Kelly Roldan
I am a proud Latina (born in Caracas, Venezuela) with an American name, people often ask if Kelly is my real name or they tend to say “So, what’s your real name?”. I always thought that having an easy to pronounce and popular name in the US was something good. I have been living in the US for 14 years now, and I never thought that people could have so much conflict and questions in regards of my name and the way I look or the accent I have, but it’s a reality and I have learned to live with it. I actually tend to joke about it, it became “normal”.
I still think it’s a good thing, I love my name, and I’m proud to say where I come from and where my roots are, and (with time) I also learned to live with my accent as this greatly affected my confidence. I have been battling with the “impostor syndrome” for a while now. That voice inside my head tends to change every time I overcome an obstacle. After I accepted my accent, then the voice changed to “am I good/smart enough to be here?”. It’s a struggle on a daily basis, but I continue to work on it, to learn tools and techniques that can help me, and to find good mentors/advisors/role models who can give me new perspectives on how to overcome this.
