Growing up in poverty in Puerto Rico, Dr. Aida Giachello, who has a doctorate in medical sociology, witnessed the health conditions that kept Latinos from moving ahead: diabetes, asthma, obesity and lack of insurance. But years later, while doing social research at Northwestern University, Giachello learned that the barriers getting in the way of success went far beyond health concerns. “Issues of low education, poverty, poor housing, unemployment, racism and sexism were rampant,” says Giachello. But few knew how to remedy the social ills.

Wanting to gather accurate information, Giachello founded the Midwest Latino Health Research, Training and Policy Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1993. “I searched for new facts that would help us understand the Latino reality and then tried to do something about it,” she says. “Only the collective work of Latinos could begin to change their negative image in the U.S.”

As the center’s director, Giachello worked closely with ordinary people in the community. She sat in on meetings with middle-aged immigrants, where they were advised on everything from blood sugar management and exercise goals to how many tortillas to eat per day.

Over time, she developed innovative models to educate people in the prevention and management of chronic diseases, many of which have been adopted internationally. She also trains Latino and other minority researchers and health workers in the U.S. and Latin America. This way, “community leaders and organizations can advocate effectively for their health and social well-being,” says Giachello.

Giachello is using her research findings to bring about policies that would end the disproportionate ills Latinos have endured. “There is so much talent, and few have the opportunities to maximize their potential.”

“You can’t come home. No one here wants you.” These were the words Susana De Anda heard from her brother -- her only close remaining family member since her parents died -- when she called home from college, crying.

In spite of feeling lost and alone during her first year, De Anda went on to pursue a double major at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in environmental Studies and geography. She worked in several different organizations on water issues and environmental justice before serving as a community organizer at The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment.

Susana eventually co-founded the Community Water Center, a nonprofit that she now directs. The organization is solely dedicated to helping low-income communities gain access to clean, safe and affordable drinking water -- a cause to which she is devoted.

Susana works with 11 communities in Central California, each of which is struggling with water-quality issues because their tap water is contaminated by cancer-causing agents. Her organization acts as a catalyst for community water-driven solutions through advocacy and education.

In 2005, Susana was awarded the Rising Tortuga Award from the Latino Issues Forum for her willingness to “stick her neck out” for California’s Latino communities.

In retelling the story, Susana says she later realized that her brother, who has always been her anchor throughout her life and continues to be, had said this in order to give her the strength to keep going. Having lost their parents at a young age, they were there for each other.

From a meager past, Susana -- still a young woman -- has created work, a family and a life she loves.

Julia Alarcon quit her lucrative sales job at 39 and dove headfirst in the cutthroat world of fashion design. As the legend goes, Alarcon was pulled into her boss’s office and offered a promotion, a plum job that would’ve made her the envy of all her peers. Rather than jump for joy, Alarcon felt trepidations. “It came out of nowhere,” she says. “I realized I didn’t want the promotion and really wanted to be a fashion designer.”

Alarcon’s Spanish parents frowned upon her desire to study fashion in college, so she instead studied international business and Spanish, later earning her master’s degree in international affairs. But it was her love for the big fashion houses, like Yves Saint Laurent, that truly quenched her thirst. She quit her job, enrolled in Parsons the News School for Design and outlined a 6-month business plan with her sister Natalia (who has since left the business).

Lialia was born in 2005 and has turned into a down-to-earth but lovely women’s wear line for a lady who Alarcon says, “has a little more life experience.” You could easily picture Michelle Obama or Carla Bruni attending a high-profile luncheon in one of Alarcon’s smartly cut and sophisticated dresses, often in interesting prints or soft grays and whites. After a successful stint on Sundance’s “All On The Line,” Alarcon is in negotiations to sell her wares in Nordstrom. Fingers crossed.

Trying to follow your dreams? We took a look at the accomplishments of four entrepreneurs who are using their culture to change their field.

	Sisters Claudia and Silvia Ortiz loved baking as young girls in Chicago. As adults in 2010, they turned their passion into Casa Girl Cupcakes, a much-frequented cupcake store. From horchata, to churro, to arroz con leche, you won’t find these typical Latin flavors in cupcakes anywhere else in Chi-Town or beyond.
	As a working mom with three young boys, Tanya Diaz had little time to exercise. But when she met personal trainer and makeup artist Maria Barrerra, the pair wanted to help other busy women stay in shape. In 2010, they started Knockout Fitness and Beauty, a women-only beauty and fitness regime in Chicago. They offer many packages, including a 10-week boot camp with hair and beauty makeovers.
	While writing an article about online wedding-planning for Latinos, Lilian de la Torre-Jiménez realized little was offered in Spanish. In 2008, she began publishing Bodas La Revista USA, the first Spanish-language bridal magazine in the country. The California-based glossy has since won several prestigious awards.
	As a teen mom in Tularosa, N.M., Tina Cordova knew early on that she’d have to work twice as hard to succeed. After learning about an opportunity in the construction business, Cordova took $5,000 -- her life savings -- and started Queston Construction Inc. Despite the recession, in 2012 Cordova will celebrate 20 years of constructing and repairing roofs. A tireless advocate for Hispanic business owners, Cordova is also the president of the New Mexico Minority Business Association.

In her groundbreaking memoir, When I Was Puerto Rican, Esmeralda Santiago wrote of her journey from the barrios of Puerto Rico to the halls of Harvard University. The book, published in 1994, opened up a dialogue on cultural identity, immigration and assimilation. Her recent novel, Conquistadora, continues the conversation, exploring class, survival and romance in untamed Puerto Rico.

Las Fabulosas: During your research for your novel, you read about the history of Puerto Rico in the face of so much adversity -- slave insurrections, a cholera epidemic and hurricanes. What was the universal response to each of these catastrophes, as a people?
Esmeralda Santiago: People picked themselves up and started over with an unbelievable optimism. As I read, I was thinking, “My God, I cannot imagine going through all these things and having the strength to go on.” But that is very much a part of our people. There’s an attitude of, “Well that happened, and I’m alive, and I’m just going to do what I have to do. Fix things and keep going.” And it’s not like they just fixed their own house. They helped one another. There was this willingness to give the next person the shirt off of your back, literally.

LF: What is the best advice you ever heard from your relatives about making do when money is tight?
E.S.: My mom raised 11 children as a single mother, and the thing she is very proud of is that we always ate well. And she did it by being creative. If there was no milk, she made almond milk. If there were no almonds, she made rice milk. If there was no rice, she made oat milk. I remember her saying, “So long as I’m upright, I will work to make sure that I will take care of my family.” When she wasn’t able to work as a seamstress, she worked as a maid or she made alterations at the laundry, or she cooked for men who didn’t have families. This attitude is ingrained in my family.

LF: What is the best advice your mother gave you about finding true love?
E.S.: My mother’s attitude about true love is, “It’s great to fall in love, but if he doesn’t treat you right, there are plenty of men.” She had five husbands, and at 81, she still tells this to her granddaughters and great-granddaughters.

LF: What has your family taught you about what makes life meaningful?
E.S.: I think for us, it is the sense of closeness and unity. We are not physically close, because we live scattered over the United States and Puerto Rico, but we are close in the sense that if any one member needs help, the whole family goes into action. The sense of unity is very, very important to us. I always know that if I need them, my sisters and brothers will be there. And that is an incredible comfort.