First Gen Quotes

“To be a First and Only in America is a delicate balance of surviving where you come from while acting like you belong where you’re going.”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir

“Vulnerability can transform emotional pain into connection.”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir

“Wouldn’t any person—no matter how self-assured they are—experience legitimate feelings of estrangement in the same situation, when confronted by social systems that disadvantage them and favor the privileged and connected individuals who control them?”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir

“Because I believe that by revealing our wounds to one another, we are all a little more free and a little less alone. And because the first step on any emotional journey is to own the truth. To reclaim the parts of ourselves we sacrificed in order to survive.”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir

“How common it is that those who smash through glass ceilings are then left to clean up the shards on their own.”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir

“The Trailblazer Toll is the emotional cost of social and economic mobility. It’s the tax we pay to become the proverbial bridge.”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir

“It is a beautiful thing to be a First and Only, the one who disrupts deep-rooted generational patterns to become our ancestors’ wildest dreams. And it also comes at a price.”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir

“People say you shouldn't forget where you come from, yet in my experience, where you come from never lets you forget.”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir

“In truth, the Greek system made me more aware of my Latinidad on a daily basis than ever before. When you're Brown in a predominately white environment, your otherness tends to be mirrored back to you more often than not.”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir

“It's a maddening dig First and Onlys often hear from our friends and family back home. 'You've changed.' I was still the same person inside, but aren't we all meant to change throughout our lives? ...At the time, I didn't fully grasp that for First and Onlys, our efforts to recalibrate and survive in new spaces can often be misunderstood as leaving our friends, our culture, or our families behind. We face dual rejection—in our new environments and in our old ones—for opposite reasons.”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir

“is a beautiful thing to be a First and Only, the one who disrupts deep-rooted generational patterns to become our ancestors’ wildest dreams. And it also comes at a price. To be a First and Only in America is”
― Alejandra Campoverdi, First Gen: A Memoir