Colombian Lawyer Challenges Stereotypes, Pursues New Dreams
- Feb 20, 2019
For many students in the UT English as a Second Language program, coming to Austin means taking a risk and leaving the comforts of home to pursue new dreams. For Colombian lawyer Eliana Caceres, it meant leaving behind the successful law career she had built over the course of a decade.
“What brought me to the U.S. was my curiosity to break standard chains that said when you are a professional and you’re titled, it is useless in other countries,” Caceres said.
Caceres came to the U.S. with her husband, aiming to improve her academic English and pursue a Master of Law degree. In the summer of 2017, she started English Language Center classes in Florida, but she didn’t feel she was advancing fast enough, so she decided to move to Austin to join UT’s English Language Center program in the summer of 2018.
“At UT English Language Center, I finally found a program that fit my necessities,” she explained. “They are aware of the needs of each student.”
Despite all her accomplishments – a bachelor’s and master’s degree in law from Colombia, 10 years of work experiences and even her own law firm--Caceres said her life has been a continuous cycle of finding new dreams and pursuing them.
“When I feel like I have completed my process in some place, I simply close the stage there and continue looking for more,” she said. “Last year, I completed 10 years in Bogota. I achieved my master’s degree and I worked for important companies there, even for government and military, but I needed something more. I need to study more.”
Her story started in a town on the southern part of Colombia where she grew up witnessing armed conflict. That motivated her to pursue a career in law. When she was only 16 years old, she moved to Cali and pursue her bachelor’s degree.
After finishing her bachelor’s degree, Caceres moved to Bogota to pursue a master’s degree in insurance law. As a law student, Caceres was passionate about issues relating to minorities and communities affected by the civil war. She found a way to combine her expertise in insurance law and interest in the military by working for the Ministry of Defense as a lawyer advising military entities on insurance law.
“People usually think that immigrants like my husband and I come here because immigrants have no opportunities in our countries. In my case, we decided to immigrate in the best moment of my professional career.”
In 2014, Caceres decided to take on a new challenge, build her own firm and start a career as an independent lawyer. Her new goal is to pass the bar exam and become a professional lawyer in the U.S.
“People usually think that immigrants like my husband and I come here because immigrants have no opportunities in our countries,” she said. “In my case, we decided to immigrate in the best moment of my professional career.”
When she first moved to the U.S., she was faced with the challenge of starting over from zero, despite her success at home. “The stereotype is that when we study in another country, we can’t do anything and we have to start since the beginning,” she said.
Caceres is determined to defy that stereotype, and she believes her experience as a law professional in Colombia is valuable even if people tell her to start all over. “I believe that I can do this, even though a lot of people say it’s difficult,” she said.
Caceres has enjoyed every moment of being in Austin. She was particularly impressed by how helpful and friendly everyone has been.
“One of my memorable moments was the first day when I came to the University. I was lost, and someone came to help me locate the address,” she said. “At first, I was nervous I did not expect anything from anyone, but the people made me feel part of this community since the first day.”
Despite being at UT for only several months, Caceres said UT English Language Center has significantly helped to improve her English and made her more confident in her speaking abilities.
“At the beginning, I was afraid to talk, to make presentations, now I can say that I have been overcoming this barrier,” she said. “Now I feel excited anytime I have to express my opinion, experiences or knowledge.”
In addition, Caceres said being at the English Language Center has also connected her with great resources to help with her personal and professional development. For example, she requested an English tutor when she first came to Austin and the English Language Center matched her with her tutor, a current UT student.
“The program is not isolated classes,” Caceres said. “It is a complex and complete system created to help understand American English and culture.”
The city of Austin has also found a special place in her heart. She loves its big city vibes and small-town personality.
“Before I came here I had a lot of expectations about the city,” she said. “I have been grateful and surprised of how many opportunities the city has, the people and the valuable resources, its inclusivity with everybody who wants to come here, and especially how much they value Hispano-speaking professionals here.”
Aside from being a student, Caceres is still managing her independent law firm back home. She is still in frequent communications with her clients back home, providing consultation and revisions for military insurance contracts two or three times a month.
“Take advance of every opportunity that the [English Language Center] offers you ... Do not give up and feel overwhelmed about the first steps but persist in reaching your main goal.”
Caceres is currently finishing up her English Language Center program and was recently admitted to Georgetown Law to pursue a Master of Laws. Her advice to current English Language Center students is to never give up, even if people tell you otherwise.
“Take advance of every opportunity that the English Language Center program offers you,” she said. “You are here because you desire more than learning English, learn and understand a culture. Do not give up and feel overwhelmed about the first steps but persist in reaching your main goal.”
