Hi Loves! My name is Karlie Sanchez, I am 18 years old, and I recently moved to Chicago, Illinois to study Criminal Justice at DePaul University! This is a blog created to portray what it's been like moving alone, struggles, success, visions, and everything about manifesting your journey! I'll start off by introducing myself, what I advocate for, future projects, and what I hope to gain from this. I moved to Chicago for various reasons, mainly it being that I wanted a new start to my life. I was living in a routine that eventually I just got tired of, I felt like I wasn't really moving forward with myself and my ambition, and day by day I was feeling very unmotivated to do anything. I am a huge community activist, and those know me know that I love serving others and genuinely love seeing people be happy. I began to get really involved in school clubs, and took on cabinet roles after I decided I needed to do more with myself then let myself go over a boy, friendships, and all in all just things that were simply not in my control. Soon after that I was in various clubs like Asb, Project S.A.Y., Mecha, etc. and joined several organizations in my community like 4Girls and Human Options. I began to fall in love with what you call community activism, but more so I fell in love with inspiring others to improve themselves and their communities. I attended my first ever 4Girls conference and served as a junior mentor to our middle school girls. 4girls is a movement that inspires and empowers young middle schools girls to identify themselves as authentic and resilient, something that could prepare them for their upcoming life success. This conference really moved me, and a year later I became the youth advisor for this organization. I also got involved with Human Options and became a Teen Domestic Violence Advocate. I joined the teen ambassador program, attended workshops, programs, held several resource fairs at my high school, traveled to Sacramento to advocate on how to improve our communities and how to mobilize healthy relationships, and on March 11th, 2019 I held a Teen Dating Violence Awareness conference along with my amazing peers and mentors at the Downtown Community Center. I also advocate for Juvenile Justice reform, and I hope to one day pass a bill that will not only help kids, but the world itself. This journey has been amazing, and has opened many doors for me, but the work has not stopped. Moving to another state has provided me with the opportunity to showcase what I have learned these past years and make something out of myself to help those around me. I am currently getting prepared to start school in just a couple of days. I am also in the middle of starting my own podcast, and collaborating with community organizers to come together as one and build each other up. My future plans vary, but what I can tell you is that I hope to be the light to someone reading this. As this journey continues, I hope I am able to help someone reading this. This is just the beginning for many, and for some you might already be pursuing what you want, I am rooting for every single one of you!