Daniela Stapor
Interviewer: Gabriela León-Pérez
Language of Interview: English
Length: 41:38
Abstract
Gabriela León-Pérez, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, interviewed Daniela Stapor about her background and experiences. Daniela's parents divorced when she was eight, leading to a difficult childhood in Bolivia. She moved to Virginia at 13, facing cultural shock and language barriers. Despite these challenges, she embraced her Bolivian heritage and became a social worker, focusing on helping the Latino community. Daniela highlighted the importance of accessibility and resources for immigrants, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also discussed the positive impact of her community involvement and the need for better understanding and support for immigrants.
Keywords: immigration, Bolivia, childhood poverty, family dynamics, cultural shock, language barriers, education, community support, professional challenges, Latino community, COVID-19 impact, mental health, social work, diversity, personal identity
Gabriela León Pérez 0:02
Okay. My name is Gabriela Leon-Perez. I'm a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. I'm interviewing Daniela Stapor from Richmond, Virginia. Today is Monday, November 17, and the time is 8:45pm. Daniela, thank you so much for letting me interview you and for sharing your story with me.
Daniela Stapor 0:24
Absolutely, my pleasure.
Gabriela León Pérez 0:27
All right, so like I said, this is just a conversation, and we'll start with some questions about your family and your background. So could you tell me a little bit about where your family is from and just about your childhood growing up in Bolivia.
Daniela Stapor 0:43
Absolutely. My mom is from Tarija, which is the border from Bolivia and Argentina,
Gabriela León Pérez 0:51
Mhmm okay.
Daniela Stapor 0:52
And my father is from Cochabamba, which is where I was from. That's right in the middle of Bolivia. Both of them met in high school and had me when they were 17 years old. So they were teen parents, and because of that, my upbringing was very difficult. We faced a lot of poverty, a lot of home insecurities, and both my parents ended up divorcing when I was eight years old. So lots of difficult things in my childhood. But aside from all of that, it was really wonderful. I have a really big family in Bolivia, and we were all really, really close.
Gabriela León Pérez 1:33
Do you have any siblings?
Daniela Stapor 1:34
I do, I have one little brother from both of my parents. He's three years younger than I am, and my dad remarried and had four other kids...
Gabriela León Pérez 1:43
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 1:44
... that are younger than I am, so I'm the oldest.
Gabriela León Pérez 1:46
Okay, tell me, how was life growing up in Bolivia?
Daniela Stapor 1:50
It was wonderful. I mean, I don't know. I feel that my experience from Bolivia, it has both sides. You know, the good was all of the support and family that I had there, and the bad was the difficulties that we had to face, you know, not having enough to eat, not having home, lots of financial struggles, and I knew about them at a very young age. So, yeah, it was, it was a mix of both.
Gabriela León Pérez 2:25
You came here in your early teens, but what about school before coming to the US?
Daniela Stapor 2:30
Yeah, so I was in a Catholic school in Bolivia. It's a very conservative country, and there's a lot of religious public schools, and I was in one of them. The one that I was in was all girls, and they started to have some boys in the school, but it was very few, like 42 students, all girls and one boy.
Gabriela León Pérez 2:53
Okay (laughs)
Daniela Stapor 2:55
So that was a big change for me. But, yeah, school was wonderful, but it was very strict, and expectations were very high, so..
Gabriela León Pérez 3:05
Did your family also practice religion? Did you practice a religion outside of school?
Daniela Stapor 3:10
Yes. My mom's side of the family, very Catholic. My dad's side of the family, Mormon. So I was...
Gabriela León Pérez 3:16
Oh, wow, that's an interesting mix.
Daniela Stapor 3:18
Yeah, very extreme religions. But yeah, I was part of both of them.
Gabriela León Pérez 3:23
Do you still practice a religion?
Daniela Stapor 3:25
I do not. I do not go to any church. I like to believe that I'm very spiritual, but not-- Yeah, no, no religion for me.
Gabriela León Pérez 3:35
So tell me about how your family got to Virginia.
Daniela Stapor 3:40
My mom moved here before we did, my brother and I.
Gabriela León Pérez 3:43
How old were you when she came?
Daniela Stapor 3:45
Oh, I was eight and a half or nine. I was very young.
Gabriela León Pérez 3:49
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 3:50
Like a lot of immigrants, she thought that that was the best opportunity for us again, because of my upbringing and how difficult it was there, so she remarried and moved here to Virginia.
Gabriela León Pérez 4:05
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 4:05
And stayed the here. Let's see. About four years she was here, and we stayed in Bolivia with my brother.
