Juliana Mantilla · 41 min
After leaving an abusive marriage with no money, no job, and two children, Colombian-born Juliana Mantilla rebuilt her life from scratch and became one of Australia's most committed domestic and family violence advocates for CALD women.
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Juliana Mantilla had a thriving career in Colombia working on international cooperation projects for the government. She was independent, travelled the world, and had her own apartment. Then she met an Irish man living in Australia, fell in love quickly, and within four months of meeting him in February, she had moved to Brisbane by June. Friends quietly warned her the pace felt too fast, but the romantic rush drowned out those whispers. She arrived on a student visa, became pregnant almost immediately, and found herself increasingly isolated. Her husband controlled major decisions without consulting her, made fun of her English and accent, and undermined her confidence. When he quit drinking after their son was six months old, she saw hope and a reason to stay, even though the emotional abuse and control continued. She had a second child four years later, all while trapped in financial dependence, with no work history in Australia and no support network nearby.
Everything changed when her husband discovered she had secretly consulted a lawyer about her rights. He left in fury, emptying the bank accounts and taking the car, leaving her with a mortgage she could not pay and two young children. His parting words, a challenge about how long she would survive in Australia without him, became the turning point. Juliana took a job in retail despite her academic background. That work gave her back her confidence with English and her sense of capability. She rebuilt from nothing, went on to study business and gain qualifications in domestic violence advocacy, and now works to support other women from culturally diverse backgrounds facing similar situations. Her core message: nobody defines you but yourself, and whatever happened before does not define who you will become next.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses abuse & exploitation and domestic & family violence, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Blue Knot Foundation (complex trauma): 1300 657 380 · blueknot.org.au • 1800RESPECT (family, domestic & sexual violence): 1800 737 732 · 1800respect.org.au
“resilience is not about never break it's about breaking and choosing yourself to rebuild again”
“you never let anyone tell you what you're capable of because nobody define you. You define yourself”
“sometimes the hardest chapters of our life can shape our strongest self”
The hero, today
When close friends quietly warn you that something is too fast or feels wrong, that whisper matters more than the fairy tale you want to believe in. Financial dependence and isolation happen together: Juliana couldn't see a way out because she had no income, no work history in Australia, no family nearby, and had sold her only asset back home. The moment he quit drinking gave her false hope and a reason to stay, even though alcohol was a trigger for abuse, not its cause. Her first job after leaving was in retail, not in her field, but it rebuilt her confidence with English and taught her she could survive starting from nothing. Nobody defines you but yourself, and whatever happened before does not define who you will become next.
Yes. Juliana Mantilla is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
When close friends quietly warn you that something is too fast or feels wrong, that whisper matters more than the fairy tale you want to believe in.
Financial dependence and isolation happen together: Juliana couldn't see a way out because she had no income, no work history in Australia, no family nearby, and had sold her only asset back home.
The moment he quit drinking gave her false hope and a reason to stay, even though alcohol was a trigger for abuse, not its cause.
Her first job after leaving was in retail, not in her field, but it rebuilt her confidence with English and taught her she could survive starting from nothing.
