Beyond the Box: How I Turned Adversity Into Leadership and Legacy

Written by Dr. Janeil Morales My Journey:

I was recently asked to share my story, my personal and leadership journey, and even now, it feels surreal. Because truthfully, I’m still that same woman who once wondered how someone like me could ever get here.

I come from the kind of perils and adversities often carried by first-generation Americans. From domestic and sexual abuse, from poverty, from language barriers, and from the kind of beginnings that don’t usually come with titles like “Doctor.” I’m a first-generation Mexican American born of a mother who never had the opportunity to finish elementary school. A truth I carry with deep pride, for she remains one of the most brilliant women I know, and a father earned trade certificates but never a college degree. Neither of my parents had the opportunity to obtain higher education, yet they gave me the gift of possibility.

I didn’t learn English until I was eight years old. I grew up below the poverty line, and I didn’t have a bed until I was ten. I slept on a sponge my parents provided for me on the floor, just enough to separate me from the ground.

Those experiences shaped me in ways I didn’t understand then. They taught me how to find light in scarcity, how to hold dignity in chaos, and how to believe in possibility even when the world around me didn’t reflect it.

The Defining Moment

When I found out I was pregnant at twenty-two, unmarried, in the middle of my associate’s degree, and still unsure what I wanted to do with my life, I knew two things instantly:

One, my parents didn’t come to this country to survive the American dream. They came so that I could live it. And two, my daughter would not inherit my limitations, she would inherit my fight.

That was the moment I decided I wasn’t going to be a statistic. I was going to become the example.

At that point, I had already changed majors several times. I felt lost, uncertain, and a little ashamed of my directionless path. But when my daughter came into the picture, everything sharpened into focus. I knew I had to buckle down for her, for my parents, and for me.

I told myself, I didn’t need to know exactly where I was going, I simply had to take a step forward. And so, I did. Step by step. Even when I stumbled. Even when I had to step back to gather my strength again. Because sometimes taking a step back is part of taking a giant leap forward.

The Journey of Becoming

It took years of discipline, perseverance, and grace. Attending multiple universities, raising my daughter as a full-time single mother, and working full-time (regularly far beyond the standard 40-hour week, with several weeks exceeding 100 hours), all while also being a full-time student and moving across a handful of cities in pursuit of stability, education and a better life for us both.

All she ever knew was a mother who went to school. On nights when I was too exhausted after 24-hour shifts working in organ donation, knowing I still had a paper due for my master’s, she’d look up at me and say, “Come on, Mommy- I’ll do my homework with you so you can do yours.” She was only four at the time, with no homework of her own, but already understood the meaning behind it.

She was my guide through it all, the reason and the reminder.

When I finally earned my Doctorate in Healthcare Administration, I became the first in my entire lineage, both maternal and paternal to ever carry that title. Not just the first woman, but the first person.

And yet, it’s not about the title. Titles fade. What matters is what it represents, the strength of my lineage, the fulfillment of my parents’ sacrifices, the resilience of a young mother who refused to fold, and the living proof to my daughter that there are no limits but the ones we accept.

Lessons and Advice for Aspiring Leaders

If there’s one lesson I’ve learned, it’s that purpose is rarely clear at first. Sometimes, you just have to walk with faith until clarity meets you halfway.

For me, leadership was never about authority or control. It’s about authenticity, about being so grounded in who you are that others feel safe rising beside you.

True leadership isn’t transactional. It’s transformational. It’s servant-based, heart-centered, and human. When leaders operate from love, humility, and genuine care, everything beneath them flows in harmony. Because when the top of the pyramid: your c-suite/your leadership is stable, compassionate, and authentic, that energy trickles down, and everything beneath it naturally aligns.

I’ve always believed that when one leads from their heart, they lead beyond fear. You build connection, not compliance. Respect, not resistance.

My Leadership Philosophy: Breaking the Box

I used to live my life trying to fit within the confines of “the box.” The one built by expectations, the timelines, the traditional structures that tell you who you should be. But when you’ve already lived a life so far outside of what’s “typical,” why limit yourself to anyone’s definition of normal?

When you escape the mind and live from the heart, you become limitless. You no longer move according to fear or “norms” or checklists. You move according to purpose.

You can’t think your way into greatness; you feel your way there. And that’s where real power lies.

For Aspiring Leaders

My advice to aspiring leaders, especially those who come from adversity, is this:

You don’t have to see the whole path. You just have to trust that each step, however small, is leading somewhere sacred.

Your story, your challenges, your missteps, your moments of doubt, they don’t disqualify you; they qualify you. Because you can’t have a testament if you don’t go through the test. You are ready, right now, just as you are.

Everything you’ve lived through has trained you for where you’re meant to go. So, walk from your heart. Stay grounded in authenticity. Serve others from a place of love and compassion, not ego. And remember that real leaders don’t rise alone, they rise and reach back for others, too.

Full Circle

Now, as I mentor doctoral students, women, parents, and first-generation leaders just like me, I see the full circle of grace. I see the girl who once slept on the floor now pulling others up from their own ground.

I am the first in my lineage to carry the title of Doctor. I am proof that the dream my parents sacrificed for, was not in vain.

And yet, it’s not the title that moves me most, it’s the fact that my daughter will grow up knowing her story begins where mine once seemed to end. That her path has no ceiling because I taught her to live beyond the box, to see that the walls were never real to begin with. I am honored. I am humbled. And I am endlessly grateful for every step it took to get here. Because in the end, leadership isn’t about perfection, it’s about presence. And I am finally standing fully in mine. Dr. Janeil Morales

Doctor of Healthcare Administration

Organ Procurement Professional Leadership & DEI Expert / Advocate