Mariah M.
It was the middle of June 2019, and I could barely believe it - I had just been awarded $5,000 from the UCB Family Scholarship program, which meant I would be able to continue attending college in the fall, since my entire college education was self - funded.
But there was still a part of me that didn’t feel worthy of the scholarship - after all, I just started my advocacy work for epilepsy in the summer of 2018, despite being diagnosed over ten years prior in 2007. I had lived with epilepsy nearly my whole life but felt so scared and embarrassed by my condition, I kept it a secret for years. I was definitely still a baby advocate so to already have been awarded $5,000 for my advocacy felt daunting but I decided to use my imposter syndrome to push myself even further.
The $5000 scholarship from UCB allowed me to focus more heavily on advocacy and school rather than school and work for the Fall 2019/Spring 2020 academic year. As a result, I was able to write and publish the first children’s book featuring a little girl with absence epilepsy in December 2019, titled “Mimi: A Story About Absence Seizures.” The book went onto win “Reading is Fundamental’s Children’s Book of the Year” in February 2020 and I went onto secure a prestigious internship through my honor society I had been pining for, even though it had to be switched to a virtual internship due to COVID - 19. I used the platform “Celebrate Your Unique Mind” and spent 2020 and 2021 on hundreds of Zoom calls, sharing my story and advocating for epilepsy awareness through the program.
After the internship ended and I graduated college in 2021, I dove headfirst into more writing classes and decided to take on a new challenge - competing in pageants. I got to work with incredible writers from Disney, Paramount, and 14 - time Grammy Nominee, Diane Warren, who taught me the craft of songwriting. I developed my platform DREAM (Defining Resilience in Epilepsy through Arts and Music) as I took home the local title of “Miss El Paso County 2022” and became the first woman with epilepsy to compete on the Miss Colorado stage. My local title opened doors across Colorado to further share how epilepsy awareness needs to be included in mainstream art and accessibility for creators with epilepsy needs to be increased.
2023 was the year that I knew I needed to embrace my lifelong dream of singing/songwriting professionally. I developed an original song, “Broken Glass”, that describes my experience growing up with epilepsy and growing into my role as an advocate and performed several live shows, connecting with people across the country who saw themselves represented in my music.
That dream has certainly continued into this year, as I have actually gotten into the studio to record “Broken Glass” and set the tentative release date for January 2025. My best friend and business partner (who I met through pageants ), and I decided to start our own digital marketing company, Dreamscape Digital Media. We help businesses and solopreneurs of all sizes grow and maintain their digital footprint so they can continue to build upon their dreams.
I also continued growing and thriving in the pageant world, securing the title of Miss Southwest (representing Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California) this past June thanks to my continued work with DREAM and already have multiple advocacy events lined up for the next year, collaborating with epilepsy organizations across the country. Thanks to my local, and now regional, title through pageants I have been able to attend some of the largest epilepsy conferences in the country, spoken at dozens of schools, taught seizure first aid classes, and even passed “Epilepsy Remembrance Day” in the state of Colorado.
If you had told me five years ago that I would have an award - winning children's book, secured the internship I wanted, become a two - time pageant queen, own my own business, and have a debut single coming out, there is no way I would’ve believed you. What is more, everything I have touched ties back to advocating for a better future for people with epilepsy - a legacy I am proud to leave behind. I am forever thankful for UCB for taking a chance on a “baby advocate” and helping me to reach my wildest dreams! I am thrilled to see what the next five years may hold for me and my advocacy and I can’t wait to experience every minute.