Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Luna.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Anna. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
What I want to share in regards to my story is that I grew up in low-income neighborhoods. I am the oldest girl of five children, and my parents were young. No one had gone to college before me, and there were no expectations for getting an education.
Growing up in that environment people don’t really think you will amount to anything in life and that was very much the thinking of a particular counselor when I was a teen who was the last straw for me. I had always wanted to go to college to be a teacher. For me education was my salvation; it would allow me to leave these dangerous communities and make something of myself, to be independent and educated.
I started community college a year after high school and then moved on to my Bachelor’s program.
The more I tasted education, the more I wanted it. I began to see the doors education opened for me. I stumbled into social work, and it was the best decision I had ever made professionally. Someone had mentioned a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree, but no one in my family had ever pursued a master’s degree before so this was another roadblock to overcome, but I knew I wanted to.
I began my MSW in August 2012, and the moment the program found out I was Native American I was placed in an internship with a tribe in California. I did one-on-one work, play therapy, home visits, approved homes for foster care and kinship licenses, I case managed and really dove head first into tribal social work. Before I graduated in 2014, I was offered a job which soon led to an interview in Scottsdale, Arizona for a different tribe where I would be a supervising social worker.
It was life changing to accept that position because my husband and I picked up our entire world and moved to Arizona not really knowing what to expect. I didn’t realize it would change my world in such a big way.
Working in tribal social work and seeing day in and day out these children in the system I knew that being a foster mother was always in the cards for me. To me it never mattered which body my future child came from, they would be mine completely, and I walked with that mentality as my husband, and I started the journey into foster parenting. Not only did we become foster parents but we became a Native American foster home, so only children who were identified as being Native were placed in our home.
In May 2017, I received a phone call of a four-day-old baby boy who needed a loving and caring home. Within twenty-four hours from receiving that call, I had a brand new baby in my arms and knew from that very moment I would do anything and everything for him until the day I was no longer in this world. I quit working and spent all my time with him for the first four months of his life.
I knew I always wanted to show him what it meant to fight for something you believed in and do something that makes you proud. So when it came time to work again, I knew I wanted to be in a position where I could take all that passion and create something beautiful. I was hired at a high school in Gilbert, Arizona to facilitate a drug prevention education program. I have been able to take everything from my past, every roadblock, every occurrence and turn it into a lesson or learning experience for students. My position is extremely rewarding in that sense.
While in this position in February 2018, I received another phone call about a child, this time a little girl. She needed a permanent home, and we fit the bill. I met her and knew, like my son, that this child was born into this world to be my child and I was placed on this Earth to be their mother. The day I adopted her in November 2018 was such an incredibly beautiful and happy moment. You see, I had so many odds stacked against me. I had so many people who told me growing up that I would never amount to anything.
There were no expectations for me; there were just assumptions. And right now, in my mid-thirties I stand here as someone who reached every single goal I had set for myself in life, and I am not done yet. I became a mother even though my body was not able to birth a child. I became a college instructor even though a guidance counselor in my teens told me I wouldn’t be one. I became a college graduate even though no one else in my family had. I married the man of my dreams who supports me every single step of the way. I am still climbing, I am still reaching for the stars.
So the takeaway from my story is that you can be anything you want to be in life. It is going to take a lot of work, you will fall down a lot but get back up again, keep moving forward no matter how slow the pace. Never stop believing that you can do anything you set out for yourself because you CAN. I made many friends along my journey and even some enemies but I never stop learning lessons about myself and about what I am capable of and neither should you.
Has it been a smooth road?
Like some of the best things, it was a rocky road at some points. One of the biggest struggles was taking a different path than those before me by getting an education. I was the first person on both sides of my family to obtain a college degree. I grew up in a low socioeconomic area and was a minority. There were drug addiction and alcoholism in my family from both parents, and we had to rely on government systems to make ends meet.
Getting my education was a challenge because I did not know how to get to college or what to do when I got there, and it was all very scary at first.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
For the past eight years, I have been in the social work field. Currently, I wear three professional hats.
My primary position is that I work for a high school in Gilbert, Arizona and I run a drug prevention program for students. I do a lot, such as, bring in organizations from all over the valley to put on presentations for students educating them on substance prevention. We also were one of the first high schools in Arizona to have open a mindfulness center on campus for students. I currently oversee day to day functions on the program and run the mindfulness center four days a week for students.
I am involved in the Chandler Coalition on Youth Substance Abuse (CCYSA) which brings together many groups from the area to create strategic plans to combat the drug epidemic faced by our youth. When I’m not at the high school, I teach cultural diversity online to students pursuing their masters in social work. I have teaching cultural diversity for about four years now at the college level, it is a passion I absolutely love!
I also work for Cornerstone Healing Center in Scottsdale, AZ. I work to establish relationships with different organizations by sharing the amazing things Cornerstone offers as an addiction recovery center.
All of my work goes back to people. Working with people on many levels, educating people on many levels and engaging people. I guess you could say I’m a people person. 🙂
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I wouldn’t have been able to get to where I am in life without the support of my family. I have many people who inspire me and drive me. My children always make me yearn to go further because I want to make them proud and show them what passion in your work looks like.
The whole reason I became a social worker was because of my mentor, TJ Fryberger. He was my professor at the time and eventually became my supervisor. He was a foster/adopt parent, supervising social worker and part-time college instructor. He approached everything in life with a calm attitude and a touch of humor which made working with him amazing.
I told him I always wanted to be my own version of him and I did, in my own special way. I am very blessed because I am constantly surrounded by supporters where I work and they help me grow every single day. Amy Leiferman, Estil Wallace, Frances Cruz, Annamari Hogan, Avarae John, Angie Geren, Ted Huntington, Michelle Roan, to name a few.
My list goes on and on. I know that the professional decisions I make in life are supported by this group along with my incredible family! My biggest advocates right now are two tiny humans I have the honor of raising. They believe their mama can do anything and one day they will join me in changing this world little by little for the better. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Email: Anna.luna@gilbertschools.net; Anna@scottsdalecornerstone.com
- Phone: 480 632 4750 ext 5220 (Mesquite High School Health and Wellness Program)
800-480-1781 (Cornerstone Healing Center) - Instagram: Mesquite High School Health and Wellness
- Facebook: M HS HW
- Twitter: Mesquite High School Health and Wellness
Image Credit:
Quintin Bingham, ASU School of Journalism
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