Resilience Rewritten: Whitney Ramirez's Path Through Adversity

From overcoming adversity to carving her own path.

Whitney Ramirez's journey is nothing short of extraordinary. In this episode, we dive into Whitney's past, a mosaic of challenges and triumphs that shaped her indomitable spirit.

Growing up believing her great-grandparents were her grandparents and dealing with a serious health scare at an early age, she faced life with a resilience that is as inspiring as it is humbling. Whitney's story is one of grit and determination; working multiple jobs to keep the lights on after losing her caretakers, she was the first in her family to attend and graduate from college, all while managing a chronic health condition.

Her life is a powerful testimony to the strength of the human spirit and an embodiment of the belief that where you come from doesn't determine where you're going.

Listen For:
7:53 Loss and Resilience
10:04 The Struggle to Stay Afloat
17:15 Health Battles Begin
23:53 Post-Graduation Plans

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Transcript

Whitney Ramirez (00:00):

And then my roommate at OU was like, do you need to go to the hospital? And I said, yes. So we're rushing down to her car. Me and her both did not know where the hospital was and so we were both panicking. I couldn't breathe and she couldn't find the hospital. The last thing I remember is writing my name down and then passing out,

Ashlie Marshall (00:40):

Hey y'all at C-Suite Chicks, we are here to talk to you today. We want to kind of take some time and get to know Whitney and know more about Whitney's past and parts of her past that have contributed to who she is today. So I'm super excited and very honored to conduct this interview. It will be more like a conversation, but I'm excited for you guys to get to know Whit like I do. Hey, Whitt, how's it going?

Whitney Ramirez (01:10):

Good. And Ashlie doesn't even know some of this stuff.

Ashlie Marshall (01:14):

It's a little, that's crazy. There are pieces of Whitney I know and eras of Whitney that I know, and there are eras that I don't, so I'm actually kind of excited to get to know more about you.

Whitney Ramirez (01:28):

Yeah, hopefully it won't make you sad I don't think. It's just like Ashlie was saying, even before we recorded, she's like, yeah, you're not really sentimental. I'm like, I know. Because during, I think it's really interesting to see what people were going through while their brain was fully developing. Your brain's not developed until 25 and then that hits and it's like consciousness.

Ashlie Marshall (01:53):

It's wild. Exactly. And part of that, your ability to see that at such a young age now is also what helps you to be wildly successful. So we'll get into that. So just let's know, Whitney, we know you currently live in Tulsa. We know, I believe that's where you were born. Am I correct? You were born in Tulsa?

Whitney Ramirez (02:17):

Yes, I was born in Tulsa.

Ashlie Marshall (02:18):

Excellent. And tell us a little bit about, you kind of spoke just a minute ago about before we were jumping on this podcast to record about the early teen years. I know our plan was originally to go from high school to college. What happened, how'd you get to college? What were you doing in college? Those kinds of things. But I want to hear a little bit more about those early teen years because I know that you grew up living with your grandparents. So give us a little bit of info about that.

Whitney Ramirez (02:54):

Well, I actually lived with my great grandparents, which is crazy enough. My great grandparents, I grew up thinking they were my grandparents and that my mom was their parents

Ashlie Marshall (03:09):

Got it.

Whitney Ramirez (03:10):

 And they were actually my mom's grandparents. And they had adopted my mom from their son because he had her, he and his then girlfriend, my mom's biological mom, they had my mom when they were very young, like 15, 16. So her grandparents adopt, which was her biological dad's parents adopted her. And so she grew up thinking her dad was her uncle. And I grew up thinking my actual biological grandpa was my uncle too. But it's very confusing explaining that to people. But they were technically my great grandparents and they're much older, obviously being great grandparents. And my grandma was very devoted Christian. My grandpa was not. My grandpa loved horseback riding and team penning, and he would travel around the country and do team penning and I would go with him from time to time. And I had asthma as a teenager, and so I couldn't do sports I wanted, and so I did horseback riding and so we bonded over that and I would go to church with my grandma every Sunday. I was just a good kid.

