Journey Into the Wormhole

Journey Into the Wormhole and Out as Super Mario

Former Network Representative, Liz Hernandez, reflects on her experiences at Mockingbird

By: Liz Hernandez

Back in 2014, after I was laid off from my job at that time, I became homeless. After traveling around Southern California for four months, and with circumstances arising, I came back to Seattle. I was in a drop-in session one morning when one of the staff members came up to me and hyped Mockingbird (since there was a meeting right after that) so I decided to try it out and see what it was all about. I ended up really liking it and participating in the Y.A.E.H. forum and budget hearings.
I later got hired as a Network rep, where I could improve my public speaking skills. I went to Washington D.C to help facilitate a workshop on youth involvement in policy work with two colleagues, and many people seemed to like it. We even had some people from HUD raving about it. Overall my time here at Mockingbird has been full of laughs, developing as a professional, and advocating for homeless youth rights. I’m sad to go and at the same time happy to pass the torch to someone else who cares about the subject as much as I do.