I found this work by accident. I’ve stayed for the people.

Before workforce development, I worked in real estate and mortgages. The part I loved was helping people clean up their credit so they could buy a home or get on steadier financial ground.

Then my position was eliminated, and I was the one out of work. Someone sent me a job lead for the front desk at a local career center. It was 2008, the middle of the financial crisis, and there was a line at the door almost all day. I loved that job so much that I sent flowers to the person who sent me the lead.

I knew right away that I wanted to be on the other side of the desk, sitting down with job seekers and working through whatever was in their way. After a few years at the front desk, I became an advisor, and I spent years helping people at two different career centers.

Today I’m a team lead. My days are full of training staff on AI, building and delivering workshops, reviewing files for quality, and helping launch new programs. My team still brings me their toughest cases. Four times a year we host a recruiter panel where employers tell us what they’re seeing and what gets candidates hired.

What the role doesn’t leave much room for is sitting down with job seekers myself, and I missed it. Dan’s Career Corner is how I keep doing the part of this work I love most, for people at every stage of their careers. It’s also where I write Career Intel with Dan, a weekly brief on AI, the job market, and what recruiters want to see.

I was born in Puerto Rico and moved to the mainland when I was 11. The bilingual school was full, so my brother, my two sisters, and I went straight into English-only classrooms. It was hard at the time. It also meant I learned English fast, and I’ve been grateful for it ever since.

Spanish is my first language. I work with Spanish-speaking job seekers every week, and I present in Spanish too.

I keep things relaxed and meet people where they are. Trust matters more to me than polish. When you trust me, you’ll tell me what’s really going on, and that’s when we can actually fix it, instead of me telling you what you want to hear.

I’m also deep into AI and use it every day. What I bring is that, plus everything I’ve learned from years of working with job seekers, career changers, employers, recruiters, and community partners. AI is a tool in that work, never a replacement for good judgment or for your own voice.

Outside of work, I love animals, and I make AI art as Crystalline Visions Studio.