Gabriela León Pérez 4:14
Who did you stay with in Bolivia?
Daniela Stapor 4:15
My aunt. We did not stay with my dad. They were in the midst of that fight with what is it called.. custody.
Gabriela León Pérez 4:26
Custody.
Daniela Stapor 4:27
Custody-- Yes, I stayed with my aunt because my mom and dad were right in the midst of custody battles, and that was not fun. So my dad was still there, but he just didn't have custody, so we had to do some weekend visitations.
Gabriela León Pérez 4:50
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 4:52
But yeah, stayed with my aunt.
Gabriela León Pérez 4:53
What were those four years like?
Daniela Stapor 4:56
Terrible. I mean, I felt with my brother that we didn't have parents. You know, we were kind of floating around. We didn't know anything about my mom at that time. The internet was not really a thing...
Gabriela León Pérez 5:09
Right!
Daniela Stapor 5:10
So we had to wait months and weeks for letters, like written letters, and...
Gabriela León Pérez 5:15
She wouldn't call either?
Daniela Stapor 5:17
She would call us. But, you know, with, again, you know, like the immigrant view of like, what they are facing here. We couldn't really tell my mom what was going on with us and how we're feeling, really, because we didn't want to add more to her work..
Gabriela León Pérez 5:33
Right.
Daniela Stapor 5:34
And my mom was also not really sharing much of her experience here, so we had no idea what she was going through, or how difficult it was. For us it was just like, she's in the United States and she's got more money and yay, that's a good thing. Let's just focus on that. So, yeah, it was very isolating. It was very hard for my brother and I.
Gabriela León Pérez 5:54
Was it common for like, were there other families where the parents also came to the US?
Daniela Stapor 5:59
I was the first one in my classroom.
Gabriela León Pérez 6:02
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 6:02
I remember that. And then two of my other classmates had the same thing happened. Both of their moms had left and just left their kids under the care of either the husband or other family members, but I was the first one in my classroom, yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 6:19
Okay. And your mom, her husband, her new husband, was he American or he was Bolivian, and they moved to the US together?
Daniela Stapor 6:28
He was Bolivian.
Gabriela León Pérez 6:29
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 6:29
He was just a US citizen. So he's who helped my mom and us...
Gabriela León Pérez 6:34
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 6:34
...to get the paperwork. My mom didn't want us to cross the border or come here without any documents. That's why it took a longer time.
Gabriela León Pérez 6:42
Okay, yes.
Daniela Stapor 6:43
But he took care of all of that pretty much like so my mom was just pretty much waiting.
Gabriela León Pérez 6:48
Okay, okay, so then, so he sponsored you all..
Daniela Stapor 6:53
Yes.
Gabriela León Pérez 6:53
..to come to the US, and that's why you came when you were 13. Or what was that process like?
Daniela Stapor 6:59
It took a long time. So frankly, I don't know if what took was what was supposed to be, or if he was just kind of stranding my mom along which most likely what was the case. Because at the time it, you know, like the process for documentation was a little bit faster than what it is now, so I don't know if it was what it was.
Gabriela León Pérez 7:27
So then, um, what was it like? So then, how did you find out you were coming to the US, or what was the process like to move here?
Daniela Stapor 7:37
So I knew from the beginning, okay, that I was going to be coming here. My dad was not okay with it. He didn't want us to move here because he knew that he wasn't going to. So, we knew, but we also were kind of just waiting. We were just on hold to see like, when was going to be our turn, and then when it was, it was, like, this was so fast, like, Okay, you're moving to the United States in like, a week. And we had to just kind of prepare for that. And we couldn't tell my dad, because he wasn't in agreement. So we kind of had to sneak out from Bolivia.
Gabriela León Pérez 8:19
Wow.
Daniela Stapor 8:20
Yeah, it was pretty intense. It was pretty intense.
Gabriela León Pérez 8:23
Did you speak English when you're when you came here?
Daniela Stapor 8:25
No, not one bit..
Gabriela León Pérez 8:27
Wow.
Daniela Stapor 8:28
..No, not one bit. I came here and I was just kind of, it actually took a little bit of time for me to start school right away, because I tested positive for the TB..
Gabriela León Pérez 8:39
Oh, okay.
Daniela Stapor 8:40
..skin test. So I had to go through the whole process of treatment for that.
Gabriela León Pérez 8:46
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 8:47
And start right away. So during that time, I remember going to the libraries and like, looking for books and all kinds of things. So I kind of prepared myself to start school, which was great, but that helped me. But no, I didn't know any English.