Ashlie Marshall (04:40):

What's interesting about that to me though is there are sometimes when we're in conversations or in meetings or doing random things, I don't know, randomly it will hit me. You have an old soul and I've never expressed that to you in all the years that we have worked and got to know each other. But I'm like, man, you have parts of you that are very old soul. But that is so explicative to me in terms of it wasn't your grandparents, it was your great grandparents. So it was an older generation. And we've chatted about this a little bit, like small things like you know how to play piano classically and things that you talked about you did when your younger years was very similar to me. And we are vastly age-wise, different. And so you were raised by old souls and that's why you kind of have that old soul in you, which is a good thing. I feel like it's a really great quality to have,

Whitney Ramirez (05:35):

And I'll keep referring them to my grandma and my granddad. That's just what I grew up knowing. I didn't know that they were my great great grandparents until I was 15, 16. I didn't know.

Ashlie Marshall (05:50):

So that was kind of around the age too, you were just telling me about. So let's move into that. So your great grandparents that you lived with and grew up with, they passed away when you were young. How old were you when your granddad passed away?

Whitney Ramirez (06:03):

I was in sixth grade. He died pretty unexpectedly, but he was a diabetic. He also had ulcerative colitis. He had an ileostomy. I grew up seeing him change that, and I have an ileostomy now, so I can relate back to those days when I saw him do it. But yeah, he died from acute respiratory distress and we don't know exactly why. I mean, he was just pretty unhealthy, honestly. He had a lot of health issues. And then my grandma died in 2012, so they died six years apart, same month, April, and she died from cancer. So it was a mix. It was pretty much her entire abdomen, like lungs, kidney. She kind of had a lot going on. And nobody really knew about it Until It was too Late, kind of. I think they caught it pretty late. So she did chemo, radiation. You'll see a cat every now and then. Yeah. Yeah, she did treatments, tried to keep it under control, but it got bad fast For her.

Ashlie Marshall (07:28):

 Yeah. Yeah. So you were still young, I mean, 16, you're in high school, you're freshman, sophomore. Sophomore ish in high school. So at that point, I mean, I know the situation with your parents. You didn't have a really good relationship at that time. And so from there, where did you go? What happened when your grandma passed?

Whitney Ramirez (07:53):

So the crazy thing is I stayed at that house with my mom and my mom's boyfriend lived with us at the time, and then my mom had young kids too. There was two and a 3-year-old living with us, and then my other younger brother. So we stayed at that house, and then I was working the only one working, and I worked and I paid our electricity bill so the lights would stay on, and

Ashlie Marshall (08:29):

 Where did you work? Wait, so 16. Okay. Barely can drive. Where did you work?

Whitney Ramirez (08:34):

I couldn't drive. Well, I could drive. I could drive. I didn't have a car, so I would walk to work Santa Fe, the place with the bull.

Ashlie Marshall (08:48):

Oh, where did you walk from? Because I know where that is, but where did you live? How far was that walk?

Whitney Ramirez (08:55):

So if you go across 71st, and gosh, I don't know how to explain it, but you basically cross a highway a little bit or a main road. And then there's, it wasn't even really a neighborhood, it's like a random street of houses. And so it was like a mile, mile and a half. I wasn't bad.

(09:20):

(09:20):

There. And then I worked at Ted's too, a little Mexican restaurant I could drive. And I got my grandma's car when she passed too, so I could drive at that point. But before she passed, I had walked to Santa Fe after she passed, I would drive to work, but I stayed there since she passed 2012. That was my graduating year. So six years apart. My graduating year I stayed at the house, but then I went to college that year too. So I was really only living with my mom and the old house for

Ashlie Marshall (10:03):

With the young kids.

Whitney Ramirez (10:04):

Just a few months. Yeah.

Ashlie Marshall (10:08):

Then you went off to college. You physically lived on campus. Okay. Well, I'm curious to know this. How did you pay for college? What was that path?

Whitney Ramirez (10:18):

I took loans and grants when I was 18. Most people do.

Ashlie Marshall (10:25):

Claiming yourself, I mean obviously nobody was filing taxes or were you filing taxes when you were 16, 17?

