Christina Islas / Live your dreams and be who you want to be.

"You are loved! There's a huge support system out there of other people just like you that have overcome and are living wonderful, successful and fulfilling lives. Live your dreams and be who you want to be."

Christina Islas shares #HerStory for #SpeakUp.

Some of my most defining experiences in the foster care system consist of overcoming trauma, accepting that my foster mother truly loved me and just accepting that my past wasn't going to keep me from my true destiny for my future.

Foster care has taught me strength, taught me to look inside myself for that self-love I didn't give myself in the beginning, and it taught me there are other people in the world that can and will love you just like their own child.

What I needed most when emancipating from the foster care system was a family, a home, and a support system. I had no one.