We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eli Perez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eli below.

Eli, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I would say as an immigrant growing up in this country, I have always doubted myself or had impostor syndrome, therefore, taking even the smallest risks or just believing in myself has always been a huge deal to me. I began advocating for undocumented and immigrant communities ever since I landed a job at an immigration law firm (which even applying for the job was so “unreachable for me”, or so I thought). After learning more about the immigration legal system throughout my job and experiencing family separation myself, I took it upon myself to educate my undocumented community through my job and creating a safe space for DACA recipients (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals are recipients are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. The program does not grant them official legal status or a pathway to citizenship). It never crossed my mind the amount of support I would get on my platform (@dacaatl on IG) and it was such a challenge to get out of my head and take the risk to bring this platform to life. I also combined my two passions for dance and immigration advocacy and organized a fundraising event benefiting DACA recipients, not knowing how the latin dance scene would react to such a different and also political event.

Eli, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Elizabeth and I’m a multi talented creative, advocate, dancer and professional. I started dancing and training salsa and bachata at a competition level in 2017-2020, I am now dancing but focus on teaching latin dance basic level for those who want to try salsa and bachata for the first time! :) I am very passionate when it comes to my beliefs and sharing my journey, I am a strong believer that if others get inspired and can resonate with you and your story, then you have helped someone out there to feel like they are not alone. In 2021, I got injured, I had knee surgery and I had to completely put a stop to my dance career for little over a year. During that time, I figured that sharing and documenting my recovery journey was a cool idea, so I began sharing my experience, my frustrations and I was honest and very vulnerable. That recovery journey also helped me a lot to come to the realization that my story as a DACA recipient, as a human and as an immigrant was worth telling. I started talking about my status (which continues to be frowned upon for some people) on social media. I shared my frustrations with the legal immigration system, I shared memes to smile through the political challenges faced (DACA is constantly under attack and politicians threaten to end the program), I shared tips to keep up with renewals, etc. The IG page started to get a lot of attention and a lot of DACA recipients would reach out and thank me, ask me more questions, even confessed their own fears/worries.

One of the very common/constant worries was money. DACA is a program that needs to be renewed every 2 years and it has a cost of $495.00, if you don’t renew it, it goes away. No new applications are accepted only renewals, so not renewing on time is a HUGE deal and it makes a big impact in your life. After noticing the pattern of lack of information, the fear and guilt of asking for help: I decided to organize a social dance fundraising event to benefit DACA recipients. The event received so much love and support, I will forever feel thankful with the dance scene for being so supportive and my peers who helped me make it happen: dance studio owner, dancers, entertainers, and our community. “El Baile” (fundraiser event) has been my proudest moment so far, we raised over $4,000 to help DACA recipients pay their fees and continue their lives uninterrupted. El Baile opened doors for me like a trip to Washington D.C. where I lobbied with our U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff and advocate for the undocumented and immigrant community in GA.

I had so many moments of doubt because I had no experience as an organizer, as a host, as a networker and I just had to take that leap of faith to make it happen, I had no experience booking a venue, booking artists, promoting, people bailed on me last minute, but I am proud of doing it, I didn’t really want to make it a big deal back then but I really did that! I appreciate the support from my community and friends.

A lot of people asked me “why are you doing this?” The truth is I am trying to heal my inner teenager, I am trying to be that person who I needed when I was 14 years old and I spoke no English. I needed to know that before I leave this earth I could do some good and that if at least one person could be benefited from this I would be content. “Be the change you want to see in the world” am I right?

I have no idea what the future holds for DACAATL to be honest because I have so many ideas! I have thought a little bit about everything, another event, become an official nonprofit organization, host group therapy sessions, provide renewal workshops for free, all of it. I am working on it and manifesting it as well. haha All I know is that regardless of what my current job title, my dance career, I will always advocate for me undocumented and DACA recipients, the work never ends.
I also would love to collaborate with others in my community, we are stronger together, and if there’s anyone out there who has thought about putting an event together, helping the community or giving back, please do. The world needs love and support, “no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted”.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I always feel like I say too much on questions like these but I am very proud of how far I have come in life and in my personal healing process. I moved to the United States with my mother at age 14, I knew no English and I grew up having that feeling like I didn’t really belong anywhere. I was not a U.S. citizen so how could I belong to a community who did not accept me or recognized me? And I was not a “real” Mexican living in my country, so I struggled a lot with my identity and I feel like that gave me so many more issues during my teen years. For instance, I did not know how to forgive my mother for bringing me to a country that did not accept me, I was struggling to find good friends, and in general, I kept making up excuses not to fulfill my dreams.

I truly believe dance helped me and saved me, it gave me a whole new perspective on life and I noticed a huge shift of the people around me. The dance scene is so diverse and encouraging. I met so many people who inspired me to do better, to be the best I could be, to love myself, to be grateful, respect others, to be disciplined, and to stop making excuses!
I felt overwhelmed with joy for finding my flow, I dedicated myself to train, to get fit, to get therapy (I 10/10 recommend if you have the privilege to do so) and just to be more intentional with myself. I kept sharing my story with others and they would tell me that I inspired them and my therapist has helped me realize how far I have come. I am proud who I am, what I do and what’s yet to come.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

As an immigrant child, I had to figure a lot of things out on my own, asking for help has definitely been something new to learn in the last few years, and it continues to feel a bit weird and uncomfortable at times. I feel like anyone who is a child of immigrants can relate to translating for your parents, learning a new language (sometimes), advocating for your family and figuring how get things done (almost like a pre version of adulthood). The older I get, the more I realize that most of my teenage years I was on survival mode, and trying to get rid of that has been tough but so rewarding. Being vulnerable and asking for help has also created more clarity and inner peace which gives me more opportunities to give back to my community and others. Kindness can really make your life so much different, like I said; I am trying to become that help that I needed when I was younger.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @dacaatl.

Image Credits
JonesieD Photo