Let the Soroptimist celebrations continue! While we are still in the midst of our 100th anniversary, 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the Live Your Dream Awards®. Even though the program has adorned other names since 1972—including the Training and Awards Program and the Women’s Opportunity Awards—our ambition to help women create a better life for themselves and their families through access to education and training has always remained the same. See how the program began and how it evolved over the last half century.

Read about the evolution of our Live Your Dream Awards HERE.

October 19, 2021, Vista, CA–If the past year has taught us anything, focusing on positive actions and forward momentum is essential as we slowly emerge from the strange anti-social cocoon forced upon all of us. There is no better time than now to introduce a few of the women who are currently pursuing higher education to better the lives of themselves and their children during this global pandemic. The Live Your Dream Awards were created for this very purpose, to help support these courageous women to make a difference in this world by empowering them to be the best possible versions of themselves.

This year, the club has raised over $21,000 to award seven women, giving them a much-deserved opportunity to improve their lives through further education. With funding and support from our Soroptimist club, the women can utilize the awards for food, rent, bills, travel, tuition, or in any other way that will help them along the path to ultimately achieving their dream jobs and inspiring other women in the process.

For many of these women, the Live Your Dream Award is a lifeline, becoming instrumental in stopping the perpetuating toxic cycle of abuse, neglect, or addiction that could have otherwise led them down a darker path. Situations often experienced by young mothers struggling to support themselves can include being abused or abandoned by a partner, suffering with mental health or addictions, or being forced into risky situations against their will have become all too common, which is why Soroptomist is dedicated to improve the lives of women in the community and around the world.

This month there are three more Live Your Dream Awardees we would like to celebrate. Each is a positive, strong, brave, independent woman who has worked hard to make impressive progress in her personal and professional lifes. All are stars and serve as shining examples to us all.

Raniqua
Raniqua is a mother of two daughters, Journey and Amiah, and is working at Solutions for Change, a non-profit in Vista that most of us are familiar with that helps get individuals and families back on their feet.

Raniqua has a certification and works as a Peer Support Coach and only has one semester left at Vista Adult School until she gains her qualification in Medical Administration. Coming from a large family–she has nine brothers and sisters–she enjoys sports like cross-country running, track and field and basketball.

Rachel
Rachel is a mother of three boys, Daniel, Isaac and Junior, and enjoys being active in activities at her church in her spare time. Her youngest son, Daniel, suffers from Mast Cell Disease, which often triggers sudden, unpredictable food allergies that can leave him hospitalized. After spending a lot of time in hospitals, Rachel’s dream is to help people by becoming a nurse.

Rachel goes to Palomar College and will graduate in 2025 with her degree in Nursing. In the meantime, she will also gain an MA or LA certification from MiraCosta College before she gains her nursing degree. One interesting fact is that Rachel’s father is an author, and she hopes to write a book one day to follow in his footsteps.

Monica
Monica is mom to three boys and her children are active in soccer and boxing. Monica works at a school for children with special needs during the week and, on weekends, works at Aurora, which helps people with mental health and addiction issues.
Monica is dedicated to helping people and is graduating with a degree in Psychology from Cal State San Marcos next August.

In addition to studying Psychology, Monica is also considering attending the academy to become a probation officer. ⬛

September 8, 2021, Vista, CA–If the past year has taught us anything, focusing on positive actions and forward momentum is essential as we slowly emerge from the strange anti-social cocoon forced upon all of us. There is no better time than now to introduce a few of the women who are currently pursuing higher education to better the lives of themselves and their children during this global pandemic. The Live Your Dream Awards were created for this very purpose, to help support these courageous women to make a difference in this world by empowering them to be the best possible versions of themselves.

This year, the club has raised over $21,000 to award seven women, giving them a much-deserved opportunity to improve their lives through further education. With funding and support from our Soroptimist club, the women can utilize the awards for food, rent, bills, travel, tuition, or in any other way that will help them along the path to ultimately achieving their dream jobs and inspiring other women in the process.

For many of these women, the Live Your Dream Award is a lifeline, becoming instrumental in stopping the perpetuating toxic cycle of abuse, neglect, or addiction that could have otherwise led them down a darker path. Situations often experienced by young mothers struggling to support themselves can include being abused or abandoned by a partner, suffering with mental health or addictions, or being forced into risky situations against their will have become all too common, which is why Soroptomist is dedicated to improve the lives of women in the community and around the world.

This month there are four Live Your Dream Awardees we would like to celebrate. Each is a positive, strong, brave, independent woman who has worked hard to make impressive progress in her personal and professional lifes. All are stars and serve as shining examples to us all.

Anissa Florie is a young, vibrant single mother of a four year old son named Elisha. She is currently studying at Palomar College working towards an Associate’s Degree in Sociology. She plans on transferring to Cal State San Marcos to finish her masters degree in Social Work to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Anissa is passionate about helping others and has earned a certificate to assist people struggling with mental health or addiction issues. She cares deeply about positively impacting other women and using her own personal experience to support and inspire them to heal and transform into strong, capable women.

Stephanie Cagle was born in Puerto Vallarta and had an adventurous childhood, calling a sailboat home and writing in her journal while traversing the ocean with her parents and sister for eight years.

Her family eventually settled in San Diego where she attended High Tech High and published a book under the Jane Goodall Foundation. She has a four-year-old son named Vincent and is almost finished earning dual associate’s degrees in Sociology and Psychology at Palomar College. She is moving to Virginia at the beginning of next year and will apply to Old Dominion University to continue her studies so she can make a positive impact as a child psychologist or therapist.

Rochelle is a married mom of three boys, Benjamin, Emillio, and Lorenzo and one girl, Ariel. She attended MiraCosta College and gained an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts. She is currently enrolled at Cal State San Marcos working toward her Bachelors in Sociology.

Rochelle is very interested in public policy and wants to be a teacher working in the juvenile justice system so she can make a difference in turning the lives of young offenders around through education and mentoring. Rochelle enjoys organizing, planning and photographing events on the weekends and uses her social media marketing skills to help her husband with a small business selling recycled copper rose sculptures.

Xochitl Dybbro has a dream of becoming a surgical tech and continuing her education in Seattle after she finishes her Bachelor’s degree. She has a daughter Izel, who is four, and she helps support her mother and brother, who suffers with non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis and is awaiting a transplant and lives with the autoimmune condition Lupus.

Xochitl attended Palomar College and is transferring to Cal State San Marcos to major in Social Justice and minor in Border Studies. She is interested in gaining a certificate remotely from the Native American Women’s Resource Center in Montana in helping people at the border.