Giuliana Nicolucci-Altman
How has your family's immigration story played a role in your life or shaped your identity?
“I think it's done so in so many ways. First and foremost, because of the languages I was brought up with, I speak Portuguese with my mom and Spanish with my dad… which first of all, gave me the ability to not only communicate with my family, but with other people who speak Spanish. Also, I think growing up as an immigrant, you grow up with this mentality of having to work twice as hard because of the opportunities that your parents presented to you via their sacrifices and the the hardships that they had to experience to get you to where you're at. So I think that's really shaped my motivations and and it's gotten me where I am today.”
How did you parents instill these ideals in you?
“Comparing both my parents, my dad doesn't really consider himself to be an immigrant. He’s moved around a lot and he studied abroad, so he feels more like he's never completely settled. My mom, on the other hand, established a whole community of friends in the U.S. of other Brazilians, and she perceives it to be a blessing to be in this country and to leave Brazil. I'm not sure if you know much about Brazil - that daily reality, the disparity between the rich and the poor in Brazil. And so I think that mentality was more passively instilled because my parents never put too much pressure on me to do well academically. I'm just using academics as an example because to them, that's how you get places. I think it was more of me observing and reflecting on what they had to do and then taking it upon myself, because the thing that would make me the happiest would be for them to be proud of me. So with whatever I try to do, that's my motivation.”
