She’s 25 years young, born and raised in Miami, Florida, with all the passion and spicy attitude which comes with being Dominican. Her name is Yariana, but she goes by Yari.

Raised by a close-knit and highly protective Latin family, she still found herself at a young age feeling alone, left out and insecure, dealing with self esteem and identity issues. In elementary and middle school she was bullied as one of the only Spanish girls in her school. Not knowing how to deal with the abuse, she got involved in a lot of gossip, arguments and fights. She learned to put others down to make herself feel good, and hide her insecurities.

At the age of 13, Yari was sexually abused by someone very close to her family. She was molested for two years, and kept silent for 3. This horror only compounded the issues she was already dealing with. She was internally bleeding, and didn’t know how to stop the pain. Her silence was a way to keep control and attempt to be strong. When her parents found out what happened...it was already too late. So much time had passed. They wanted to fix it but couldn’t. For years she felt rejected and broken. She chased after anything to fill the void, which led to abusive relationships where she was verbally and emotionally beat up. She allowed it because she didn’t understand her worth.

Throughout her entire life Yari knew she was different--always a rebel, stubborn, doing things her way on her terms. Yet she had a huge heart for people, and a desire to honor and respect God in all that she did. She just didn’t know how.

At the age of 19, God began to strategically place people in Yari’s life who saw her true identity, and believed in her more than she believed in herself. She was able to connect to a church that was different from the strict religion she’d grown up with. There, life was about a personal relationship with the living God. It was there that she began to build relationships with people who would love her for who she was, and challenge her to pursue Jesus with her whole heart and soul. Through his infinite compassion, God used her attempts to fill the void inside for his greater purpose. She still went through some of her darkest moments during that time, as the past chased after her and attempted to drag her down. But, as she says, “For the first time I experienced my Daddy’s true, unconditional love and caught a revelation of what God’s grace was. I found that I could face myself in all of my brokenness, because he called me precious, perfect & beautiful.”

Since then, she’s been on a journey of truly allowing God to heal her, restore her, and transform her. Her biggest desire now is for God to use her in a way that will impact others for the better. “If he can do it for me...he can do it for you.”