mother; being a mother is the only thing I have.” Everything changed when she found out her husband was having an affair and she asked him to leave. They had been married for 18 years and she couldn’t imagine starting over. But for him, it was almost like a switch had been flipped. His eyes turned red and, suddenly, he was violent. He turned off the utilities, overdrafted their bank accounts and destroyed things. He told her that if she went through with it, she would have nothing, since everything was in his name. He had control of family, friends, everything in her life. She called her mother, looking for sympathy, but got only a wake-up call. Her mother asked her, “Why are you crying? …. You are an educated woman, you are a smart woman, you have a daughter to raise. Is this what you are showing her? That falling apart is the way women handle things? She is watching you. Whatever you do is going to impact her for the rest of her life. Are you going to be a woman and suck it up and do what you need to do, or are you going to fall apart?” Anamaria took a deep breath and started taking action. She decided to stay in Ohio to give Kelli some stability, especially because she was very close to her dad and his family. She learned how to put gas in her car, opened her own bank account and received a great deal of encouragement and support from her neighbors in Marengo. She soon got a job in property management, and started putting her and her daughter’s lives back together. Anamaria was still struggling to comprehend how her life could be turned upside down in a moment, when she thought she was doing everything right as a wife and mother. She was ashamed and terrified, and didn’t want to tell anyone what was happening to her. She says she doesn’t want anyone to have to feel that way. She now believes it was actually a blessing that she went through those things. Her brothers, lower left to right: Demetrio, Fred, her and Richard Back row: Carlos, Robert, Arturo and Jorge Her grandbaby Amy and her celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month She was recognized as one of the Distinguished Latinos in Ohio 8 | ENVISION PROVEN SUCCESS MAGAZINE
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