My Story

Isaac Marquez

My name is Isaac Marquez. I was born and raised in Fresno, California. This town is home to lots of bad influences, but I was fortunate enough to see a lot of the beauty that this city had to offer. I was pretty sheltered until my later teen years. I studied hard in school and was one of those kids at the top of my class. But like many people, I began to burn out. When COVID hit, I was in my junior year of high school. The following year was all online. Some familial issues came about in my life around this time, too. So, the strict guidelines I had in my life were lifted. I was the only one pushing myself and I failed at doing so… at first.

After barely passing my senior year, I went on to graduate and attend Fresno State. I had no clue what to do, so I chose biology as my major. In-person school was back and I was in a bad spot. I did not care at all. I failed 3 classes in my first 2 semesters. I was put on academic probation and lost my financial aid. I really accepted defeat. I was going to drop out. I had no passion at all.

Then, during the summer after my first year, I thought a lot about my life. I asked myself why I want to drop out. Every reason I came up with sounded like an excuse. There’s nothing wrong with dropping out, but my reasoning was lazy and sad.

I decided to give it one more shot. Although I didn’t know what I wanted to do, still. I was going to spend the next semester finding my passion.

Soon after I made one of the best decisions of my life. I switched majors to Media Communications and Journalism. I always had a passion for being on camera or writing things to make an impact, but I always suppressed these urges. This is because it wasn’t the conventional way to be “successful”. I was scared. What would my family think? What would my future look like? It was a lot to handle. Despite that, my leap of faith has proven to be amazing.

I love what I do. I have so much love for media production, journalism and photography. These 3 categories have liberated my drive and spark.

Finding what you love to do is a blessing. I believe we all need to do what we love and take that leap of faith