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A VISION FOR SUCCESS

Childhood and Battling Blindness

I was born legally blind with nystagmus, and was later diagnosed with a rare neuro-ophthalmic disease that affects my optic nerve and causes progressive vision loss throughout my life. Losing the majority of my vision by age 14, I had to begin using a white cane to safely navigate my surroundings. During this time, I struggled with my mental health, and grappled with the stereotypes associated with blindness and disabilities within our society. At first, I was ashamed of my eyes, and I hated the label that my disability gave me. I soon discovered that the hardest part of going blind was not my inability to drive a car or cross the street. The hardest part was that my disability labeled me as broken. People began to view me as less capable and ultimately held me to a lower standard of achievement. I was no longer recognized by the merit of my work, but rather that I accomplished it blindly. Rather than facing my disability, I found hiding it was easier than accepting it. In high school, I would memorize my routes, count my steps and avoid navigating new places altogether. But when I started college at age 15, I had an “eye opening” moment. On my way to my first class, I fell down a staircase because I wasn’t using my cane. In that moment, I began to question why I was so against opening up about my disability to others, and questioning why equality always seemed to be so much harder for people with disabilities. I knew it was time for me to stop hiding my disability and find closure in my vision loss. As I began my healing process, I began to realize that just because my eyes made me different, didn’t mean that they made me broken. I even started to realize how I could help others in my community by advocating and spreading education and awareness of what living with a disability is like to break the stereotypes I faced every day. I began using my cane everywhere, and started to become more active in the blind community. When I was 16, I attended a conference with the Florida Council for the Blind where I met representatives from Guiding Eyes for the Blind, and applied for my first guide dog. When I was 17, I flew across the country to be matched with my first guide dog. I knew my guide dog would help me navigate, but I never knew that she would also become my best friend, and change my life forever. I wouldn’t have been able to get to where I am in my healing journey without the support of my family, the Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired and Blind, Division of Blind Services, and Guiding Eyes for the Blind.

Education

I met Marli in Yorktown Heights, New York at Guiding Eyes for the blind in March of 2019. Soon after that, we graduated as Valedictorian from our high school and started our Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business Analytics and Quantitative Economics and Econometrics. As a student I served as a presidential ambassador, the chief justice of the student government association, and served on the university’s foundation board of directors. In May of 2022, I earned first place in the senior capstone project showcase with my project on ‘Correlating Patient Feedback to Avoidable Readmissions’ and won Best Data Science and Business Analytics project of 2022. That spring, Marli and I graduated summa cum laude. After graduating, I began pursuing my master’s of science degree in data analytics.

Career

During my senior year of college as I was taking four classes, and starting my journey as a content creator, I began my career in data science and business analytics at my dream company. I learned so much about how to apply the techniques I’ve learned throughout my education to work on impactful projects to power data driven decision-making.

In October 2022, I had the honor of starting my public speaking career as a keynote speaker at the North American Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Conference. It was such an incredible opportunity to share my story of breaking into the Data Science and Data Analytics field with my visual impairment. After my keynote presentation, I was awarded the IEOM Industry Solutions Award for outstanding achievements and contributions in Data Science and Data Analytics.

In recent months, I’ve started growing an online platform by sharing my story as a young visually impaired guide dog user to educate people about blindness, guide dogs, and to break stereotypes about disabilities. You can find me on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at myeyes_marli.

Despite all these achievements since graduating from Guiding Eyes for the Blind, I still consider meeting Marli as my greatest achievement of all. Guiding Eyes for the Blind has liberated me from my disability and helped me find closure and confidence in my blindness.

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