Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marlene Morales. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Marlene , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?
The biggest risk I have taken is leaving my small town. You see, I grew up in a small town called King city in Monterey Bay County. Probably an hour away from Target, an hour away from the mall. Luckily, we had a movie theater and a park to entertain ourselves while growing up. I am really grateful and humble to have grown up away from the city life. I just knew growing up there was way more out there, I was super curious and always loved exploring. Therefore, when I turned 18, I left my small town to attend college and never looked back. Graduated from University and had a job offer back home to become an Environmental Science teacher. Seconds away from signing a contract to be stuck in my hometown and working with high school students. I couldn’t do it; I could not do it. Something inside of me told me to leave so then I did, now I live in Los Angeles chasing goals and dreams that I would have never imagined. I am accustoming to a new lifestyle and reality that I have always dreamed of. The risk was leaving my family and making it on my own hours and hours away from them and my small town. Forever staying out of my comfort zone, making new connections, meeting new people and continuing to try to make an impact in the big city of Los Angeles.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Marlene Morales, a Mexican American 25-year-old woman living in Los Angeles, California. One thing about me is I am a very ambitious person; I am all over the spectrum. At 18 years old I went straight to a community college to study Biology and play volleyball all while I worked a full-time job at Round Table. Don’t ask me how I did it, I did not have time to socialize. After that, I went to UC Davis and continued my educational journey hence graduating with my bachelor’s in biology and minor in Education. After that, I had a job which had to decline because that would have meant staying in my hometown. I came across this Network Marketing opportunity instead because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do yet anymore. My initial plan was to go to med school, but I had been so drained from online school due to covid that I needed a break. That is where I started to post more on social media, on my Instagram @marleneequeen_ for my online upcoming business journey. I started a vegan haircare/skincare business and began to study the ins and outs of marketing, made lots of connections and understand the social media platforms and began loving and understanding that making money on social media is possible. Therefore, I packed my things and moved to Los Angeles a couple months into running my online business. I knew Los Angeles is the place to be if I wanted to learn more and grow to stay away from my small town. That is where my new lifestyle started to change, I started a part time job as a medical assistant for adolescents that struggled with alcohol and substance abuse for extra cash. Then I started dipping my toes more into content creation more and more. This led to certain brands reaching out to me to make content for them. I got into YouTube and began uploading my weekly gym workouts and posting vlogs. Being in La, made more connections therefore started to do modeling on the side for music videos and was featured in my first movie ever. Things I never thought could have happened to me, but getting outside your comfort zone is the best thing to do. You then realize that you can achieve a lot in this world, and you don’t have to be stuck to just one thing. To this day I continue to work a 9-5 job because I am an Activities Assistant in a nursing home. I am surrounded by a lot of amazing older people that carry wisdom and I am happy to have put a smile on their face, play games together or just be their friend to have someone to talk too! While I still make time for my content creation,business and any other creative ideas.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Obtaining my bachelor’s in biology, I was supposed to enter medical school, but I changed my mind therefore my direction. My whole life was surrounded around what would have been 6 more years of school after my bachelors. My family was depending on me on becoming a doctor. Therefore, when I graduated and decided to take break you could imagine their disappointment when I wanted to pursue and try something different. I am sure all of you realize and notice that “different” and “Uncomfortable” is outside a lot of people’s vocabulary. In life you must take risks and be uncomfortable and do something different to really find yourself. Alot of people are comfortable doing what they are doing but being comfortable is not in my vocabulary. I like to explore, wander, and network. That is why I decided to enter the realm of content creation, so I had to learn, network and understand whole different reality then to what I was used too. Sciences and social media are two completely different paths, but I decided to try it out. The moral of the story is to remind yourself that you have a choice, you have options, you have the ability to be anyone you want to be. Do not let someone else tell you otherwise. Some people may not understand you or your life choices, but you just stick to what you believe in. This is your life.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn a path that was made for me by my family. I feel like growing up in a Mexican household a lot of the time, the parents have high expectations, especially being a first generation. My parents always had the idea of giving me the life they never had before I was ever born. They think big, “she is going to be a lawyer, she is going to be a doctor, she is going to be the first president”. All these expectations to make my family happy, I mean why wouldn’t I want to make them happy? I am supposed to be in the land of opportunities, of dreams. What isn’t in my parent’s vocabulary is online businesses, network marketing, or social media content creation because they lived in a different world than me. They grew up in Mexico, around agriculture and accustomed to a different world when they came to America. A whole new land and atmosphere to them totally different than me as I was born here in this environment. The lesson I learned was that I do have a choice just like my parents had a choice I myself can venture out and become something of myself. I don’t have to be everything my parents want me to be and that is okay. I had to learn that regardless of what they want for me, they just want me to be successful regardless of if our definitions of success are different. I had to unlearn their definition of success and learn my own definition of success for myself. What makes me happy, how do I define success, how I view the world through my own eyes, not theirs. The only way I did that was by being uncomfortable and taking huge risks for myself, finding myself. By opening businesses, networking, taking risks, and applying myself. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bio.site/marlenemorales?fbclid=PAAabP0NvJ_Pv74UaKhe63GgfpgInboGAHpqV_HTrMAjtKlaupaYwLgq41fUE_aem_AcWnxl_wldNtbkazygSqPBuGKpGlPoDl-v7k7ArJ5TaMhH0HhUpfAMsVV13DhNDNP-E
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marleneequeen_/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@marleneeweeniee?feature=sharea