Gabriela León Pérez 9:03
I have a lot of questions. So okay, first, where in Northern Virginia did you move to?
Daniela Stapor 9:08
Yeah, so we moved to Alexandria, Virginia..
Gabriela León Pérez 9:10
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 9:13
..in Arlington and Alexandria, there is the biggest concentration of Bolivians. I don't know why, but there is.
Gabriela León Pérez 9:21
Yes, that's what I've heard! Yes.
Daniela Stapor 9:23
Bolivians there. So it was really wonderful. Because when we first got here, I remember all the families were kind of like reaching out with my mom, asking her if we needed anything. So a lot of these families kind of help each other..
Gabriela León Pérez 9:37
There was already, like a community.
Daniela Stapor 9:38
It is so wonderful. And I, I look back now, and I'm like, Oh my gosh. Like, no wonder why that was so easy for me to kind of get used to, and because we had all the parties, all the celebrations, birthdays, you know, like, it's a huge community of Bolivian people, so it was really great.
Gabriela León Pérez 9:56
Wow.
Daniela Stapor 9:56
Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 9:57
So then when you started school, you're, what like seventh grade?
Daniela Stapor 10:01
Sixth.
Gabriela León Pérez 10:02
Sixth grade, okay, so you're in middle school. Didn't speak English and a very like tumultuous time of life, right? What was it like? Getti- starting school?
Daniela Stapor 10:16
Oh my gosh. It was so difficult, so difficult. Talk about culture shock. It was night and day.
Gabriela León Pérez 10:26
Okay, so what was, what was middle school like in a new country?
Daniela Stapor 10:32
So difficult. I mean, I remember the first day of school was so incredibly shocking, seeing the schools itself, it was so big compared to my little school, not to mention there were boys.
Gabriela León Pérez 10:48
Oh, right!
Daniela Stapor 10:50
I was just like, what's happening here? Yeah, it was really, really difficult, but also it was so exciting for me too. I was intimidated, but I was also so excited to start something new, and but this the language was definitely what was the most sobering thing, I think, is just being in big crowds of kids not knowing what they were saying, and some kids tell me "well they're saying this", and "you're you have to do this", or, you know, so, yeah, it was, it was really hard to start school like that.
Gabriela León Pérez 11:22
And how about your relationship with your mom? Like, the like process of reunification and living with her again?
Daniela Stapor 11:30
My gosh, I know. And honestly, I think at the time, I didn't really think much about it, just because I was so excited to be with my mom again. But now looking back and knowing what I know I'm like, oh my gosh. I was, it was so shocking for me too, because, in a way, we had to, we get to like, we had to re know each other, get to know each other again. I didn't know who she was anymore. She didn't know who I was because when she left, I was just a little kid, and at this point, I'm just a teenager, you know. So it started really well. We were both really excited, and then eventually we kind of started to clash, a little bit like..
Gabriela León Pérez 12:11
What were some of the points of-
Daniela Stapor 12:13
Definitely, her relationship, her relationship, my mom, before she remarried, her second husband. She has always been such a fighter and moving to the rhythm of herself, I guess, you know. And when we moved here, she was a completely different person. She was very submissive, very scared and afraid. It also didn't help that he was constantly dangling the papers overall. So my mom just was a completely different person, and I hated that, just like, what are we doing, you know? So that was the main point of not anything else. Like I was a very mature person, you know, I kind of had to grow up very early. So it wasn't so much like, Oh, you don't let me do that, this or that, or I don't have this and that. Like, it was more like, gosh. Like, what are we doing here? Why are you letting this guy treat you this way or talk to you this way? So, yeah, that was definitely it. Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 13:30
Wow. And did you still, once you moved here, did you still have relationship with your family back in Bolivia?
Daniela Stapor 13:40
As much as we could. We did with my mom's side of the family more than my dad's side of the family, because remember, my dad didn't know.
Gabriela León Pérez 13:48
Oh yes.
Daniela Stapor 13:50
I think it was the second or third day that we were here, and I just had to call my dad and say, Hey, we're not there anymore. And my dad just lost it. I mean, can you imagine being a parent? Biggest nightmare, right? Like, and I remember having to deliver that news to my dad and having to deal with the aftermath of that, telling him, yeah, no, we're not coming back, dad..
Gabriela León Pérez 14:17
Wow.
Daniela Stapor 14:18
..We're not. And again, at the time, my mom's husband was very controlling, and we were not allowed to talk to my dad just at all-
Gabriela León Pérez 14:28
Period.