Whitney Ramirez (10:30):

I filed taxes myself from the age of 16. TurboTax goes all the way back.

Ashlie Marshall (10:42):

See, when I was 16, TurboTax wasn't a thing. So that's why I'm like, how did you do all that? Okay, go ahead.

Whitney Ramirez (10:49):

I did, yeah, I took out loans. So I took out loans. I also, my mom didn't work and I have maybe had one less than 10 words, spoken to my biological dad my whole life. I dunno who he is, dunno where he lives. I could tell you his name and that's about it. But that's it for him. But I didn't have anything to give them for my mom either. And so I had to fight with the schools and give them letters from pastors and police officers to be like, please, I can't give you parent information. I need to get through college, but I'm going to do it myself. I got it to where I didn't have to give them anything for my parents. And so that kind of worked out for me in a way. I got the maximum amount of grants, and so I ended up with student loans of course, but I lived off student loans.

Ashlie Marshall (11:57):

That was how you survived.

Whitney Ramirez (11:58):

I made it through college and took care of myself. But yeah, I don't have as many loans as maybe some people do for going to college four years.

Ashlie Marshall (12:10):

Why did you decide to go to college?

Whitney Ramirez (12:13):

I don't know. I was dead set on it from a very young age. I knew I wanted to go to OU and I just didn't have any other option for myself.

Ashlie Marshall (12:28):

You didn't think of any other way forward or not even way forward? I mean, if I think back to when I was that age in line with what you're saying, it wasn't like I was going to have a choice. It was you're going to college, what college do you want to go to? But at the same time, my parents didn't graduate from college. So that makes me curious as to how you felt about it, because clearly all you had was your great grandparents, and I don't even know if that was much older generation. It was not common for people to go and graduate from college. No, but for you it was very much a That's what I'm doing. That's just how it is.

Whitney Ramirez (13:02):

Yeah. My grandma was a bookkeeper and my granddad, he was in the army. Yeah, no, he was in the army. So yeah, they didn't go to college. My mom wanted to go to law school. She got pregnant with me. I was the first in my family to go to college and graduate college. But I just knew from a young age, and I also knew that any job that I would enjoy doing required college too. And so I was also, I am a stubborn person and my stubbornness from a young age was to be the exact opposite of my parents. So that kind of fueled my fire in a way.

Ashlie Marshall (13:51):

I laugh about you saying you're stubborn because I don't feel as though you show me as much of your stubbornness as you would show your husband. Because when I hear about your conversations with him, I'm like, you are stubborn, but you don't act that way with us. That's a completely different conversation. We'll attack that on a later date.

Whitney Ramirez (14:16):

I feel like I am, but my patience has grown a lot

Ashlie Marshall (14:21):

Becoming a parent will do that to you. That's a humbling experience. Okay, so we got to college. Did you go to ou? Is that where you went?

Whitney Ramirez (14:33):

I did. I got in. Okay. I went to ou and I don't know, I think everyone has an expectation of what college is like and you're like, oh, it's going to be so fun. The best years of my life.

Ashlie Marshall (14:48):

Partying, having fun. No, that's

(14:51):

Not what it's,

Whitney Ramirez (14:52):

I didn't go to one party. I didn't go to one party. I didn't drink. I didn't have a boyfriend. I mean, I was a great kid. I just was really focused on school, but I didn't make it.

Ashlie Marshall (15:05):

You were also helping to be the opposite of your parents. So that also was very Path wise.

Whitney Ramirez (15:11):

 Yeah, I didn't really fit in I don't think either, because I didn't party and I wasn't a sorority, so I was just a calm doing my own thing kind of person in college. But I got sick pretty fast.

Ashlie Marshall (15:31):

And that's where we get into Whitney's health history. Yes. So how many years were you into college when things with your health started to become an issue?

Whitney Ramirez (15:41):

Well, it started at 15 is when I started getting stomach problems is loosely what I'll call it is my stomach always hurt, always having pain. I couldn't eat without being in pain, always having to go to the bathroom. But in high school, everyone thought I had an eating disorder. Everyone's like,

Ashlie Marshall (16:04):

You probably so frail because you couldn't eat is the pain. Yeah.

