I am a lifelong learner and lover of foreign language education and travel. Raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I grew up navigating the alienation that came with being a young Black girl in a restrictive Southern setting. Each of the community centers of my youth–school, church, and my neighborhood–contained rules, traditions, and limited perspectives that kept me in a constant struggle to find and secure my voice and passion. Taking Spanish in high school, I realized that I not only had a high aptitude for it, but that language also provided me with a means of world-building through which I could speak my truth and find my community. I followed this truth through my studies in college and graduate school, earning academic honors while immersing myself in my work and in programs throughout Spain. Upon returning to the states, I became an educator, teaching Spanish with the passion to provide it as a doorway for young people who search for meaningful connection, just as I did. I spent time teaching in the South in Macon, Georgia, before moving to New York City to teach Spanish for beginners, Heritage learners and students of AP Spanish Language and literature in the Bronx for over 5 years. While growing professionally and personally in this experience, I learned harsh lessons about the systemic failings of education and the limits that Black and Brown youth face when it comes to accessing language and immersive cultural experiences abroad. These lessons prompted me to reflect deeply on how I myself am an anomaly in my experience, as many of my Black and Brown peers did not have access to enriching experiences I was able to gain through persistance and the assistance of scholarships and financial aid. Yaprendí Society was born out of my desire to create a special experience for Spanish language learners through curriculum, engagement, and programming that centers diverse people who feel it may be too late for them to learn Spanish and have immersive cultural experiences abroad.