Irene Jimenez was only 19 when she gave birth to her first baby in San Antonio Matute, Mexico. The baby was expected to be a healthy girl. Jimenez was waiting for her daughter with so much joy and expectation. She had all of her things ready and waiting for her. When it was time for labor, complications started. The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck and her head was facing the wrong direction. The emergency cesarean was too late to save the baby. In all the chaos Jimenez was never able to see her daughter. “I never saw her. I never met her,” said Irene.
It wasn’t until after her baby’s funeral that she finally saw a photo taken from a family member. At the tomb site Jimenez’s family named the baby girl, Paloma, a nickname given to Irene Jimenez. Paloma translated in English means dove. Sitting Dreams Having only photos of her baby, Jimenez started to frantically mourn the absence of her daughter. “Everytime I would see her photo, I would go crazy,” said Irene. Yelling and pleading at night “my daughter! Where is my daughter? ” Some nights her husband said that she would sit up straight in the bed and act as if she was combing her baby’s hair. Jimenez had fallen into depression.
She stopped eating and at one point she weighed 85 pounds. Irene remembers wanting to die because all she wanted was to do was be with her daughter. Having extreme hair and weight loss Jimenez’s husband took the photos away from her and hid them. Irene has not seen her baby since then; he hid them so well, that till this day no one has been able to find them. American Dream Once Jimenez recovered her strength and health she decided that a change of atmosphere would help. Telling her husband, who had been traveling repeatedly between the United States and Mexico for work, that she wanted to travel across the border.
They arranged for two coyotes to help her travel to the United States: one to get her from Tijuana, Mexico to San Diego, CA and the other to take her from San Diego, CA to Los Angeles, CA. “The worst line (of crossing) was from Tijuana to San Diego…They told us not to look back. [Yelling] Run, run, run. We ran for about 15 minutes without stopping,” said Jimenez. She had successfully travelled across the US border. Baby Boy(s) Between working and traveling back and forth across the border Irene’s husband had filed for her to get her citizenship, which she received within one year.
Having settled in Lake Taho, CA, Jimenez discovered she was pregnant once again. All her nerves came back from her first pregnancy. When the doctor asked her if she wanted a normal birth, Irene immediately said no, was wanted cesarean, to prevent any possible complications. The second time around the birth was a success. Irene had a healthy baby boy and gave him his father’s name: Hector. Jimenez was excited, she was finally able to know how it felt to have a baby and be a mother. She wanted to give him all the love she was not able to give her daughter.
After a year and a half later Irene had discovered she was pregnant once again. This time she was not very pleased, she did not want to have another child so soon. Yet her emotions did come back when the doctors told her she was expecting a girl. Right away Irene told her doctor that once the girl is born to operate on her because she did not want to have any more kids. In view of this, once the baby was born the doctor had surprising news for Irene. The baby was a boy not a girl, Jimenez immediately told the doctor to not operate because she still wanted a girl.
Jimenez decided to name her second son Miguel. Extra Money About three years later, Jimenez was introduced to a product that would later affect her life. Since she had suffered with acne, a woman who was in Mary Kay showed her the acne treatment products. Immediately, she was hooked the treatment. She finished a whole set and when she went to go pay it off and buy another set of acne treatment, the women invited her to join Mary Kay. Persuading her by saying you can purchase products at half price and it’s a little extra money.
Jimenez refused, she did not think she was good at selling. The Burger One day Jimenez got off the bus with her kids, they lived close to a McDonald’s. She remembers her older son saying, “Mommy I want a burger, let’s go to McDonald’s. ” Irene said, “I don’t have money. ” “But I want a burger” “But I don’t have money” Then her second son started pleading that he wanted chicken nuggets. Constantly, Jimenez kept replying back “I don’t have money” She only had enough to pay for the bus. Living in the touristic Lake Tahoe everything was expensive.
Additionally, she had an unsteady job as a room cleaner; since it was a skiing area, there was only work when there was snow. Jimenez only had enough to pay the rent and sometimes buy groceries. She was saddened by the fact that she could not buy her boys a hamburger. When she went to go buy another set of Mary Kay the women insisted and reminded her that she could win 50 percent of what she sold. It’s extra money. The Mary Kay consultant hit the spot when she mentioned, “Wouldn’t you like your kids to ask you for something and you respond yes! I have a little extra money. Irene gave in, remembering her kids. She put all her effort into selling. “I was on a bicycle, because I didn’t have a car or anything,” said Jimenez. Travelling with her backpack, she started to sell. “When I had to sell something I went on [my] bicycle…sometimes I had to go far. I would show up with my legs numb, I couldn’t handle them, but I kept going,” said Jimenez. Since she started selling there has never been a moment that she has said, “I don’t have money. ” Sioux Falls Jimenez and her husband decided to move to Sioux Falls because he wanted to be closer to his family.
When she arrived Irene was set on not working and just selling Mary Kay. Yet, she decided to go work at John Morrell’s for a while until money was steady. However, when she realized how good the checks were she kept working and had Mary Kay as a sideline job. At John Morrell’s is where she met her best friend Gabriela Comparan. The Last Baby Irene was told by her doctors that she had problems with her ovaries. Which caused a shock when she figured out she was pregnant for the fourth time. This time the doctors told her she would have to have a cesarean because of her age.
The doctors said she was expecting a boy. To everyone’s surprise the doctor was wrong. “When I saw them put on her pink cap, I said yes, it’s my girl,” said Jimenez. She named her Crystal. When she looked at her daughter she kept remembering the photo. “[Paloma] was white and had black hair and Crystal had darker skin and no hair,” said Jimenez. Irene came to the realization that although her daughters were different, they were both perfect. Mary Kay In November of 2015, Irene decided to go to a Mary Kay retreat where she became extremely invested.
She wanted to become a Mary Kay director, but she did not know where to start. She went to her friend Gabriela, who has an entrepreneur background and asked for her help. Gabriela was not interested in the past, but once she realized that it would help her friend out she decided to join. They both started to sell and recruit women and by February of that year, Irene was finally named as a director. Present day From wanting a burger to building consultants Irene Jimenez at 48 is officially the first Hispanic Mary Kay Director in South Dakota.
On top of that, she was also the first in the region, as neither Minnesota or Iowa have a Hispanic Director. Jimenez accomplished her goal of becoming a director by recruiting at least 24 people and selling $18,000 worth of product in four months. Once named Director, Jimenez decided to name her consultant group Paloma, after her daughter. “I feel like each one of them [members] is my daughter. I have to take care of them,” said Jimenez Future Irene’s plans for the future: have a total of 50 recruits and to win the pink Mary Kay Cadillac, because a Cadillac is more comfortable than a bicycle.