What makes us who we are and who we want to be is an amalgamation of all the little events in our lives coming together in perfect order. I am a doctor, a mother, a wife, a daughter, and above all, a woman who aspires to share my passion for skincare, and in the process, help underserved children through my Lift Their Spirits Foundation.

When I was 4 years old, my parents immigrated to Miami, Florida from Havana Cuba. My household consisted of my parents, my older brother, my maternal grandparents, and me. Like countless other families, my family moved to the United States in search of a better life. After leaving Cuba, we lived in Madrid, Spain for 6 months. This was a difficult time of extreme economic uncertainty. As a child, I remember very little of the struggles my family faced, but some memories do stick with us forever.

Having left behind almost all their worldly possessions, my parents and grandparents struggled economically. My parents could not legally work, as they had no job permit, so we found ourselves homeless and without a source of income. Upon leaving Cuba, my grandfather was able to bring with him a box of his prized cigars, which he treasured. One morning in December, he went out looking for work, and again was unsuccessful. When he returned home, he grabbed his box of cigars and went out to trade it for something useful. Hours later he returned. He had traded his box of cigars, but he had not traded it for money. He had not traded it for food. He had traded it for a 6-inch plastic doll in a pink dress. That doll was my first gift from my grandfather in a new land of uncertainty and fear. In that act, of trading his prized cigars for a doll, my grandfather showed me that no matter how bad things got, his love for me superseded all things and gave me hope that we would make it.

My grandfather passed away when I was 11 years old. He did not see me graduate as the Valedictorian of my high school. He did not see me get married or graduate from medical school. He did not see me become the mother of five beautiful children or become a successful dermatologist. He did not see me, but he made it all happen for me. That doll is a symbol. It is a symbol of how love can instill, in an individual, a drive that cannot be broken.

That drive allowed me to become a dermatologist and to practice a profession that I love, where I can help people who struggle with their skin. Again, I could relate with my patients. I struggled for years with skin sensitivity, unable to use antiaging products because they all made my skin red. Over the past 10 years, I worked on developing the perfect cream that could have all the antiaging ingredients I found prohibitive. I began making test trials in my lab and eventually arrived at a specific combination of ingredients that I sourced from all over Europe and Latin America. Soon, my patients began asking me what I was using. I gave some to a few friends who immediately found successful results. I knew I wanted to share my formulations with the world. I knew I could deliver what women needed and could now finally have, without the gimmicks and empty promises-just clinical results.

But J. Sanchez M.D. is not just a skincare line, it is a vision for something greater. My mission is to use the success of my skincare line to help children who come from the same place I came from. A place where every early life experience, every early life manifestation of love, leads to their formation as individuals. That is why I created my Lift Their Spirit Foundation in 2014. Every product sold will help a child obtain a better education and improve their life. Our work begins in Brazil, partnering with a small elementary and preschool to provide the tools needed for our children to achieve their dreams. We will grow, and with us, they will grow. My vision is to eventually help children in other countries in Latin America and beyond.

Above all, my dream is to make an impact. To make an impact in the lives of women like myself who want results without the fluff, who want the truth about their skincare without gimmicks, and who want quality in their products without exaggerated promises. But most importantly, I want to make an impact in the lives of children who need it the most. My best day, is the day when I think of my grandfather’s 6-inch doll and know I am making him proud.