Daniela Stapor 14:29
Period, at all. I think it took us, like, a year or two for me to find out ways to communicate with my dad, and that was when the internet started. Like messenger found ways that way because he had a, he has a daughter who is two years older than I am..
Gabriela León Pérez 14:49
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 14:50
..And she was born here, so she, you know, had all of the things I didn't, and we became really, really close, and she's who helped me..
Gabriela León Pérez 14:58
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 15:00
..My dad, yeah, it's crazy.
Gabriela León Pérez 15:03
Wow.
Daniela Stapor 15:03
Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 15:04
Did your dad ever come visit you all? Does he have a visa?
Daniela Stapor 15:08
No.
Gabriela León Pérez 15:09
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 15:09
My dad actually came to the United States when my mom was pregnant with me.
Gabriela León Pérez 15:13
Oh, okay.
Daniela Stapor 15:14
He has an older brother who moved here through the mission, through the church..
Gabriela León Pérez 15:20
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 15:22
..and my dad moved here, and I was born, and he just was like, I can't do this. So he decided to go back to Bolivia, and never came back here. He lost his visa and just couldn't come back here. He never came. Yeah, it's crazy.
Gabriela León Pérez 15:41
So then just sticking and well, and just one more thing. Did you, did your mom, or did you have any family members, or maybe extended family who were in Northern Virginia, so didn't know anyone like no family members, just like the broader Bolivian community?
Daniela Stapor 15:59
We had one cousin and one other one that came after we did so very, very limited support systems here, especially from just family members..
Gabriela León Pérez 16:10
Right.
Daniela Stapor 16:11
..and that still remained the same. I mean, most of our families still in Bolivia. We don't have many here, yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 16:20
Sticking or going back to schools. So then, how was it like, then, like middle school and high school in Northern Virginia?
Daniela Stapor 16:30
Oh my gosh. So middle school, I think, was a lot easier for me, just because there were a bigger number of Latinx.
Gabriela León Pérez 16:39
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 16:40
So the Latino community was way bigger. If anything, it was the community..
Gabriela León Pérez 16:45
Okay!
Daniela Stapor 16:46
..for both, right? So it was easier for me to navigate through that. Then we decided to move to Prince William County.
Gabriela León Pérez 16:55
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 16:55
So if you're not familiar with Prince William County, Prince William County tends to be a little bit more conservative..
Gabriela León Pérez 17:00
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 17:01
..and that was another big shock. I did my freshman year in Annandale. So, Asian and Latinx communities really big, but in Brazilian County, not so much. So it's mainly white and black communities. So it was very easy for me to identify that difference, but it became very clear to me that I had to lean more to be like the rest of the students, and I became really embarrassed about my own culture. Nobody in high school knew where I was from.
Gabriela León Pérez 17:39
Really?
Daniela Stapor 17:40
No.
Gabriela León Pérez 17:40
What did you tell people?
Daniela Stapor 17:42
I mean, they knew by looking at me that I was Hispanic, but they would just be like, Oh, but you're like, one of us.
Gabriela León Pérez 17:48
Uh huh.
Daniela Stapor 17:48
You're one of us.
Gabriela León Pérez 17:50
Interesting.
Daniela Stapor 17:51
So I never really felt comfortable to tell anybody that I was from Bolivia or that I spoke Spanish like I remember trying so hard to say different words and know the pronunciation. I was like, I don't want to have an accent and just the amount of anxiety. So I just really tried really hard, like it became so..
Gabriela León Pérez 18:17
That was until you moved to there, like it wasn't, that wasn't a thing when you were in middle school.
Daniela Stapor 18:22
It was, but it wasn't as much as it was when..
Gabriela León Pérez 18:26
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 18:26
..to the other high school in Prince William. Yeah, Prince William was the- it was just night and day. Like, yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 18:35
And what about your friends? Like, what were your friends in high school?
Daniela Stapor 18:40
Yeah, my friends in high school, and Annadale with the kids that I went to school, like middle school and part of my freshman year, they were all, I mean, again, like, my experience was so different. I mean, I remember going into freshman year and being invited to Quinceaneras, you know, like being in the practices for them, like almost every weekend. And it just was so just nice, you know, very wholesome type of activities. Sophomore year became a little bit different that, you know, like again, trying to fit in and learning all of these different things. But the friends that I had from my second high school were a little bit more superficial and just not as connected as I was with my other friends, I think because of that cultural difference, right? So, yeah, that was definitely the biggest difference.
Gabriela León Pérez 19:41
So when did you feel that you could say, embrace your background?