Welcome to the Grit Diaries with Modern Maz. A place where we shore real stories meets real transformation. Each episode we share the journeys of everyday people who's faced life's hardest moments and found their way to hope, healing, and purpose. May their courage inspire you and in the world around you. Let's get inspired. Today we have the incredible Juliana Mantillas. Here's why you're going to want to listen in today to Juliana's story. She has gone through her own journey through domestic violence. She has become an advocate for women to resource them to ensure that they know where to go, who to find and really about empowering women through, you know, we can only call just absolutely horrific and devastating journeys. Juliana is an incredibly positive woman and there's nothing like someone that has actually been through their own journey and are using it to really empower other women. So for any of you that have been touched by domestic violence or trauma or know someone that is, please listen in today. You'll really get so much out of it. Hello. You're listening to Mon Maz on Grit Diaries from Grit to Grace. I'm absolutely delighted to have Maz you back as a co-host for this wonderful show listening to beautiful stories. How are you Maz? really good. Really good. So inspired by these wonderful, beautiful people that we're having the opportunity to interview and really looking forward to sharing Juliana's story today. Yes, me too. I can't wait to hear more. So I'll hand it over to you to introduce Juliana Mantilla and tell us a little bit about her, please, Maz. Yes. Well, we have had the pleasure of meeting Juliana. Juliana is a beautiful Colombian woman who has a strong academic background who migrated to Australia with her new husband and anticipating a life that was going to be full of promise, a family, a beautiful home, but everything turned on its head. It was everything but. As a woman from culturally and linguistically diverse community, she sadly experienced severe domestic violence and was very disconnected from her community back at home. So she was very very isolated. She lost her financial independence, her identity and somehow managed to find her way back. In 2020 she left that abusive relationship but that didn't stop the abuse. She experienced high postsepparation abuse through the legal system, through child support and financial control and all while still enduring verbal and psychological abuse. But despite all of this, her children became her anchor. And slowly but surely, she found her way back, has been able to support her two children, and has become an absolute advocate for women in domestic violence. She is an advocate for helping people in this situation. She's gone on to get her masters in business administration and earn qualifications in domestic violence and family violence and gender violence and social responsibility. She is a massive advocate. We are so grateful that she is here with us today and she absolutely has a story to share and we're really looking forward to hearing what it's been, what's helped you to get through such a challenging situation. And I just want to for all the people out there that are listening to this today, if any of this triggers any uncomfortable feelings for you or if you're needing some support, obviously if you're needing immediate support, triple O. Otherwise you can contact respect on 1 800737732 or lifeline 13114. Over to you mod. Thank you maz. Thank you so much Juliana Mantilla. Look your story is one of huge resilience tenacity and there's so much positivity out of extraordinary extraordinary struggle to strength really. And I'd love to tell us a little bit about growing up in Colombia and what you know your your career. You had a huge career in Colombia. I was looking at you on LinkedIn and thinking, "Wow, you did so many interesting community development projects, international cooperative projects and and you had a really fulfilling career when you were in Colombia. So tell us a bit about those times." Well, first of all, thank you so much Mo and Mas for inviting me to this podcast and give me the opportunity to tell my story and trying to get more people to increase awareness in in this issue and trying to give some hope as well for some woman that are dealing with this horrible situation as well. My background is in government and international relations and I have a master in international cooperation projects. Before I came to Australia, I used to be a consultant for the government in everything related to international cooperation trying to get international help to to support vulnerable communities or industries or different organizations. Yeah. So you had a really sterling career. So what made you you you met a man from Australia? Was he Australian man or like what what happened to make you up? Did you tell me a bit about did you have brothers and sisters in Colombia family? Yeah, I come from a very strong Catholic and traditional family back in Colombia and my family is quite small to be honest is just my mom, my sister. When I met the person that is the father of my kids, my dad had passed away just one month before. So it was at this point it was just my sister, my mom and my nephew. Yeah, I I was having I think I met him in the best moment of my life. I was in the top of my career. I was traveling the world by myself. I had my own apartment fully paid. I was in a very good position when I met him. I met him when I was 37. So I think and the fact that I met him a little bit I think my biological clock might be clicking a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 