Issue link: https://www.ascpskindeepdigital.com/i/1517908
58 ASCP Skin Deep Spring 2024 to approach other people, to be able to understand, and to speak and seek help. I also had great teachers who helped me so much, and I think the fact that I wanted to communicate so badly helped me learn things faster. I loved to communicate, and not being able to do that was very hard. SD: Now, you work in a career where communication is a big part of your daily life. Did you know you wanted to have a career like this? XJ: Absolutely. When I joined the military, my English was still limited— not as limited as when I had first moved to the US, but it wasn't great. So even then, I think that was also a part of my life where I just wanted to communicate and understand everything. It's funny because [when I was thinking], "Oh my goodness, I'm not understanding this," that thought was the same motivation to keep learning English. I had to keep practicing. I had to keep reading in English so that I could continue improving. I knew that one day I would get there. SD: What was your time in the Navy like, especially as both a woman and an immigrant? XJ: My service in the military was really the best choice I ever made. If I had to do it all over, I would do it again. But, yes, it was very hard. I was very new to the country. Unless you have served in the Navy—or in the military at all—you don't begin to comprehend. They break you down and they build you back up. And when they build you back up, everybody's the same model. You are supposed to fit in a box, and that's very hard. Not only was I new to the culture of the US, but I was new to the military world. I was [also at an age when] I was still trying to figure out who I was, and there I was going through this regiment where they tell you what you're supposed to think. I was battling two new worlds: the United States and the Navy. Being a woman added another layer. I'm sure things have changed, but the military is a male-dominated industry. I have always been very true to myself because of my upbringing; I wanted to be Ximena while serving in the Navy, but that didn't work because, as Ximena, I'm friendly and approachable, and I like to talk to people. But in the military, when a woman does that, it's not seen as "Oh, that's just the way she is." It's seen as completely different. In my culture in Colombia, we are very warm . . . but in the military, people don't understand that culture because they don't want to understand that culture. Their new culture is the US Navy. SD: After your time in the Navy, you went straight into esthetics. What drove you to make this big switch? XJ: I think secretly, since I was little, I had this love for beauty and self-care. But I just went a different route [with my career], and that was it. A lot of people also don't see esthetics as a career, and I think my family was like that. I never really considered esthetics because I was told I would be a great engineer. (I'm not good at math, so I would never be a good engineer.) But in my heart, [my passion for esthetics] was always there. I was always the girl taking care of the other girls on the ship in the Navy, doing face masks just because I liked it. My husband has been in the industry for about 25 years. One day, he was traveling to a trade show in Florida, and he invited me to go with him. At the trade show, I saw his clients coming up to him Ximena's Favorite Pro Products