Isabel Garcia
Ms. New York Plus America 2008

Ms. Garcia is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn. Her professional experience includes working in a non-profit serving youth and low-income families and special education. She is currently working toward a degree in special education.

As Ms. New York Plus America she has chosen domestic violence as her platform because of her personal and compelling story of survival and the prevalence of the problem worldwide. When she was 23 years old her boyfriend shot her in the face with a .38 magnum handgun during an argument and left her to die. Prior to this incident he repeatedly abused her. Fortunately, as she recovered from her physical injuries she also gained the emotional strength to tell her story. As part of a universal ministry she has traveled around the world telling her story of survival to hundreds of women in El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba and Israel.

Her motto, “be proud of who you are,” is something she communicates to audiences of women: “No matter if you are a size 2 or 20 we are all beautiful and you need to love yourself first then everything else will fall into place.” Her message to battered women is “Stay strong and don’t dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope. To be without hope is to be without purpose.”

Isabel is also an enthusiastic supporter and promoter of the One in Three campaign. She is helping to spread the word about the important work the organization is doing globally to raise awareness of violence against women and the trauma women suffer when domestic violence is part of their lives.