Whitney Ramirez (16:09):

So I weighed a hundred pounds and I was so tiny in high school and everyone just, no one believed me that I was actually sick. I got made fun of because I would say my stomach hurt and I went to doctors too. It wasn't like I tried to just continue living that way, but I did go to doctors and they'd say it's anxiety and like, oh, you're just going through a lot of stress in life right now. And was my grandma had died and I'm about to go to college. It's a stressful time.

Ashlie Marshall (16:45):

You didn't really have anything to be combative about with that because you're right, it was one of those situations. But I have heard this story multiple times from different people who have the same issues you'd have, which to let our listener know she has, she's been diagnosed with Crohn's, but obviously that didn't happen until you were in college. So we've had these stomach problems for years, but what was the turning point in college when you ended up not being able to just pass it off as anxiety?

Whitney Ramirez (17:15):

Yeah, so I was on some pretty, so I went and saw a doctor, a GI before I went to college. And he said he thought I had uc, which is ulcerative colitis.

(17:31):

He gave me the maintenance meds that they give to people with uc who have kind of mild to moderate. And that kept me by in a way I could manage my symptoms. I was still really tiny, still losing weight, still having pain, not eating very much. But I wasn't even in at OU for maybe a month and a half, two months before I got a pretty severe infection. And I didn't know I had an infection. I had this bump on my leg and I was like, oh, that's weird. And it kind of hurt. And then I went to the ER and they're like, oh, we don't really know. Maybe we'll do MRI or something. And so I was supposed to go back for that. And then a few days later I couldn't breathe. And then my roommate at OU was like, do you need to go to the hospital? And I said, yes. And then so we're rushing down to her car. She, me and her both did not know where the hospital was. And so we were both panicking. I couldn't breathe and she couldn't find the hospital.

Ashlie Marshall (18:45):

Oh my God.

Whitney Ramirez (18:47):

The last thing I remember is writing my name down and then passing out.

Ashlie Marshall (18:53):

Oh my goodness.

Whitney Ramirez (18:54):

Yeah,

Ashlie Marshall (18:55):

Because you obviously were feeling like, I'm going to die. This is it. I could tell you didn't know what to do. Did she end up calling 9 1 1 or did she end up driving you to the hospital?

Whitney Ramirez (19:08):

No, we made it.

Ashlie Marshall (19:09):

Okay.

Whitney Ramirez (19:11):

We made it. But the next thing I remember is them pulling a chest tube out of my wrist,

Ashlie Marshall (19:20):

Out ribs out of your chest.

Whitney Ramirez (19:21):

And then they were pulling all these tubes out of me and that was two weeks later. And so it's like we get to the hospital and I write my name down and my social pass out, wake back up two weeks later.

Ashlie Marshall (19:36):

What made you think to write your name and social on a piece of paper? How close were you with your roommate?

Whitney Ramirez (19:43):

I ran into the hospital and wrote my name down and my social to the hospital lady because I couldn't breathe. And they knew right away. They were like, I just need to know who you are at that point. But yeah, that's all I really remember. And then I remember majorly hallucinating when I woke up and I remember the hallucination still, but I could not tell you what was real life in the

Ashlie Marshall (20:19):

What was actually happening and what you were imagining. Crazy. And then, so you said you were out for two weeks and then you woke up to all these things coming out of you and then you had hallucinations. At what point do you feel like you could tell it was reality and you were actually out of all the sedations and feeling like you knew what was going on?

Whitney Ramirez (20:42):

It was a good two days where I was coming out of it and I got my phone back and I texted my roommate to come tell me what happened. I was like, what is going on? And so she came to the hospital, told me what happened, and told me what had happened while I was asleep and stuff. And that was kind of it. That's when I knew, oh God, this is real. But I didn't know how bad it was.

Ashlie Marshall (21:16):

So I think it's real pivotal though. When you woke up and finally came to and texted your roommate mate, who was there at the hospital?

Whitney Ramirez (21:27):

No one.

