This is the part where I tell you about me.

My name is Mauricio Correa and I was born in Mexico and raised in Orange County, California. Life was going great, my daughter was born and two years later I was hit with devasting news. At the age of 23 I was diagnosed with cancer, two weeks before my birthday. Little did I know that this profound experience would become a driving force behind my determination to face adversity and fundamentally act as a catalyst to change who I was into who I am now. 

At 23 years of age, I was working two jobs , had a two year old daughter, a wife and I was in school so I could become a Marine Biologist, that was the dream. This was not a time for me to stop anything but I had to. Times were filled with uncertainties and fears. I could not let this stop me, I had to be strong and resilient so I can guide my family into a beautiful life. During this time, I realized the importance of making the most of every moment and embracing opportunities. 

I returned back to school where my professor told me that I should look into a different career path because my skills in math and data analysis were superb. I pushed that into the back of my mind and focused on graduating. Upon completing my goal and dream to graduate, I was hit with an empty feeling and a feeling of "what now?". 

This is when I saw an ad during COVID for data analytics courses from Google. I was curious and I also wanted to learn programming languages so I enrolled in the program. I ended up earning the Data Analytics Certification from Google.

 Now I am completing projects based on my own interest and passions such as the cancer project in hopes that it spreads awareness and develops my skills even further. I will continue my journey in data analytics and continue to add new skills to my repertoire. Through my work experiences, especially of that being an assistant teacher and teacher,  I have honed my communication skills and my ability to present complex data and information to diverse audiences. My background in research further enriches my data analyst capabilities, making me a well-rounded and capable data analyst. 

Life will always throw you unexpected events and it is your duty to adapt to those changes and continue to be resilient. It is ok to be knocked down as long as you learn something from the experience and get back up again. This is me standing up against all the unexpected and difficult times. I hope my story serves someone and inspires them not just to be a data analyst but to be the person they want to be. I hope you find strength, courage, and resilience so you may conquer anything that life throws at you.