When Your First Steps into Higher Education Become Life Lessons

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In this first episode of my September series on higher education, I open up about the tug-of-war I felt as a teenager—caring for my grandmother while craving freedom, being accepted to UMass Amherst but landing at community college instead, and realizing I wasn’t ready the first time around.

This is a story about leaving and staying, guilt and grace, and the small seeds that stay with us—like the moment a professor told me, “You have a talent.” It’s proof that even when we think we’ve failed, we’re actually carrying the foundation for what comes next.

✨ Preorder my upcoming novel The Ordinary Bruja here: haveacupofjohanny.com.

 ☕ Mentioned in this episode: my journey as a barista college dropout—and why that detour mattered more than I knew at the time.

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If today’s episode hit you in the chest the way it hit me, don’t just walk away—walk toward something that reflects you.

Subscribe to the podcast, hit that YouTube channel for the behind-the-scenes, and if you’re ready to read a story about what it really means to come home to yourself—
👉🏽 Preorder The Ordinary Bruja.

https://haveacupofjohanny.com/product/the-ordinary-bruja-book-one-of-las-cerradoras-series-j-e-ortega/

It’s about a Dominican-American bruja who’s been running from herself her whole life until ancestral magic, generational wounds, and a haunted-ass hill force her to face the truth.

If you’ve ever felt “too much,” “not enough,” or like you don’t fit anywhere, you’re exactly who this story was written for.

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📚 Preorder The Ordinary Bruja. https://haveacupofjohanny.com/product/the-ordinary-bruja-book-one-of-las-cerradoras-series-j-e-ortega/

Because becoming who you are is the bravest kind of magic.