Daniela Stapor 19:48
That was after high school for sure, maybe starting college a little bit? Then it became really apparent to me. Like, after high school, and everybody kind of just spread out. I was just left, you know, with limited options of friends. And I started to kind of be like, wait a minute, my friends don't even know where I'm from. Like, that's crazy. I can't believe that they don't even know that. And that's when I kind of started to really just embrace my cul- And, you know, I have always been incredibly proud of my culture and my background, but it was behind doors..
Gabriela León Pérez 20:27
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 20:28
..friends, you know. So it's like, Okay, we're gonna go to this party, Bolivian party, we're gonna dance, all of that. But those friends don't know anything.
Okay. Mm-hmm.
Just tuning in a little bit more into-
Gabriela León Pérez 20:39
Kind of two different lives.
Daniela Stapor 20:41
Yeah. Oh, my gosh, absolutely, yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 20:45
So, where did you go to college?
Daniela Stapor 20:46
VCU.
Gabriela León Pérez 20:47
Oh VCU, okay!
Daniela Stapor 20:48
Undergrad and my master's.
Gabriela León Pérez 20:50
What was your major?
Daniela Stapor 20:52
Social Work..
Gabriela León Pérez 20:52
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 20:52
..for my undergrad and clinical social work for my master's.
Gabriela León Pérez 20:56
Okay, so, um, there's something that I've heard from my students and maybe in some interviews. But did you ever like connect or with other Latino students at VCU? Or were you part of, like a Latino Student Association?
Daniela Stapor 21:14
I was, for a little bit honestly, it was, I was part of that at the end of my master's.
Gabriela León Pérez 21:20
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 21:22
Mainly because I just was so busy. I was a non traditional student, so I was working at school. I just had to fly to work or do my internships, so I just didn't really have the time..
Gabriela León Pérez 21:36
Right?
Daniela Stapor 21:36
..To engage in many things, but yeah, towards the end, I did, yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 21:40
Did you feel that at VCU could be yourself in terms of your identity?
Daniela Stapor 21:44
Oh absolutely, 100% I mean, I also was way older, and I just, you know, I had reached the point in my life where I'm just really proud of being who I am. And that's up to anybody who wants to take it-
Gabriela León Pérez 21:58
Right? (laughs) Yeah, you get to that point in life, right?
Daniela Stapor 22:02
Exactly.
Gabriela León Pérez 22:04
So, how have you seen- so you've been, you've been living in Virginia for many years, 20 years, more than 20 years. How have you seen Virginia change in terms of its demographics? And you can tell what Virginia as a whole, or like Northern Virginia or Richmond.
Daniela Stapor 22:28
I think Richmond, it's slowly but surely getting there in terms of diversity. We just were recently in Northern Virginia, maybe a month ago or two months ago, and it's so different. Going-
Gabriela León Pérez 22:44
How is it different?
Daniela Stapor 22:45
Just going back to Northern Virginia and seeing the best diversity of people. So you can find anything you want. Some type of food? You can go and get it. The neighborhoods are very different. I think I see a little bit more of like that.. I don't know here you have to go to certain places like it's not as accessible as it is in Northern Virginia. So I think that that would be the main thing that I noticed. Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 23:14
And do you feel, because you talked earlier about this, like community that exists in Northern Virginia and like support system, so to speak. Do you have that with, like, Latinos in Richmond?
Daniela Stapor 23:30
We do. So we actually created, or started this Bolivian group..
Gabriela León Pérez 23:34
Oh, really?
Daniela Stapor 23:35
..a couple years ago, yeah. And so there's small community of Bolivians. And what we do, we go around different festivals and museums, and we perform our dances..
Gabriela León Pérez 23:48
Okay!
Daniela Stapor 23:49
..and talk about our culture. So that's just that little small way that we are contributing to that. But yeah, no, I do see a lot of people that are more interested in that type of stuff, like we have people from other countries in South America that have joined our little..
Gabriela León Pérez 24:04
Oh great!
Daniela Stapor 24:05
Yeah. And they come out and they perform with us, which is great.
Gabriela León Pérez 24:09
How did you find the other Bolivians?
Daniela Stapor 24:11
So I have a friend who was working with me. I was working at the Virginia Department of Health, and that's how I got to know her. She's from the same city I'm from.
Gabriela León Pérez 24:22
Okay!
Daniela Stapor 24:23
That's again, very unheard of here in Richmond, especially, we were like, wait a second, you're from Bolivia? And then she happened to know another family that was from Bolivia and that's how we kind of just got to everybody, yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 24:36
Oh, that's cool!
