Raquel DeLeon: Dominic's Story

Raquel DeLeon is 27 years old and Married. She resides in Kalispell, MT and is currently a full-time student in her first year of a PhD program in technical communication. She started 2 months after Dominic passed away and it’s been a blessing by allowing her to pour her grief into something productive. She will honor his life with research. Regarding her PhD program, as a first-generation Latina, Raquel has dedicated herself to finding alternative ways of empowering marginalized groups to find their voice and join the conversations that have impacts on our community.

Raquel is currently working with her professor in writing an article about the challenges Latinx individuals face in higher education, including various forms of oppression, and how Latinx individuals resist oppressive behaviors and actions, by building coalitions with like-minded individuals. It will be published in a journal in spring of next year. She is also dedicated to contributing research in technical communication that can help fill the gap among health communication, when it comes to the Latinx community and accessing healthcare services, specifically mental health services.

Outside of school, Raquel likes to focus on sharing her grief journey through my social media and her blog, Heart Mom Chronicles. Pregnancy and infant loss is prevalent and she intends to continue to strive to break the stigma of not talking about it.