HispanicBusiness

The young woman hadn't eaten in 32 hours. She had used her grandmother's gold necklace as payment for the bus ride from Mexico City to Tijuana, Mexico. Tired and scared, she sat down in a chair and thought to herself, "I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know anyone here."

She looked down at the floor and found a quarter. As she arose, she noticed a tattered, dirty newspaper on a chair next to her. She picked it up and rifled through the classified ads. An ad for a full-time housekeeper caught her eye. She had only one telephone call, so she had only one shot.

That young woman was Leticia Walpole, whose unusual life eventually brought her to Indianapolis almost 20 years later. Walpole, now 40, moved here last April to serve as Hispanic recruiter for the Indiana National Guard.

Since her arrival, Walpole has become actively involved in the local Hispanic community. Through her own small business, she has been giving motivational presentations in an effort to inspire and give hope to students of all ages.

More recently, Walpole has been busy assisting with the mobilization of Indiana National Guard troops at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh. Before that mobilization began, she shared her remarkable story with IBJ.

Walpole was born in Mexico City. Her father was a petroleum engineer, and he believed that men should be the breadwinners and women should care for the home. Thus, her three brothers were encouraged to pursue college degrees while Walpole and her two sisters were not.

Watching her older brothers pursue their careers made Walpole also want to go to college. Against her father's wishes, she began pursuing a mechanical engineering degree at the local university.

On the other hand, her mother was supportive. She would give Walpole half a candle and distract her husband so Walpole could study at night.

While in school, Walpole was also trying to pursue her dream of entering the Mexican military, which didn't accept women. She was so intent on joining that, one day, she bought a military uniform, dressed herself up as a major and walked into a general's office. He was so angry at her intrusion that he threatened to kill her and told his guards to remove her from the base. They literally threw her off the base, ripping her clothes in the process.

When she arrived home, her father was so angry at what she had done that he kicked her out of the house.

That was when she headed for Tijuana, at the age of 21. Through the classified ad, she found a job as a housekeeper for a wealthy retired woman.

Her ticket to the United States

After a few days, she was able to get a supervisory position at a Mattel Inc. plant in Tijuana. During the next six months, Walpole said, she significantly improved production at the toymaking plant. The company president was so impressed that he granted Walpole her request of sponsorship to the United States. A year after leaving home, Walpole found herself in Los Angeles.

Coming to the United States was frightening she said. She didn't know the customs or the language. She didn't know how to ride a bicycle or drive a car. She felt awkward and alone, with $100 and two boxes of possessions to her name.

On her first day in Los Angeles, she met a college professor, John Farmer, who introduced her to his family. The Farmers agreed to help her get on her feet. Within a week, she was taking 23 credit hours of speech and English classes at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and working three jobs.