Daniela Stapor 24:37
Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 24:39
So, what have.. what are some obstacles that you have encountered in Richmond or in Virginia as a whole?
Daniela Stapor 24:54
I think that you know that there's a lot of... My experience, at least, like as a professional, has always been positive for the most part, you know, but there are certain things that I have experienced where I'm just like, Huh, interesting.
Gabriela León Pérez 25:14
Can you give me an example?
Daniela Stapor 25:15
Yeah, I was actually doing my internship for my clinicals. I was assigned to this new client, and she was not very friendly and polite, and she just, like, started yelling at me, like, like, "Do you speak English?" And talk about professionalism. I did not react, but, but, you know, I did set a firm boundary there. But just you find those situations, or I have found those situations every once in a while that I'm just like, Okay, here we are. And you kind of just have to sit back and think about what happened and how I feel about it, but yeah, it's not something that you know, I haven't been unfamiliar with unfortunately, so, yeah, definitely that.
Gabriela León Pérez 26:08
Has it happened, mostly like in a professional context?
Daniela Stapor 26:12
It has happened in the professional context and other situations too, you know, like.. Yeah, you know, people not expecting me to be like their therapist, you know, like walking out, Oh, okay. Like, (laughs) but mostly now in the professional setting, but in the past, you know, you name it social, you know, going out, there's the jokes and things like that.
Gabriela León Pérez 26:51
So, so, speaking about this, so you talked about kind of your experience with the Latino community? What about, what people who are not Latinos in general? What has you been your experience?
Daniela Stapor 27:02
It overall, has been really positive. Honestly, I feel.. I have- we have a lot of friends from all over the world, pretty much, and for the most part, people are really positive and curious about where I'm from, asking questions. We try really hard to bring a lot of like celebrations from Bolivia and invite our community members, like our neighbors. You know, we have just recently did like a community Todos los Santos, which is like the other Dios Muertos..
Gabriela León Pérez 27:35
Okay!
Daniela Stapor 27:36
..but in Bolivia, we celebrated on the first of November, okay? So we did that, and people brought their own pictures, and we did, like, a little bit of a presentation, but for the most part, really positive. For sure. Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 27:49
Okay, that's really cute.
Daniela Stapor 27:50
Yeah (laughs)
Gabriela León Pérez 27:52
So tell me about about the jobs that you've had, because you mentioned like that you did your your internship and your master's. So what jobs have you had? and what do you have- What's your job right now?
Daniela Stapor 28:05
You name it. I had all kinds of jobs. I mean, again, you know, my upbringing and coming here to the United States, I knew very early on that I had to start working. So I- when I was 13, I started doing, you know, cleaning houses, babysitting. We did construction with my mom at some companies..
Gabriela León Pérez 28:28
Oh, wow.
Daniela Stapor 28:30
So you name it, you know? Like I've done all of it. When I was in high school, I was serving. I did surveying a little bit here, when I first moved here to Richmond too. Babysitting. I worked for the VDH, the Virginia Department of Health for seven years.
Gabriela León Pérez 28:49
What did you do there?
Daniela Stapor 28:50
So I started as I actually started in the records room when..
Gabriela León Pérez 28:54
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 28:54
I was doing my undergrad, and then I moved my way back, my way up to become the supervisor for the maternity navigation team. So..
Gabriela León Pérez 28:56
Very cool.
Daniela Stapor 29:01
Yeah, it was really, really long, like, it's such a cool program, working with a lot of Latino families, like moms who are expecting. And then I work for CPS, and then I work for foster care. And now I'm here. I'm doing therapy or working with kids with adults and yeah..
Gabriela León Pérez 29:29
And tell me a little bit about the kind of the clients, patients, I don't know what the word is, that you see.
Daniela Stapor 29:40
Yeah, all over the place..
Gabriela León Pérez 29:42
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 29:42
..Frankly, all over the place. I see clients with all different backgrounds, diagnoses, but my focus is primarily to see people who are Hispanic, Latino and Spanish speaking. There's not many therapists in Richmond or Virginia overall that are bilingual..
Gabriela León Pérez 30:04
Right.
Daniela Stapor 30:05
..And I'm starting to build a little bit more clients that are bilingual, so it's really cool. But yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 30:13
What do you think are some of the biggest needs for this community that you that you serve.
Daniela Stapor 30:20
Accessibility, 100%. Accessibility, having the resources to afford it, because it's really expensive..
Gabriela León Pérez 30:31
Right.