37. Absolutely. Sort of that stage. Yeah. And I met him back in Colombia. He's Irish, but he was living in Australia like from 2002, I think. Yeah. I fell crazy in love with him. to the point that I actually we discussed about it. It was kind of a very fast relationship, very like quite in a rush. Everything was so beautiful in the beginning. Love booming, trips, visits, presents, going out. I was in a good position. He was in a good position. So, we kind of had the possibility of enjoying a beautiful relationship with some luxuries. But it was quite fast. I met him in February and I in June I was in Australia already. Wow. So within 4 months you Wow. For the listeners and for the people that might be listening that may be experiencing maybe some little sort of ideas of red flags in their own minds. Was there anyone in your life, your sister or your mom, that was saying, "Hey, Juliana, do you want to think about this?" Or maybe they noticed something or there was nothing. Uh, definitely. Uh, but I want to share something as well and related to my culture actually. Yeah, definitely. I have a couple of friends of mine that say, "Hey, isn't it too soon? Watch out. Is like I met him in in I I actually met him in January. In February, he was in Colombia. I stay from February to April and then I was here in June. And some of my friends, they say it's is quite soon. But on the other hand, my Latina culture can be a little bit romantic. So it's, oh, this is beautiful. This is my prince charm. and and all these stories that we as woman might wish unconsciously. But yeah, definitely now that I have experience and knowledge, I know that they were like red flags, love booming. It was not respect of boundaries. When I met him, he actually invited me to meet him in in Miami because I was traveling to Miami to visit a cousin and I actually didn't go to visit my cousin because I found that something was weird and he still didn't respect that and came to Colombia to visit me and I was like, "Oh, this is weird." But on the other hand, I was thinking, "Oh, he's doing all this for me." Thank you for highlighting that, Juliana. I know, you know, something that you've just sort of said and and again, we're always thinking of our listeners when we're interviewing people and and you kindly unpacking and sharing your story is those tiny little whispers and I remember listening to something that Oprah Winfrey interview on on a very similar topic and it's that for us women, we turn down the volume of those little whispers and and we sort of, you know, don't really listen to them until it's become so loud that the that the damage is kind have already sort of rolling. So I think just listening to those little things, pausing, maybe even asking someone, what do you think? So thank you for sharing that. Yeah. And sometimes our families aren't as close as our friends, are they? So sometimes our truest friends are the ones that tell you the truth, you know, like they really know you and they they almost have permission to to tell you. Whereas our family, we often get a bit defensive if our family tell us things. But sometimes cuz our family don't seem to really understand us. So or misunderstand us or something. So we I think when we we quieten down the whispers of very very very close trustworthy friends. It's it that's possibly you know something for the listeners to think about in what you're sharing in your story. And us women generally, isn't it, that we tend to want to really hold on to that, as you said, Juliana, that fairy tale. Oh, he's my prince charming. We We can't let ourselves detach from that ideal dream. And it's lovely. And I mean, if you get prince charming, and he is the full package, fabulous. Who doesn't want that, you know, and they do exist? But it's just, you know, is it at the expense of turning down the volume on those little whispers, that little intuitive nudge. It sounds to me like that it was very fast start to a relationship and timing wise, your body clock was ticking and everything else and you within 4 months you've decided to move to Australia. That was what in 2012 step and move across to Australia. So tell us a bit about the next chapter and what happened through that period. Yeah. Well, I still find myself trying to go and look back. I feel like in some ways I have had some blackouts consciously decide not to remember those things because then I start also blaming myself and is I should have done this I should have seen this I shouldn't you know I shouldn't had done what I did. Yeah I mentioned the relationship was really fast. I want to mention as well that it was so fast that I didn't even realize how I came to Australia. He was visiting me in Colombia and one day I came from work and he actually say, "Well, I want to give it a go and I really love you and I want to have this relationship to have a go. Could you go with me to Australia?" And I remember thinking, "Australia was never in my rad. I have traveled Europe, South America, even Israel, but no Australia was in my mind." And I was like, "Oh, I don't know." And he say, "Well, I just want to see what happened. give it a go. And the next day he came, he had an immigration agent hired. He had a the school already chosen. And and and we just decide, okay, I'm going to give me two months. I'm going to take some break from work. I close my apartment and I go and see what happened. And and this is how I came to Australia. First of all, thinking we're going to give it a go. But in a way it was so fast that I I have never and and this is actually many people from my culture might feel that I I was lucky but I actually have no idea how to apply for a visa because I never had the need to apply for a visa. He did absolutely everything. All my visas, all my citizenship, everything. And some people from my culture would think that I was so lucky. But in in a way it's like I I was not taking into account to any decision making. So I came to Australia very very fast. 6 months later I was which was out of the norm for you. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean like and it was beautiful. Australia is a beautiful country and I was with the men that I thought that it was the love of my life. I absolutely adore him and and I was just I don't know I was just absolutely I don't know blind I guess. Yeah I came and it was beautiful in the beginning and I very fast I felt pregnant but when I felt pregnant there is another sign that I realized is that okay now he was a little bit heavily a little bit no he was a heavily drinker and my pregnancy was quite lonely. In fact, he never went with me to any appointment and uh he was working traveling. But uh yeah, it was really lonely. It was kind of he changed. He changed when I when I fell pregnant. He changed. I couldn't ask for anything because then I was too demanding. I was too spoiled. Kind of start a little bit of the verbal abuse. and he explode quite easy and nasty. But then again, I feel like my background, my cultural background in a way justify or accept what was happening. Oh, he's in under a lot of stress. Um, he is now, you know, he's going to become a father. I don't know. I I I feel that I in a way I justify a lot. Yeah. Can so did you when you got to Australia did you start looking for a role or did you fall pregnant fairly quickly to you know start to have a family? Was that your intention? Were you isolated and alone and was your husband was he was he at work? Like tell us a little bit more around the story. Yeah, it's tricky because I I actually look backwards and it it wasn't that clear. It was like a hiding way how everything happened. I came to Australia and I remember because we wanted to come fast. He actually decide that my visa, my first visa was going to be a student visa because he was going to be the fastest one to get. Saying that I already knew English. I live in America when I was 16 years old as an international student. So coming here I just study English for the first visa. to give it a go in the relationship and this is where I fell pregnant. I come from a country that the only way you live is working really hard and the and I also come from a very like my mom and my dad work all their life and and I study a lot. So my my my personality is being a big worker. And I remember mentioning to him, oh, I need to work. And uh in the beginning, he was like, oh, it's not that easy. Your visa status. And then, oh, you're pregnant. Don't be so hard on yourself. What do you need? I provide. And then when the baby was born, my first kid, you just look after the kid. I'd rather have you looking after the kid that paying someone else to look after the kid. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. And unconsciously, I kind of accept that as well. But I was losing myself in a place that I I wouldn't recognize it. And just to share a little bit how everything was happening, I was living in a relationship. I didn't study. I didn't work. I didn't even go to the gym. And I actually had a cleaning in my house once or twice a week. And it's like how I'm not doing it now with two jobs, two kids. I was single mom for a while. I don't have a cleaner. I have to do everything myself. What I was doing in that point of my life, where was I? Uh and and in a way outside it looks like, oh, she had such an amazing life. She had such a great life. But I'm I feel like I was losing myself. I wasn't working. Every time I raised the opportunity, I raised the need to go to work, he would just disempower me or disenourage me from doing that. And in a way, if I say I need the Sorry. Is that okay? I was just going to say you must have felt really isolated. Did you miss your family? like did you have any friends? Did you have if you weren't doing anything did you have any hobbies? You know like what what was happening for you? uh in the beginning when I arrived everything was around his friends and his his friends and his friends partner and I have to say that I had beautiful memories for a group of friends that we had at this point that I don't see anymore because what happened but in the beginning it was all about his friends when I felt pregnant and I was feeling lonely I remember looking on Facebook Latin American mommies in Brisbane trying to find a little bit of support. I remember one day I was crying because I was feeling lonely that he didn't go with me to the hospital and one of the girls from his background, she say, "Stop complaining. He's working so hard to to provide for everything and you have it easy. Just go to the doctor and and move on." Like, yeah, just stop being so spoiled or something. And I remember thinking, okay, no, I need someone from my own culture who understand what I'm going through. And I look in Facebook, I look in Facebook, Latin American mommies in Brisbane, and I found a group of moms like, and we're still friends, and they have been with me through this this path. But I have to confess that during a long time, they didn't know what was going on. and my family wouldn't know what was going on because I was feeling so much shame. I was going to Colombia quite often. I was going to Colombia quite often and I stayed there for long period of times and and when