who is Faustina Nevarez?
Early Life
Born in the land with sweeping deserts, high mountains that seemed as if they could graze against the stars and deep canyons which stretched on for an eternity, Faustina Nevarez, or Tina for short, was born in Northern Mexico. She stayed there until she was about five years old before her family immigrated to a small farming town known as Arbuckle, California. Cast adrift from her once sense of normalcy, Tina along with the rest of her family, had to adapt to living within their new close-knit, rural community. Tina recollected how difficult it was for her to acclimate, especially within school, as she did not speak any English. Although when starting elementary school her father made sure she could at least ask to go to the bathroom. However, with that being the only sentence she knew at the time, when passing out crayons Tina recounted asking the teacher for a crayon because she never received one, but exclaimed that she must have asked to go to the bathroom because that is exactly where her teacher sent her! As her father was the farmworker of the other kids’ parents who were the landowners or ranchers, Tina's upbringing was surrounded by the complex relationships and power dynamics of not only her peers, but neighbors. When her family needed extra hands during harvest season, Tina along with her siblings would help out in the fields, picking for hours on end, but were rewarded with a meal from A&W at the end of the day, even if it meant spending all the money they had made.
Greatest Impact & Mentor
Some of the greatest impacts on Tina’s life were the challenges she faced as a child of not only immigrants, but those who felt disconnected to their new world. She expressed a deep gratitude to her dear family friend, Laurie. During high school Laurie, an Arbuckle 4-H Club leader and UC Davis alumni, took Tina under her wing. Under the guidance of Laurie, Tina was able to not only visit the UC Davis campus where she toured the admission, financial aid and housing offices, as well as the dorms, but ultimately attend as a student. Later, after finishing her undergraduate degree she continued her studies at San Francisco Medical School in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Life Achievements and Accomplishment as a Doctor of Obstetrics & Gynecology
One of the most fulfilling achievements Tina has had the pleasure of being is a mother, taking note of the immense sense of pride she feels towards her children, their work ethic, success stories and overall kind hearted spirits, who have an undying affection towards their Mexican-American heritage. In turn, professionally, Tina illustrated the love she has for being a doctor to her involvement as an administrator in the Los Angeles Medical Center. Currently, Tina is working with AltaMed which concentrates/helps lower income families, as well as is the head of the Women’s Health department which was not established when she started her work as an OB/GYN back in 1985. She feels an immense gratitude towards her accomplishments, noting, “Sometimes we succeed in spite of the situation… I think that when I look at my own personal background and the percentage of women my age during the early 70’s going to medical school, it wasn’t just that I was Mexican-American, I was also a woman.” Now women’s rights are under attack again and minority women have it even worse. Tina expressed how saddened she is by the overturn of Roe V Wade as those were really important, hard won advantages women had won. Being an OB/GYN, Tina was very aware of what it was like to have women die due to desperate, unsafe at-home abortions, stating, “We’ve lost our rights to privacy, we’ve lost our rights to manage our body, our reproductive rights are underchallenged… we think in California we are safe, but we are not, we must keep fighting for our rights.”
Life in South Pasadena
After receiving her collegiate degree from the University of California Davis, Tina went on to attend San Francisco Medical School, later meeting her husband. Eventually the two married, having two children during medical school. A plate full of responsibilities, Tina had to focus on both becoming an OB/GYN, but also juggle the life altering changes that come with motherhood. Tina moved from the Bay Area breeze to the sunny sights of Southern California for an internship at Kaiser Permanente as Obstetrician Gynecologist, yet it was not until 1985 where she made the move from Highland Park to South Pasadena. Tina’s motivation to move to South Pasadena stemmed from her longing to find a true sense of community within a small town. Although her neighbors were super welcoming upon moving into the community, there were times where Tina and her husband faced negative stigmas due to unjust stereotypes and discrimination. Tina recognized that the perspectives of our realities evolve and emphasized a need to continue to initiate change for the betterment of society, exchanging our mentalities of minorities to “we are the core as opposed to we are the margin for our children”. As a society, Tina urged, “We must begin to appreciate diversity, and the notion that normal is not just white and mainstream, normal is everybody, we are all God’s creatures, we need to be respected.”
consejos/advice for the next generation of Latinas & Youth
“Now women’s rights are under attack again and minority women have it even worse. We’ve lost our rights to privacy, we’ve lost our rights to manage our body, our reproductive rights are under challenged… we think in California we are safe, but we are not, we must keep fighting for our rights.”
