It was the most frightening way for a child to live, not knowing if guerilla soldiers would barge into her home, take everything and kill everyone. She had heard how they tried to take over entire towns and recruit people, mostly young men, into their groups. Although sometimes she saw women and children carrying machine guns.
Every day she ran home from school, amid exploding bombs, aware that bullets sometimes came right through the walls of her home. It was the early 1980s and the civil war in El Salvador threatened to end her life before it had barely begun.
Sometimes, when she closed her eyes at night, she saw glimpses of the happy life she’d enjoyed with her family before the war began.
One time, when her family was coming home late from another town where her father had been selling sugarcane, the guerillas grabbed the children out of their truck and took their father somewhere else, saying, “If you can fix our truck, you can take your family and go.” Her father made it work.
When Esmeralda Montenegro Owen came to California in 1985, she and her brother decided they were going to create their best life by being the best they could be in everything they did. Starting with learning proper English. They wanted to take advantage of every possible educational opportunity and then give back to their community, “paying it forward” wherever they could.
She continued her education at USC, where she earned two bachelor’s degrees, one in broadcast journalism and the other in Spanish, before commencing from Notre Dame de Namur University, with a master’s degree in public administration.
For 10 years, Montenegro Owen worked as a news anchor and reporter for both Telemundo and Univision, before providing marketing and public relations for the National Steinbeck Center and for Hartnell College and then taking the helm as executive director of the nonprofit Youth Orchestra Salinas. In 2011, she joined Gavilan College as an adjunct professor, teaching classes in introduction to public speaking, intercultural communication and small group communication.
And then, she wrote a book.
A wider reach
Published in 2019, “Beautiful − 7 Steps to the Best Version of You,” is a faith-based book about overcoming obstacles and inspiring others to trust, to believe and to never let go of their vision for a better life.
“I titled the book ‘Beautiful’ because I want readers to understand, no matter how your life has been, whether you’ve gone through darkness or not,” she said, “you can still be beautiful on the inside. And this will reflect on the outside, directing a better life. We get to decide if we want to overcome obstacles and trauma to enable ourselves to feel the beauty of our lives.”
In numerology, 7 symbolizes inner wisdom, self-awareness, intuition and mysticism. It is said to represent the perfect blend of spirituality and practicality. Montenegro Owen’s seven steps, presented in seven chapters, are designed to encourage readers to look within themselves and the circumstances or situations in their lives, which may block the blessings and opportunities that should be available to them.
“In order to unlock our potential,” she said, “We must face whatever comes our way with confidence, self-esteem, gratitude, honesty, and integrity.”
This is what creates the perspective and posturing to experience our highest and best life, she says, and to foster that in others.
Throughout the book, Montenegro Owen is both open and honest about her own experiences. Chapter 6 focuses on her relentless fertility struggles, ultimately not giving up but letting go of the struggle, and being present and available when the miracle happened. Her son is now 8.
“Ultimately,” she said, “I surrendered. I said no more treatments, no more expectations, pressure, angst. I had a talk with God, saying, ‘If I’m not meant to be a mom, I accept it.’ And I let it go. I’m not saying everyone’s experience is the same, but a couple of months later, I got the surprise that I would be blessed with Matthew Joseph.”
Open to opportunity
Montenegro Owen first thought she could become a writer in 2004 when she participated in a program in Los Angeles, sponsored by the Fulfillment Fund, whose mission is to help make college a reality for first-generation students growing up in educationally and economically under-resourced communities.
“I was chosen to receive a scholarship and was invited to be a scholar at the Sun Valley Writer’s Conference. To be in that space, with all those authors, to hear their stories and learn how their books came to be, ignited in me the desire to write my own book. I started reading great works by other writers, which taught me how to structure my own story, write with vulnerability, and convey my message.”
“Beautiful” is the first in what Montenegro Owen has planned to be a series of four inspired books.
A year after she published her book, in March 2020, Montenegro Owen was between jobs and wondering what her next adventure would bring. A friend suggested she consider starting her own consulting company. Still harboring leftover fears of not having something secure in life, she was unsure. Yet with the security of her friend as her first client, she established “Precious Stone PR,” a nod to the nickname her uncle gave her in El Salvador since her name, Esmeralda, means emerald.
“I was not a secure person as a child,” she said, “but my uncle, my Tio Goyo, spoke faith into me by what he called me, which still has an impact to this day.”
Montenegro Owen participates in a variety of nonprofit committees and boards, which endeavor to promote education, health, the arts, and self-esteem. Her involvement has included, Noche Bohemia, Informed Choices, Hospice Giving Foundation, Girls Inc. of the Central Coast, Juntos Podemos (Together We Can), Pay It Forward through First Tee, and the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce.
“Beautiful − 7 Steps to the Best Version of You,” published in English and Spanish, is available via Amazon.