I was going to Colombia obviously he was everything you want, do whatever you want, take your man holidays and do everything. And I remember my mom thinking, "Oh, you have a great life." and he said a very like very responsible man and I was like how can I talk about what is going on? I was feeling actually I in many ways he made me feel like I was he used to say you're too demanding you're too spoiled and I was like I feel embarrassed to tell people what was going on because in a way I kind of thought that it could be I wasn't being grateful sounds like a confusing space to be in really confusing and in a way that sounds a little bit gaslighting to be kind of saying things like you know you you shouldn't complain pain and you know and uh and the the yet you had a lot to feel like really isolated and really alone and you're carrying so much shame I suppose that you just you didn't feel like safe to talk to your family that must have been an incredible time yeah and I also think like it was a lot of dependency because it was in a point that I even I had my apartment in Colombia I sold the apartment and put the money into our home house here. But then this the money in Colombia is not equivalent to what we have here. And I was like, "Oh my god, like I'm feeling so much dependency as well." Like like how I'm going to do to live here? I cannot take my kids out of Australia and live in Colombia. and if I go to Colombia, I kind of like it was really really tricky because I I remember exploring all the possibilities stay in Australia and divorce but how I'm going to do I haven't worked for so many years and uh I don't have any support network here. I don't have anything else in Colombia because I sold the apartment and put the money here and I don't have where to go. So Juliana, you know, it was sounds to me like you were feeling extremely isolated and when when did it really start to escalate and you knew that things were not right? Can you talk to us about that and that you knew that you needed to make a change? So you'd had your first baby boy who's now 11, right? But you'd had your first boy and then you you went on to have a little girl uh four years later and so when was the period that you started to you know really decide this is not okay. I need to make change. Um I think that I actually saw it quite early but I just try I just force myself to ignore it. I noticed since the pregnancy with the first baby very lonely. Uh he was drinking a lot, verbal abuse and it was kind of he was doing all the decisions at home not even asking me not even not even consulting nothing with me and it start getting a little bit of like also emotional abuse and cultural abuse. He would say oh you're too romantic. you just to tella colian noa or this is what it is here or move on or be don't be too demanding and then I still I still I was still in love I was still justifying what was happening and trying to live with that I had my baby boy he stopped drinking when my boy was like 6 months old which I thought that it was good but at this point of my life. I think it kind of gave me more reasons to stick on there even though it wasn't the problem. Alcohol is not the problem for the abuse. It's a trigger, but it's not the issue. But in a way, because he stopped drinking, I thought he was making an effort and he loved me and he's doing this for me. You had some hope. Exactly. And in reality, it wasn't. And still the abuse keep going. every time become a little bit as I say it's it's really hard because now that I have the knowledge and the experience that I have I see what I couldn't see at the moment it was very hiding I look back and sometimes the memories come back in my phone or in my Facebook and I actually still try to remember how difficult it is because the picture looks perfect but it was it was a point that he used to like oh you're just a pretty face in the picture I do the thinking and uh you don't have to worry about anything. I am the one or he used to say for example my son got the he got the look and the intelligence but the the looks he didn't get it from me. He used to like he used to play with the word in making me feel like I was just the pretty face in the picture and I I lost a lot of self-confident and I lost ah he could make fun of my English and my accent or pretend that he didn't understand and so I also lost a lot of self-confident about speaking English and and it was really really hard for me during that time and also I feel like I want to raise that as Well, like it was very emotional draining because in a way I knew what was happening but I was fighting with my own self, my own personality and my own culture as well. I was trying to pretend that everything is fine and you had no support. No. Yeah. You had no family around you? No. I think I think in in some point when in some point before the little one was born, I actually remember talking with one of my friends and telling her what was happening. But when I fell pregnant with the second one, I felt embarrassed and I tried to everything is fine. We sorted out. We're working in the relationship and I never could go back to her because how can I tell her that something is wrong and then pregnant? This is how I was thinking. It was a lot of shame, a lot of big, a lot of self-laming, a lot of justifications. Yeah. I mean, hindsight's a wonderful thing, isn't it? But at the time, you were hopeful. Your husband had given up drinking. You know, there were little things that were suggesting to you, maybe it'll get better. Although you'd seen you'd experienced so much isolation and and really deliberate ways