My Daughter Met Sonia Sotomayor; Envisioning the Future Made it Happen

I have this grand plan that my daughter will meet powerful Latinas. I want to move past "you have to see it to be it" all the way to "meet them and you'll strive to be like them." The bonus is that if she meets them, I'll likely be with her. She's two and I'm her ride.

The target list is diverse and fluid. There's AOC, Rita Moreno and Gloria Calderón Kellett. J. Lo, Ellen Ochoa and Dolores Huerta. Soledad O'Brien and America Ferrera.

The rising Latinx stars featured at this week's Democratic National Convention gave me many other ideas.

And then there is the Supreme: Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

We got to her first. I had a plan for that, and it worked.

My point isn't to brag. It's to breakdown how it worked so that the lessons can be applied to other situations. Before I get into the how, let's let the visuals tell the story.

1. Be clear about what you value. Companies work on defining their mission and values all the time. Individuals and families should, too. (We recently did this in my family.) When you know what you stand for it's easier to spot opportunities worth pursuing and issues worth fighting for. It also helps you follow and create your happiness. Being Latina has always been a point of pride. Not only have I benefited from close family, sofrito-based food and a life filled with rhythms, being Latina also boosted my career from the start. I knew I wanted my daughter to appreciate and benefit from these things, too.

2. Act quickly when opportunity presents itself. I didn't know meeting powerful Latinas was a grand plan for my daughter. But the minute I learned that Justice Sotomayor would be at Brooklyn Public Library promoting her new kids’ book about her love of reading, a spark lit up inside me. I quickly purchased tickets, knowing that it'd sell out. (It did within 30 minutes.)

3. Envision the (big) end goal. In younger days, just attending the event would have been enough. But now that I had a five-month-old daughter and understood how much representation mattered in a world where it could be hard to find, the end goal became much bigger. I wanted my daughter to meet her and have proof. She might not remember it, but it could be a story that could live for generations and a person whose contributions to society she’d be drawn to.

4. Map out the micro-moments that help you get there. It’s easy to get stuck at envisioning that end goal if it feels just too big. Break it down. Map out the steps that would take you from buying tickets to a picture with Justice Sotomayor. It makes it manageable. For me, one micro-moment was finding the perfect onesie for my daughter. It said: “I stand with Sonia.” Another was researching what aisle of the Dweck Cultural Center guest speakers typically walk to the stage from. My husband sat with our daughter at the aisle seat.

5. Be upfront about what you want. Opportunities fly by just as quickly as they present themselves. We telegraphed our desired goal through the onesie and the aisle seat. As Justice Sotomayor walked up, my husband held her in the air. Sure enough, she picked her up and posed for a picture. Security was not happy about my trigger finger but I was still able to get 10 shots that captured the experience.

6. Bring joy to others, too. While we waited for Justice Sotomayor, we talked to people sitting around us about what we were hoping for and introduced our daughter. She was in a playful mood, so it was easy for them to root for us. From the final picture, I think you can agree that the joy we felt spread way beyond our little family circle and to the larger Justice Sotomayor admiration circle in attendance. If you can find ways to enroll others in your pursuit, they may offer the energy that’ll get you over that final hump.