Daniela Stapor 30:31
And the agency that I work for right now, they make it very accessible. We see clients with Medicaid, Medicare, so it's great, but that is certainly the biggest, the biggest barrier. I mean, we have so many clients that have reached out to me, and they can't qualify for neither of those, and here we are, like, we can't afford it, so we have to come up with some type of payment plans or something. I mean, I have even offered pro bono, but I can't live off of-
Gabriela León Pérez 31:03
Right.
Daniela Stapor 31:05
Definitely that, definitely the accessibility. Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 31:08
Wow. So the next few questions I have are about covid. Yes, so, um, how was- did you already have kids? Yes, you have a little- you had a little one..
Daniela Stapor 31:28
Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 31:29
..So you were living here in Richmond. So, how did you first learn about covid, and how did your family just kind of like deal with these abrupt changes to life?
Daniela Stapor 31:41
Gosh, I know just even thinking about covid, covid time is like ages ago..
Gabriela León Pérez 31:47
Feels like a million years ago.
Daniela Stapor 31:49
Under five, that's all I know. It was really scary. I know that. I don't remember exactly how we heard about it. We were all really scared. I mean, having a newborn at that time, I was so scared. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what was going to do, like, just had no idea. But at the same time, like my husband and I joke about this, like it was so nice. (laughs) We had like our little bubble, and there was, like, no expectations of many social things. So it was great in that, in that way, but it was really scary. It was really scary, especially having the direct, I guess, exposure of how other countries were living, like Bolivia, it was really difficult. You know, they didn't have vaccines until a very like, it was not as accessible as it is here, my grandfather actually ended up passing because..
Gabriela León Pérez 32:48
I'm sorry.
Daniela Stapor 32:49
..Yeah, it was, it was really difficult. It was really difficult, yeah, and we couldn't go, you know, to Bolivia..
Gabriela León Pérez 32:56
Oh right!
Daniela Stapor 32:57
..We were so scared of "What if we get something over there? So yeah, it's really difficult. Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 33:03
Were you working at the time?
Daniela Stapor 33:06
I was working. I was working for VDH.
Gabriela León Pérez 33:08
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 33:09
I was working for the covid 19 unit.
Gabriela León Pérez 33:12
Oh, okay. Oh, so you saw everything like firsthand!
Daniela Stapor 33:15
Saw everything firsthand. So we were calling people, doing all kinds of questionnaires, making sure that we were telling them what to do if they were in contact. It was really cool. I mean, it was a really cool job to have as this was happening.
Gabriela León Pérez 33:32
Yes.
Daniela Stapor 33:32
We knew exactly what. We knew exactly what was happening. So, yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 33:37
Yeah, and I remember that at one point, Latinos made up over, like a third, more than a third of the covid cases.
Daniela Stapor 33:44
Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 33:45
So, how did you all, like at VDH.. what was- what work was done behind the scenes to help this community?
Daniela Stapor 33:54
I mean, we had a lot of people that were bilingual. That was huge, because back before that, when we first started, there was only a few of us that spoke Spanish, and I started recruiting. Some people recruited my mom, she started working, so we just had to, and a lot of the time what happened was, like, the families would get to know us, like, okay, so you're telling us what to do, and can you call so and so? Can you let my daughter- Can you let my cousin know what you just told me? So, we kind of became that way as we are, like, my community's very like-
Gabriela León Pérez 34:31
Gain their trust.
Daniela Stapor 34:32
Exactly, exactly. So it was, it was really nice. And then from there we had, like, different teams that were focused on- focusing on different things. So from there is when I moved to like maternity so just working with parents and expecting mothers.
Gabriela León Pérez 34:54
Okay, what kind of services were provided or information?
Daniela Stapor 34:59
So, yeah. So we were not just talking about preventative care with covid, but we were also connecting these families to resources in the community. So essentially, like social work. We were doing social work, connecting families to all kinds of things. I mean, you name it. We were there, connecting them to things. Yeah, it's really cool work.
Gabriela León Pérez 35:25
Did you see, well, in addition to just covid cases, how did you see the Latino community be impacted by covid?
Daniela Stapor 35:38
It was really difficult. I mean, with a person who has their documents and can be eligible for resources, it was easier to connect them to things, but with families that didn't have that, gosh, like, it was so hard. I mean, we had to, kind of like, call so many businesses, call so many organizations and see if they could make some type of arrangement for these people. Yeah, it was really, really difficult, and it was really, really difficult.