to kind of keep you keep you away from your family, your community. It's interesting he allowed you to go back to Colombia and and have trips, which is interesting. But that's all really makes for for building the situation, I suppose. Julian, I really want to hear now. You've talked to us a little bit about your story and getting to a point of being in a really terrible position with your husband. You have two little kids. Extreme coercive control is happening. Financial abuse is big and it's a really tough time. Tell us about the steps you made to move forward. Well, I think when everything happened, I start talking with some people and I start trying to find help. And I remember talking to one of my closest friends and she advised me to see a lawyer and see what my position was, what was going on because I had no idea. I had no idea how the system works in Australia. I had no idea what my rights were. I had no idea like I when I separate, I didn't know anything about superanuation. I didn't know anything about Centerlink. I didn't know anything about home loans. I didn't know anything about parenting payments or anything like that. And then I talked to a lawyer and the lawyer actually make me sign a document which I hide in a very very diff situation in my house and he found it and this is when everything open up and it was the beginning of the end. I had a very tough time. Where did you go? Where did you have to leave the home? What happened with you and the kids? I actually was very lucky that he was the one who left furious. He was the one who left absolutely in very very mad situation. But at the same time that he left, he took the car with him. He emptied the bank's accounts and then I found myself with a house with a big loan that I couldn't pay because I I wasn't working in Australia. I couldn't get legal aid because the house was on my name and I couldn't get any loan because I never work. So he left but he empty absolutely everything. So that was a shock to you. You didn't know he was leaving or you encouraged him to leave and then but you didn't know he was going to leave you with a dirty great big mortgage to manage on your own. When he left in the very beginning I thought that it was part of the argument. I was like, "Oh, he just gonna go and and then he's going to cut down and come back." But then when he left and I start acting the way he was acting, I knew that it was it was no way back because it was way too dirty. Even in that situation, I feel lucky that I kind of found myself with no other option because if how can I say this? If things were different, I probably would still be there. You know what I mean? I probably would still forgive and forget, still keep going in the relationship, still would be in a dependent relationship. So, I'm very lucky that things happen the way it happened because it didn't give me any any other option. There's a saying that sometimes you get gifts wrapped in sandpaper. Exactly. I love that. absolutely love that. And I remember he saying to me when he left and he start took it, he took the car, he took the jet ski, he emptied accounts and I realized, oh my god, I have a loan. I have no money and I have two kids and I have this big house. What do I do? And he said to me, let's see how long you stay in Australia without me. And I was thinking now that I look back, it's like I think that part trigger me and it's like okay now see me and it gives me more strength to to show him. I feel like I now I'm the woman that he actually met 15 years ago, 13 years ago. This is the one that he met. This is the strong woman with a career independent and building up myself and trying to do everything I can to to provide for my kids and trying to to be positive and trying to keep my mind busy and and keep being active. This is who he met and stronger and wiser and more resilient. Yeah. Yeah. I think you know these beautiful sayings like you went from complete control now to a place of being in confidence in finding your own confidence and selfworth and shattered to shining. How do you how did you do that? Like the things you do now are just you know fantastic. you've really had have taken your pain into a place of being your purpose and you're the ambassador uh the the called ambassador for beyond DV. You're you provide on the lived experience panel for women's safety and the task force for the Queensland government. You're a delegate for national recovery on the healing roundt. You're a recipient of Brenda Parker Woman of inspiration award and the list goes on and on. So how did you you know just give for the the people listening tell us you know you're left with this huge mortgage. So what were some of the key learnings that you would recommend to others going from a complete place of you know real desperation darkness into huge determination terrible fear into freedom and and isolation into independence. So talk to us about, you know, for someone listening who might been in a similar place, what are your thoughts? What are your pearls of wisdom that you'd like to share with us with Maz and I? Well, I feel very flattered with all the introductions that you just gave me. But also, I want to say that sometimes I feel just this is what we do as mothers as well. And as I say, my my kids are my unclea. And I feel like my old learning with this is like you never let anyone tell you what you're capable of because nobody define you. You define yourself. And it's never too late to start all over again. And whatever happened before, it does not define who I will be next. That one would be like my biggest learning. I have to say