Hello. My name is Isabel Cristina Fernandez Calderon. For over 15 years, I dedicated my time, commitment, and professional skills to a single company. I learned everything related to my profession through self-taught dedication—evolving from web development to becoming a Project Manager leading diverse and complex teams—always driven by hard work, discipline, and a deep passion for moving forward.
When the company began facing severe financial hardships and was sold, the situation became unsustainable. During the pre-closure phase, mass layoffs took place, but I was selected among the small group of indispensable employees trusted to keep operations running until the very last day. Because of that exact commitment, I went without taking vacations for the final two years, accumulating 25 days. In the end, the only compensation I received was the payout for those unused vacation days, leaving me entirely without the severance package that my previously laid-off colleagues had successfully received.
Today, at 49 years old, facing the formal job market in Costa Rica has proven to be an invisible yet formidable barrier. To survive, I have been working long hours as an Uber driver, but current fare rates barely cover basic daily living expenses. This traps me in a survival cycle that leaves me with neither the physical time nor the financial resources to invest in my own ventures: Creaciones Envelas (my artisan candle brand) and Kiwi Rojo (my custom stationery and craft project).
I have fought tooth and nail to keep up with my commitments, and I am now in the final stretch: as of today, I only owe 6 months on my car loan ($500 per month), and my loan is fully scheduled to end in March 2027.
This vehicle is not a luxury; it is my most vital asset and my key tool for making deliveries for my businesses. I am agonizingly close to paying it off completely, but the current financial weight is suffocating me and threatens to strip away the fruit of years of hard work.
My goal in raising $2,500 is to catch up on 2 months of missed payments and get 3 months ahead on my installments. With this breathing room, I will secure my primary mode of transportation and reclaim the hours I currently lose driving endless Uber shifts, dedicating them fully to producing, selling, and scaling ENVELAS and Kiwi Rojo—turning this difficult chapter into my ultimate independence.
Any contribution, no matter how small, or simply sharing this story with someone who might resonate with it, means the world to me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading my story and helping me rise back up.
Thank you for your generosity and support.
