Full name: Alejandra Rodríguez Villamizar

Age: 24

State-in-life / Occupation: freelance journalist

Location: Medellin, Colombia

Educational background: Bachelor of Arts in Journalism

How does your Catholic faith affect the way you live your day-to-day life?

Being a Catholic is the first thing in my list of priorities. I think it’ll be impossible for me to be the woman I am today if I hadn’t met Jesus when I did. I like to think of him as my best friend, and everyday I talk to Him like a friend. I am constantly communicating with God and talking about him like he’s a real person because for me he is (even if people around me consider the opposite). What I value the most about the gift of faith is the certainty that God is with me all the time, that for years I’ve never felt alone and that I have always someone to turn to every second of the day.

Tell us about a moment in your life when your Catholic faith transformed your understanding of yourself, your purpose and others.

I have no doubt that my faith is a constant transformation of understanding myself. There was this one time when I attended a journalism congress where a journalist spoke about his life’s purpose and how his job was his way of serving God. At the time I was working on a freelance project that wasn’t fulfilling me in any way and I was putting my purpose and dreams aside for irrelevant things like money. I had a crisis having to admit to myself that I had been wrong for a while and this journalist said “you have to learn to transform crises into opportunities” and I did. Even though I still don’t know my purpose clearly, I am completely sure that my faith in God is the perfect path to get to know it. My relationship with Him is the greatest way to get to know myself, my purpose, my dreams, etc.

What lesson did you learn from that moment?

I am a very stubborn woman, and one of the most difficult things in my faith and relationship with God is learning to trust, so I am still learning to give him control in all aspects of my life. Professional and academic achievements have always been left out of my relationship with God involuntarily, but this situation has helped me hand him over my fears, failures and insecurities and go on without a job but I know without a doubt that his timing is perfect and that he will deliver every wish he has put in my heart since his creation.

How do you grow in your Catholic faith?

Listening to daily meditation, attending to weekly adoration and Sunday mass, reading spiritual books, attending to yearly spiritual exercises, and mostly, having Catholic friends and having deep, spiritual conversations with them.

What do you do for fun?

I like to play the guitar and sing (with food and friends), going to the movies, reading, writing, eating out and occasionally dancing.

Three words that describe you — go!

Happy. Sensitive. Nerd

Fill in the blank:

My morning routine consists of: 10 minutes of guided meditation, breakfast, shower, virtual class time and cooking lunch (or sometimes mass).

I’m currently obsessed with: Catholic feminism and Regnum Christi active apostolate life.

I feel most inspired when: I listen to focused people making their dreams happen telling their stories.

My favorite part about my life right now is: having free time to catch up on what I left behind before graduating.

The advice I would give to the millennial Catholic woman is:

Train your memory: ask God to help you remember every time you’ve felt His love. We are programmed to forget, to take important, deep feelings and moments, set them aside and continue living normally as if nothing happened. Don’t be afraid to save your best memories with God and let them strengthen your relationship with him.