that I normally don't share very my very personal experience. I normally talk very openly about the challenges about immigrant woman face when they dealing with domestic violence in Australia. It's the first time that I actually sharing a little bit more of my own experience in a public setting because I feel like this is not me. This is the story of many other woman that is going through the same and all of us are powerful and all of us are resilient and never minimize the effort that we're doing and never minimize what we're capable of. I used to say, "Oh, I feel like I'm just a I'm just a mother. I have no option. I have to do what I have to do." No, I actually now recognize that I strong. I'm capable and I do everything I can. and and it's also trying to talk positive to ourself and trying to encourage our own self to keep you know this patting my back and saying you're doing great Juliana and also remember that train and resilience is not about never break it's about it's about breaking and choosing yourself to rebuild again yeah capacity to cope I often say resilience is capacity to cope but can we just for my curiosity I'm sure Maz's as well. You were left with this almighty mortgage, you know, the situation, but what are some advice around financial independence? What did you do to get yourself back on your feet? Because that's I'm sure many women would be listening and saying, "What did you do there? What what did you do? Is there any did you find some great support for that?" Oh, I have to say that my journey has been quite lucky and and also in a way that I would say and give advice for someone is never be afraid of start from scratch and don't romanticize who you want to be is I am who I am and what I do it does not define who I am. So my first step because I was eight years in a relationship, no working. I was really low self-esteem. I wasn't feeling confident about my English. I my in my mind I was just a pretty face in the picture. The first job that I took it was working in a retail in a in a fashion shop which many of my friends and even my family would say, "What are you doing in a retail shop with all the academic skills that you have?" But in that moment, this is the best experience I have ever had because first of all, it gave me the opportunity to reveal myself and be confident with my English. Also, it gave me it chose me to be humble, gave me very good social skills and trying to get confident a little bit with more people. And at this point of my life, I was going through a lot of stress with all the legal procedures. I feel like that one was a perfect job. I had to dress up. I was going out. It was keeping my mind out of all the stress and it didn't it was just going and work but I wasn't having that stress that I can have now in a more professional level right and I feel like every job comes and everything in your life comes in a way and for a reason that we have to keep seeing the positive of everything we do. So at this point it was my first job but I absolutely love it and I never minimized what I was doing and then I started showing looking for another job and looking for another job. That's an incredible story, isn't it, Maz? And I think for the listeners, uh, an incredible story of resilience and um, perseverance and and I I heard Juliana say she sort of thought it was luck. But I've got a definition for luck, maz, which is luck is when opportunity greets hard effort. So, it sounds to me like yes, there might have been a few little lucky moments or opportunities, but I think there might have been a heck of a lot of um, hard effort. And I can see that just by all the zealous responses that Juliana has in her story and all the volunteer work and all the commitment she's doing to domestic violence advocacy. And I love it. And I think you know the foundation of what this show is all about from grit to grace is really turning that pain into something that is can move it into your purpose and allowing grace to come in allowing support to come in allowing you know working at you know in retail you know for all the academia that she was involved in but yet even in that there were so many wonderful gifts that came in that while she was in the space of rebuilding. So gosh, what a story. And we really, really, really appreciate Juliana for you sharing, coming on and sharing and and sharing your own personal journey that you've referenced. It's, you know, pretty much the first time that you've shared what it was like for you? Yeah. And so you want to say a few words about that before you find out? Just the final message is never stop believing in ourself and keep faith, keep strength, keep courage and yeah and and remember that sometimes the hardest chapters of our life can shape our strongest self. And with that, thank you. [Music] Thank you. Thank you so much. [Music] Thank you for joining us on the Grit Diaries. From grit to grace. If today's story has moved you, share it with someone who needs a little hope. Remember, from grit we can find grace, and from grace we can find inspiration. Until next time, look for the joy, keep safe, stay grounded, and never forget that there is a strength within your own story. Take care. Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music]
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This conversation includes a career in colombia, a man from australia, fast enough to miss the warnings, a student visa and a pregnancy, he stopped drinking, so i stayed, you're just a pretty face in the picture and finding a lawyer, hiding the papers.
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