Gabriela León Pérez 36:13
Do you feel they were open to vaccination? Or what was the-
Daniela Stapor 36:18
There was a lot of hesitancy with vaccines, because, again, they don't speak the language. They don't know what to trust. There's always been this hesitation with even people calling from the Virginia Department of Health, if we call, they would be like, "Oh, I'm good. I don't need anything." So we kind of had to be able to let them know that we were safe. So we added something, I can't remember exactly the script, but it was something like, we're not reporting this to ICE, we're not reporting this to any other agency. It's just to support you and your family and kind of gain their trust that way.
Gabriela León Pérez 36:55
Right. Yeah, because they're calling from the government.
Daniela Stapor 36:58
Right, so they're like, oh, okay, okay, yeah. Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 37:03
Okay, so I- those were the covid questions. How- I did want to ask earlier, you mentioned before that you're kind of like embracing, kind of like an indigenous background. Tell me about that.
Daniela Stapor 37:20
Yeah, my grandma was indigenous..
Gabriela León Pérez 37:23
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 37:23
..a Cholita. She wore the braids and the traditional clothing. She did not really speak much Spanish..
Gabriela León Pérez 37:32
Okay.
Daniela Stapor 37:33
..So, and she lived with us. I grew up with her, but even when living in Bolivia back then, there was this. It was a lot of discrimination against indigenous people. So, you know, some people knew, some people didn't know that she was my grandmother, my great grandma. But there's no denying that. I mean, we are, right? And so now I am so incredibly proud of that, because she was so proud of who she was and wouldn't let anybody just intimidate her. So I love that, that she instilled that.
Gabriela León Pérez 38:12
Did you learn the language?
Daniela Stapor 38:14
I remember knowing a little bit of Quechua, and it's actually part of the curriculum in Bolivia, like kids-
Gabriela León Pérez 38:19
Oh, okay, I didn't know that.
Daniela Stapor 38:21
Yeah, so I did know a little bit, but that kind of went away (laughs).
Gabriela León Pérez 38:27
That's really cool that you're embracing it.
Daniela Stapor 38:29
I mean it, yeah (laughs).
Gabriela León Pérez 38:31
Um, so then, do you feel like you belong in Richmond?
Daniela Stapor 38:36
I do.
Gabriela León Pérez 38:36
Yeah, what- what makes it feel like home?
Daniela Stapor 38:40
Um, honestly, it's just knowing that the community that we have made here, we have a lot of really amazing people that we've met, our neighbors. Just having the opportunity to go and tell people about our culture and for people to be curious about it, I love it. I mean, it's so wonderful. It's really, really great to have that. So, yeah, I think it is.
Gabriela León Pérez 39:08
So it sounds like you have kind of, like a very diverse group of friends.
Daniela Stapor 39:13
I do.
Gabriela León Pérez 39:14
Yeah?
Daniela Stapor 39:14
Yeah.
Gabriela León Pérez 39:14
Where did you meet your friends?
Daniela Stapor 39:16
All over the place. Gosh, like friends of a friend. We meet at the bus stop.. and we're like "Oh we'll come over, we'll stop by" and it's like all over the place really.
Gabriela León Pérez 39:27
I love that. So well, immigration is always a hot topic, regardless of what's going on politically and everybody has an opinion about immigration from different perspectives, right? But sometimes they're not based on facts, right? So what would you like politicians and the general public to know about immigrants or Latinos?
Daniela Stapor 39:56
Gosh, there's so many things I wish they knew. First and foremost, I really hope that they can open up to understand not just the difficulties that we have to face as immigrants, but how much we contribute to the communities, right? Like just by living, communicating and interacting with one another, we're really bringing so much value, so much diversity, that it's needed, we can't avoid it. So, yeah, that would be the first.
Gabriela León Pérez 40:29
Okay, and what would you like the public to know about your life story? What would you want like, let's say, students, to take of your- take away from your interview?
Daniela Stapor 40:42
Honestly, I really hope that someone can identify, maybe just a little bit, if anything, with my story, and just really see that there's always so much that you can do, right? So no matter how difficult the cards are for you in this moment, there's always something you can do. There's always a way of connecting with other people and with yourself. Most importantly, I think that that's the main thing that I want to bring to this, right, is, yes, we can notice that we're very different from the majority of the people that we're surrounded by. But what is your core, right? How to come back home always.
Gabriela León Pérez 41:24
I love that. Is there anything you want to add that I didn't ask about or that we haven't talked about?
Daniela Stapor 41:33
I don't think so, no, no.
Gabriela León Pérez 41:37
All right. Well, I really enjoyed this. Thanks so much.
Daniela Stapor 41:37
Thank you! Of course.
Gabriela León Pérez 41:37
Those are all the questions.