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Shanny Herrera likens her childhood to John Travolta's character in "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" due to her grocery list of allergies and illnesses.
"I was very sickly and they said to my parents [that] if I lived to see the age of 17, it would be a miracle," she said. "So I have to say that God is still a miracle business, because I have since surpassed, of course, that age timeframe that they gave us. And I have done a lot of stuff in that timeframe."
Her story starts in Harlem. The daughter of Honduran immigrants, Herrera lost her mother before graduating high school. She remembers her mother as a community organizer whom she credits as an inspiration for her own current role as director of constituent services for Council District 9 in Harlem.
"She helped our community in many ways. I remember feeling like our home was like a group home," said Herrera. "I remember Sundays when my mother cooked this enormous meal and I did not understand at the time why she was cooking...