Meet Trailblazer Cindy Garcia

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindy Garcia.

Cindy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Being first generation American and proud daughter of immigrant parents from El Salvador. I quickly learned the importance of human rights. Learning my family’s journey to get to where they are now has become the core of my being. Growing up, I always knew I wanted to help others. After college, I found work at a domestic violence organization. Never thinking how working there would change my life forever. I learned a lot about compassion, perspective, how life trauma can affect a human being. Also, the resilience of the woman and how much women can endure and conquer. While working as a social worker, I became pregnant after being married to my husband for about a year. I was about 5 1/2 months pregnant when I went into labor and gave birth to my daughter, Sofia. She passed away about an hour after birth. This had been the most traumatic event in my life. I went into a very dark space and being a social worker, I knew I had to address it right away. I went to a support group, I went to therapy and I also started a blog.

In my blog, I was very open about my experience and my story of loss. I quickly received emails in my inbox of other women from all over the world that had also lost a baby. It made me realize that I was not alone. I became pen pals with a few women and built an amazing support system. That is when I learned the power of building community, an finding connection with other women. Two months after the loss of my daughter, I became pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful girl that we named Vida. Fast forward a few years, I have been married to my husband for 14 years and we now have three kids. Vida is five, Sebastian is three, and Isla is one. Being a busy working mom, I realized that I was wanting to find a connection with other mothers and women. As a mother, I found myself feeling isolated and had a need to build community. Just six months ago, we moved my little family from Tucson to Phoenix where I am originally from. In Tucson, I volunteered for a playgroup meet up and missed it so much, I started my own playgroup in Phoenix about five months ago. The group is called Desert Mom AZ. It is a group of mothers that bring their kids out to socialize together and explore what Phoenix has to offer. It has been an amazing adventure! It has become the ultimate #momtribe. We all are supportive of one another and our children are growing up together and having a blast exploring the amazing city of Phoenix.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has never been smooth! I think the biggest struggle is internal. It is so easy to get in my own head and break myself down. Or fixate on something negative someone said about me or my dreams. Some amazing women in my life have taught me that without stretching yourself there will be no growth. Many times in my career, I have done things that were out of my comfort zone. I definitely think there is power is saying yes. Even if I have no idea what I am doing or if I am afraid, trust in what you can offer. Going for it is half of the battle. I might have felt very nauseous along the way with nerves and anxiety that was out of this world. If you believe in yourself and your dream, “you can take the future, even if you fail” (my favorite song lyric from ABBA). We learn from our struggles. The beautiful thing about making mistakes is learning about yourself during that journey pushing through it, and not being hard on yourself about it.

We’d love to hear more about Desert Mom AZ.
My life work will be dedicated to women, and fighting for human rights. Currently, I am working on growing my organization into a non-profit that offers playgroup meetups for mothers and their children to explore Phoenix, AZ. and surrounding areas. Desertmomaz.com is my blog where I share about motherhood and were mothers can sign up for the playgroups. My goals are to offer free fun events for mothers to connect with other mothers and to socialize their children. We also have a fun brunch club where women meet once a month to have some girl time.

Desert Mom AZ is known for being fun and supportive. A safe place for women and children to foster friendship. What I am most proud of this group is seeing other women connecting with one another and seeing the importance of building community and support systems for one another.

What sets us apart from other groups is that we welcome all women, and offer the membership free of charge. I think it is important to offer free services to mothers. <3

What’s the most important piece of advice you could give to a young woman just starting her career?
Believe in yourself and your abilities. Stay focused. If you lose focus, it’s okay! If something does not work, it’s okay! You can always reinvent yourself. When you wake up to a new day, there is a new opportunity to make changes in the path you choose to take.

Contact Info:

• Website: desertmomaz.com
• Email: desertmomazblog@gmail.com
• Instagram: @desertmomAZ
• Facebook: desert mom az playgroup meet up

Image Credit:
My amazing Instagram husband Jose Garcia

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.