“I’m Excited to Embark on This Journey We Call Life”
For graduating senior Yadira Cabrera, Commencement marks a chance to build on everything she’s learned about herself at BU
“I’m Excited to Embark on This Journey We Call Life”
“I’m Excited to Embark on This Journey We Call Life”
For Yadira Cabrera, graduation from BU is a chance to celebrate the sacrifices her mother, Maricarmen, has made to help her realize her dream of becoming the first in her family to earn a college degree. “Commencement will be full-circle for my mother,” Cabrera says. “This is what she’s been working towards her whole life. There is going to be a lot of crying, definitely!”
Cabrera (COM’24) grew up in a tight-knit Dominican American community near Inwood Park in New York City’s upper Manhattan, raised by her single mom and her older sister. Her mother worked seven days a week, rising at 5 am to make pastelitos, a Dominican snack food similar to an empanada, which she would then pack up and take to construction sites in and around Manhattan. Workers would wait to take lunch until Maricarmen showed up. On weekends, she’d sell the pastelitos in Inwood Park, accompanied by her daughter, who marveled at her mother’s ability to connect with people.
When Cabrera entered high school, her mother got a license to drive a cab so she could better support her family. It’s a difficult job, but Cabrera says her mother’s vibrant personality and strong work ethic have earned her loyal customers. Watching her mother interact with customers in both jobs taught her the importance of fostering community.
When it came time to apply to colleges, Cabrera knew she wanted to major in public relations. “I’ve always loved storytelling,” she says, “and public relations is a way to connect people and help build stories.” She visited Boston University and was impressed with the College of Communication PR program. She knew she wanted to attend college in a city (“but not New York City—I wanted to go away for college,” she says), but wasn’t sure how she could afford to come to BU.
That became possible when she received a Richard D. Cohen Scholarship. The scholarships, endowed by Richard D. Cohen (CGS’67, Questrom’69), a Boston University trustee emeritus, provide annual awards based on financial need and merit to undergraduate students from low-income backgrounds enrolled at any BU school or college.
A self-described social butterfly like her mother, Cabrera began building her own community as soon as she arrived at BU. She joined BU SOCA (Students of Caribbean Ancestry), ALPFA (Association of Latino Professionals for America), and Ad Club. She also served as copresident of COM’s PR Lab, president of the BU chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), and cochair of the Class Gift campaign.
“It’s so important to be a resource for others and when you become part of a club, you become a resource,” she says. “I’m able to help others find their own community at BU.”
In addition, she’s held down two to three jobs every semester, including stints working the late night shift at West Campus Dining, working at the front desk at FitRec and the Howard Thurman Center, and interning with BU Productions.
In recognition of her academic success and her contributions to the University, Cabrera has received a coveted College of Communication Blue Chip Award, given to only a handful of COM graduates each year, and she has been inducted into BU’s Scarlet Key Honor Society.
“BU has taught me a lot about myself that I want to keep, and I think it’s due to all the extracurriculars that I’ve been a part of and the communities that I built,” Cabrera says. “I’m finally walking into life, becoming a grown woman who still has a lot to learn, a lot of wisdom to gain, but it just feels like the biggest step of my life is going to be everything that I do from here on out.”
Her immediate goal is to return to New York City and land a job in sports or entertainment public relations, with the goal of one day forming her own agency so she can serve other BIPOC entrepreneurs who want to launch their own companies.
But first, there’s the business of celebrating Commencement with her mother, her sister, grandfather, aunt, and uncle—”everyone who’s been part of my journey,” she says.
“My success is their success.”
Find more information about Commencement here.
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