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"My name is Carolina Hernandez Macias, with two last names, two family names, like most Colombians.

I’m from Bogota (Colombia), a crowded city that was my home for 40 years.

I like cats, fall, trees and fresh fruit juices.

I don’t like whisky, insects, white lights, and Sci-fi movies.

I come from a Bogota’s middle-class family with a generous father, a disciplined mother and two younger brothers that are two amazing friends too.

As kids, with my family we used to travel a lot for vacation, mostly by car, driving for kilometers to our destination, stopping in small towns for lunch or to stay the night. I bear lovely memories from those trips.

I studied engineering, management and I have a master’s degree in occupational safety. I follow my father’s professional steps and now I’m the manager of the company he founded, Riesgos y Soluciones—which you can translate as "Risks and solutions”.

I have worked in our company since 2011 but I made a recess of two years to work in a different field and studying English. I returned to the company because my father got sick and passed away, very fast, unexpectedly, very painful, a goodbye that I never finish to say.

I have a lot of friends in Bogota. They’re my support group and my advising team. I really enjoy their company and the different types of conversation that I have with each of them. I met my friends mostly in my K-12, at college, and at the gym.

I married my husband Alejandro in 2021. He’s an amazing human being. He is also from Bogota and maybe because of that, or maybe because of luck, we have a lot in common. But it is because of him that I live in Spokane. He has been living in this country for a long while and we decided that I could move here if I move my job online, so by now, I am a Latina in Spokane, a wife without kids, with two cats, and my company’s manager who works remotely.

Besides my work, I enjoy learning and having activities that enhance my creativity and knowledge and that allow me to connect with more people and with more diverse topics. For example, 5 years ago I learned how to and became a homemade soap maker, focusing my design skills in colorful and fun soaps. I have been going to the gym for about 20 years, training a good deal on weightlifting. I’m part of a book club here in Spokane and I read a book per month, in English. I also like running, and I’ve participated in tree 10k runs (two in Bogota and one in Spokane) and in two Bloomsday runs. I have also learnt how to make apple pie from scratch, and I love to make pies in fall and winter."