Ashlie Marshall (21:29):

No one. And I know it's rough, but look how far you've come. Look at where you are now. True. When the doctors started to tell you what was going on and tell you, okay, these are your realities. I know. After that, not long after is when you met your now husband. It was roughly, correct me if I'm wrong, I feel like it's roughly a quick progression from the time you woke up at the hospital to when you met Oscar and how that all happened

Whitney Ramirez (22:09):

Kind of. So that was 2012. And so 2012 I went back home. I had to learn how to walk again, talk again. I had shaved my head in the hospital. My hair was so matted and I went back college.

Ashlie Marshall (22:33):

So you didn't go back to school immediately? How long did you go back for? I

Whitney Ramirez (22:36):

Did go back to school immediately. So the 2012, I was out the fall semester in 2012, but I picked back up in summer 2013. So I picked back up. I got a job, well, I got three jobs at home and one of those was working at the hospital. I still wanted to be in school for something medical. So I got a job at the hospital and it was like my favorite early job ever. I got to work in the ER and it was really cool for me at the time. But that was the hospital in Broken Arrow. And Oscar had been working at the hospital in Tulsa and maybe a year into working at the hospital in va. I transferred to Tulsa because BA was a tiny hospital, so I wanted to work at the big hospital

Ashlie Marshall (23:42):

And see all the big stuff.

Whitney Ramirez (23:45):

So I transferred. And then me and Oscar met in 20 14, 20 15.

Ashlie Marshall (23:52):

When did you graduate

Whitney Ramirez (23:53):

College? Probably 20, 15, 17.

Ashlie Marshall (23:56):

Okay. So you went from 2012 to 2017 and you met Oscar in between there at the hospital. Okay. So you worked at BA hospital. You're all working through your medical issues. We know the progression of that. You kind of got worse and you got better and you got worse and you got better. I feel like that's the very typical of Crohn's. Right. And then you graduated college and what was your plan when you were in college? You said you wanted to go to school for medical job. What was your plan? This is what I'm doing with my life.

Whitney Ramirez (24:27):

Well, when I was at ou, I was on the speech pathology path, but to go to speech path school, that's a master's and you have to have your bachelor's in science or you can do your bachelor's in speech path. But I had my bachelor's set in biology, so nothing really got off to track in terms of my degree. But after my medical incident, then I was like, I don't really want to do speech path anymore. I think I want to be a pa. And so then I was like

Ashlie Marshall (25:12):

Physician's assistant. Okay.

Whitney Ramirez (25:15):

So I just kept going to school with my biology degree and I got it. I got biology and chemistry degree with a minor in psych. And even though I don't use my degree, I love the experience I had and everything I learned with that degree, I just felt so accomplished.

Ashlie Marshall (25:38):

 Yeah, that's a big degree. That is a lot of school. One of my closest friends from college is a doctor. She's an anesthesiologist, and I know I watched her go through all of that.

Whitney Ramirez (25:54):

So

Ashlie Marshall (25:55):

It's a lot of school. It's a lot of work. Well, that is a huge accomplishment. It really was for me. And then when you graduated, because all along in there, somehow you got the job when you were about to graduate with tier level. It wasn't quite tier level just yet. It was still a very much a startup with the owner.

Whitney Ramirez (26:21):

So I worked at the hospital on weekends. I was in my late years of college. I was an orthopedic tech, so I would do splints on people casts, I would set traction. And then I also worked at Forest Ridge, which is a local golf course. I would waitress and bartend there. And then one of our regulars was Sean, and he needed someone to help him with social media. I'm like, well, I know social media. Any other college kid knew social media and I needed money. I was always needing money, and I knew that I was about to graduate. And so I was like, okay, well this is a work from home thing. I can work while I apply to graduate school. And so I was like, I'll do it. And I did, and I was the first employee, employee, I don't even know if you want to call it that. I got paid on Venmo, like $500 every two weeks. That's

Ashlie Marshall (27:26):

Why he still uses Venmo.

