Week One!

 Hello All! 

    My name is Gabriela Mendoza. I am a born and raised Californian that has gone from Cali-Oregon-Cali-Texas. I moved to Oregon right out of high school and took my shot at college for 4 years, but was not successful and felt that my life was over. When moving home I left feeling defeated and like my life was out of my hands, but little did I know, it was just beginning.

    I started to work my first full time job at a hotel and met the love of my life. He took the leap into hotel management and we took the big move to San Antonio, Texas. We have now been in San Antonio for the past 2 years and in the last year have gotten married and introduced a son into the world. 

    My son is now 5 months old and he has been best addition to our lives. I know that many say that you should have found your passions and interests before having a kid, but I have had a different experience. Becoming the best mom I can be has been driven me to find passion in taking care of my mental health, physical healthy, and education.

    I started going to therapy at the beginning of 2025. My therapist encouraged me to explore the idea of going back to school, and with an advising appointment, I realized that I was only 8 credits away from a general associates degree.  I am now finishing my associates degree to transfer into a marketing program here in Texas! 

    I am looking to start a career in marketing in the next few years, so this class is a perfect way to get my foot into the door and start a basis of knowledge.  

Outside of school and being a mom, I am a huge San Francisco Giants fan!

   I get a majority of my  political information from the streamer HasanAbi, mainly because my husband has a political science degree and prefers to rewatch his streams on YouTube everyday. My go-to sources are Instagram and locally, the Nextdoor App. As much as I would like to say that I don't enjoy watching HasanAbi, I feel that I am a lot more up to date on world news, than I was before my husband and I got together. I definitely got a lot of my news as a scroller on social media and have slowly come to learn that social media is for opinions and not for facts. And as an anxious mother, I have to stay away from Google. It is the worst doctor. 

    If I am passing along social gossip, I don't feel that I do as much digging as I should. Whereas, the measles outbreak here in Texas was relayed to me from the Nextdoor App and Instagram, and then I looked up on Google to find articles, and it was confirmed to me by the Texas Department of State Health Services. 

    Social Media platforms were created to connect us to each other in different locations, but I feel it has became a place to attack one another and gossip. If Instagram were only for the greater good,  posts would be better regulated. Instagram is a place were you may be able to see inspirational quotes, but with one algorithmic change, you are seeing people getting in car accidents.