Like Mother, Like Daughter: Career

Three cultures. Two generations. One bond. This Shift series delves into the lives of mothers who came to the United States from other countries and the daughters they have raised here.

Dorina was the first person in her family to earn a degree, but she didn’t stop there. She went on to earn a master’s degree and is considering pursuing a PhD. She savors the independence of being an educated woman and describes a very different picture of a woman’s role in Mexico. Education is important to Christine and Agatha as well.

Christine is studying to be a nurse and hopes to open a medical clinic for poor children in Romanian. When it came two work-life balance we noticed some differences among the second generation Americans. While for Dorina work seems to be the priority right now, Christine would love to stay home and raise a family. Agatha envisions a happy medium between work and family.

Links to other parts of the series:

Like Mother, Like Daughter: Intro

Like Mother, Like Daughter: Family

Like Mother, Like Daughter: Culture

Like Mother, Like Daughter: Pride

About the series:

We interviewed three pairs of mothers and daughters from three different ethnicities about family, culture and career and found that while views differ slightly between generations there wasn’t much of an overall gap. For their part, mother and daughter Margaret and Agatha Wieczorek gave intriguing insights on balancing American culture with their Polish heritage. Lucia Stef and her daughter Christine are united by their faith and strong ties to the Romanian community. And Maria Aguilar and Dorina Aguilar Rasmussen may be a generation apart but Mexican traditions are important to both. If Dorina has children, she plans to instill Mexican values in them.