My mother taught me at a very young age to use your looks to get what you want in this world. She would tell me, “Yaya, if you want to rule the world, you can. You just have to take it from all of the stupid men in charge.” (Laughs) I never thought men were stupid, never a day in my life. My father ran the household and my mother played her part but when she wanted something done she’d bat her eyes and walk with a sexy sway and my father would give in every time. She used her looks all the time. As much as I learned to use my looks to get what I wanted I also lived on the words, “…if you want to rule the world” because I did. That was my wildest dream that I was determined to make come true. Yalaina Valdez, ruler of the world.
Growing up in Mexico is it’s own struggle. In America I hear of women having a freedom that in Mexico we can only dream of. When I was a little girl I was the only tomboy type on my street. My four older brothers would do play in the fields with the other neighborhood boys and I would tag right along with them. My mother thought that it was great because they were my big brothers and it was their job to look after me. It took a while for her to realize that I was right there in the fields playing with them. Getting tackled and kicked in the face. I started coming home with black eyes and she would ask me what happened thinking I had a fight with a girl, “No Momma, I scored the goal and fell when I kicked the ball.” She was bothered at first wanting so badly for me to be the woman that she was, but eventually she gave in to the idea of having a badass little girl in the family.