Whitney Ramirez (27:31):

And so yeah, I got that. And then that was my third job. And then Sean introduced me to his friend Karen, who also needed help with some social media for her business. And that was my fourth job. So those are my four jobs that I worked while I was trying to graduate college. And I had still been on the path to, I'm going to go to PA school. I applied and I didn't get in and I expected to not get in. I was so young. It's really hard first year to get into PA school and my grades were good and my test scores were good, but they weren't amazing. They weren't what I could do if I wasn't working for jobs and I had a life out just focused on school, I could do so much better. I know, but it wasn't great. And so I didn't get in the first time, I retook tests and I applied again and I got waitlisted the second time. And so I applied again and I got waitlisted the third time. And so it's like I was so close, but my health was so bad that

Ashlie Marshall (28:59):

It was part of why you were struggling to do any better.

Whitney Ramirez (29:03):

Yeah. My last interview for PA school, I couldn't even walk to where they needed us to walk to. And I was like, how am I going to work in a hospital and take care of other people when I'm not even healthy? That doesn't make sense. That's not fair to me or anyone or people. Yeah. I just knew it wasn't right after that interview. I was like, oh my God, I need to get this figured out. This sucks

Ashlie Marshall (29:35):

For me. But it was still years before you even did.

Whitney Ramirez (29:38):

Yeah, it was it.

Ashlie Marshall (29:40):

And so when did you stop all of the extra jobs and only work tier level? When was that? Oh,

Whitney Ramirez (29:47):

Yeah. That's a good question

Ashlie Marshall (29:50):

Because I came into the scene in 2018 and I'm pretty certain that you still had other things that you were doing.

Whitney Ramirez (30:00):

Yeah. I mean it was years, at least a couple years.

Ashlie Marshall (30:06):

Yeah, because Harley, my daughter was born in 2019 in March. I came onto the scene August of 2018, and it wasn't until April of 2019 that you kind of stepped into a role that you weren't expecting to step into and everything changed. I remember that. Okay, so your sickness and your being independent at an early age was a good and a bad. Okay. Last thing that you feel is pivotal in who you are?

Whitney Ramirez (30:42):

Probably Rome.

Ashlie Marshall (30:44):

Yeah,

Whitney Ramirez (30:45):

He's the best.

Ashlie Marshall (30:47):

Rome is her. Adorable. Just turned three-year-old.

Whitney Ramirez (30:51):

Well, nice. Well, my now family in general.

Ashlie Marshall (30:54):

Yeah. Yeah. You guys have an adorable little family. Okay. So you kind of mentioned how one of the things that Pivotally made you who you are, the independence was kind of a good thing and a bad thing. Yeah. What's something else that you feel you're also working on as a part of where you came from to where you are now? What are some one thing, name one thing that besides the independent streak that you feel is a struggle for you because of your past, besides your health? Don't name that.

Whitney Ramirez (31:31):

Yeah. Well, no, I would say, I mean, me and Oscar were just talking about this where it's like, I guess probably communication. I feel like I'm so much more open now. And because even as a kid, I was just taught to hold things in because I didn't want to get in trouble or I didn't want something bad to happen. We were just talking about that the other day where it's like I'm not afraid to say what I feel now or be honest now because no, I'm not going to get in trouble. And I actually have people that care about me and my life, so I just have better people around me. Now I

Ashlie Marshall (32:21):

Can vouch for that for you because when we first started working together closely, I could tell you tell me, you wouldn't tell me stuff not to keep things from me, but you were not open in terms of talking about you or talking about anything going on with you. And I'm very the opposite. Everything. I'll tell you everything.

Whitney Ramirez (32:43):

No, I didn't. But I also was trying to protect myself. I was like, oh no, if people know, people know I have this, they won't think I'm as good of a worker.

Ashlie Marshall (32:53):

And I would see it complete opposite. Not if it were me, but me looking at you and knowing your situation. That would never be the first thing. Oh, she's sick, she can't do this. What the heck is going on? That would not be my first thought.

Whitney Ramirez (33:10):

That was my biggest fear. I was like, oh my gosh. But if

Ashlie Marshall (33:13):

I can understand that perspective, because I feel like there are a lot of people that would say that. We know a couple case in point. But yeah. So I think that that might be why we work so well together. But this has been fun getting to know more about your story. Is there anything outside of what we've talked about that you feel is really important to add in here? Who you are and what's made you who you are? It's the last piece.

Whitney Ramirez (33:44):

Well, kind of circling back to the very beginning when we're talking about when your brain's developing and those pivotal years. The crazy thing for me is that that timeline lines up when Oscar and I first started talking and dating to when we got married, we grew together. Yeah,

Ashlie Marshall (34:16):

You a young adult life.

Whitney Ramirez (34:18):

Yeah. That's so cool to me.

Ashlie Marshall (34:20):

Which is so opposite of me, which is awesome. Look at you. I love,

Whitney Ramirez (34:25):

I did not expect cry.

Ashlie Marshall (34:29):

I Love it though.

(34:32):

I know you never do. Except when we talk about each other, I feel like, well, yeah,

(34:38):

But that's another story. We'll touch on that another day. But I love that we were just saying how you're not a sentimental person. You, you're highly non-emotional. You're very logical. But we have learned that when we talk about the things that have made you who you are, there's some pain in there. And then there's a lot of joy. I feel like even with your history, you have experienced equal amounts of pain and joy because you're joyous. Moments have been so big and they've been so pivotal and they've been so deep. So I feel like Oscar is definitely a big reason of who you are today, and we can thank him for that. Thank you, Oscar. I

Whitney Ramirez (35:22):

Know it's so weird that our brains developed. We got engaged, our brains are fully developed, and we got married and we had Rome. And it's also kind of crazy to think when I first started tier level, I was 21 years old. It seems like all of these things have happened in a small time. I'm 30 now, so it's like this is my ninth year.

Ashlie Marshall (35:52):

Yeah.

Whitney Ramirez (35:53):

But yeah, it's so crazy thinking, okay, these pivotal years of my life started out pretty crazy, honestly. But then it's kind of, I've really grown through it.

Ashlie Marshall (36:09):

Yes.

Whitney Ramirez (36:10):

Which it's changed my brain forever.

Ashlie Marshall (36:13):

But that's a huge testament to who you are though. And we'll wrap it up here quick, but I think that all the things that you have faced in your young life as a child, early childhood, late childhood into adulthood, all of those things are not only is it a true testament to where you are today, even in the face of all those things that you've experienced and gone through and grown through, you actively had to make a choice to grow through it. You could have chosen differently, but you didn't. You chose to continue to progress forward when everything else was pulling you backward. Your health, your family, your challenges, the adversities, no car having to walk. Not a lot of people would do that. Not a lot of people would choose to put their shoes on and walk one to two miles to work every day at 16 years old. And I think it's really important for you to remember that in life, in your life, because you're actively making these choices when you could choose differently and you could have chose a very different route.

Whitney Ramirez (37:22):

The other choice was to be homeless and not survive. So I don't know which

Ashlie Marshall (37:29):

You could have chosen. Oh, nobody's going to help me. Wo was me. I'm a victim. You literally had nothing and you created something for yourself without the thought of who's going to help me? Who's going to do it for me? Who's going to drive me to work? Who's going to pay for this? No, that was not right. That was me.

(37:48):

Exactly.

Whitney Ramirez (37:50):

I had to pay for it.

Ashlie Marshall (37:52):

It was all you. So remember that. Remember that?

Whitney Ramirez (37:55):

I try. My grandma did leave me some money. She left me $7,000 and I was like, I will. Which it cling to this

Ashlie Marshall (38:04):

2012 that did not go very far.

Whitney Ramirez (38:07):

No, you

Ashlie Marshall (38:09):

 Well, I think it was really important to learn these things about you. I think it was fun getting to know you today, more so than I already did. And I want to thank our listener for listening to this long story about who Whitney is, because it's really important as we go along this journey of our podcasts for c-Suite chicks to understand and know where we come from and who we are and why we're here doing this. Why are we choosing this? So thank you for listening to that story. And if you enjoyed this episode, please, please, please do us a solid and leave us a review as well as share it with a friend. We would love to hear that somebody across the world heard our podcast because their friend heard it and sent it to them. And leave us review. Let us know your thoughts, give us feedback. We thrive on feedback, and we look forward to seeing you next time. Thanks guys. Thanks.