Speaking & Workshops for First-Generation Student Success
Helping first-generation students thrive without sacrificing their well-being.
Ana Lilia helps first-generation students recognize the invisible pressure they carry, regulate stress in real time, and build the resilience they need to succeed without burning out.
Her signature talk, The Strong One Gets Tired Too blends personal storytelling, nervous system education, and practical stress-regulation tools to support first-generation students as they navigate college, family expectations, belonging, and the pressure to make it all work.
Bring Ana to your campus, conference, or student success program.
FEATURED IN
List Title
Signature Talk
The Strong One Gets Tired Too
Understanding the hidden pressure first-generation students carry — and how to thrive without burning out.
Many first-generation students are praised for being strong, responsible, hardworking, and resilient. But what often goes unseen is the pressure they are carrying beneath the surface.
They are trying to make their family proud, prove they belong, figure out systems no one in their family has navigated before, and keep going even when they feel overwhelmed.
In this interactive workshop, Ana helps students name the hidden pressure they have normalized, understand how chronic stress affects the nervous system, and learn accessible tools to regulate anxiety before it turns into burnout.
Students leave feeling seen, grounded, and equipped with practical strategies they can use in their daily lives.
WHY THIS CONVERSATION MATTERS
Nearly one in three college students report moderate to severe anxiety, according to the 2024–2025 Healthy Minds Study. The same report found that 37% of students reported moderate to severe depressive symptoms.
For many first-generation students, though, anxiety is not the starting point. It is often the result of carrying invisible pressure for years.
Long before they step into a college classroom, many have already learned how to be the responsible one. They are navigating unfamiliar systems, balancing family expectations, working through financial pressure, code-switching between home and campus, and quietly carrying the belief that they cannot afford to fail.
These challenges are not personal failures. They are often shaped by systems that were not designed with first-generation students in mind.
Over time, that pressure becomes more than a feeling. It becomes a pattern.
THE FIRST-GEN PRESSURE CYCLE
Pressure
To make your family proud. To prove you belong. To not waste the opportunity you’ve been given.
↓
Chronic Stress
Always pushing. Always carrying more than people can see.
↓
Anxiety
Feeling overwhelmed, on edge, or never fully caught up.
↓
Burnout
Exhausted, disconnected, and wondering why success no longer feels fulfilling.
Most students have never been taught to recognize this cycle, much less how to interrupt it.
When students understand what is happening beneath the surface, they stop seeing stress as a personal failure and begin responding with awareness, self-compassion, and practical tools that support both their well-being and their success.
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WHAT STUDENTS LEAVE WITH
Students leave with more than inspiration. They leave with a deeper understanding of themselves and practical tools they can use long after the workshop ends.
Through this experience, students will:
Recognize the pressure they have normalized
Students learn to identify the hidden expectations, family responsibilities, and internal beliefs that may be contributing to chronic stress.
Understand how stress shows up in the body
They learn how the nervous system responds to pressure, overwhelm, and uncertainty, giving them language for what they have been feeling.
Interrupt the cycle before burnout
Students are guided through simple, accessible tools to regulate stress in real time, especially during moments of anxiety, self-doubt, or emotional overwhelm.
Build a healthier relationship with success
Students are invited to redefine achievement in a way that honors their ambition without requiring them to abandon their well-being.
Feel less alone in their experience
By naming the invisible pressure many first-generation students carry, this workshop creates space for belonging, self-compassion, and honest conversation.
FROM PRESSURE TO SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS
Once students can name the cycle, they can begin to interrupt it.
Awareness
I understand what I am carrying.
↓
Regulation
I have tools to calm my body and respond differently.
↓
Resilience
I can move through challenges without shutting down or burning out.
↓
Sustainable Success
I can pursue my goals without sacrificing myself.
This is the heart of Ana’s work: helping students realize that success does not have to come at the expense of their health, identity, or sense of self.
PROGRAM FORMATS
Interactive Workshop
A practical, engaging experience that combines storytelling, education, reflection, and guided regulation tools. This format is ideal for student programs, conferences, identity-based initiatives, and campus wellness events.
Best for 60-90 minutes
Keynote / Featured Talk
A powerful, story-driven talk that helps students feel seen while giving campus leaders a deeper understanding of the invisible pressure first-generation students carry.
Best for: conferences, welcome events, Hispanic Heritage Month programming, student leadership events
Breathwork & Stress Regulation Experience
A guided nervous system reset designed to help students release stress, reconnect with their bodies, and leave feeling grounded. This can stand alone or be added to a workshop or keynote.
Best for: wellness weeks, finals support, retreats, student care events
Fireside Conversation
A more intimate conversation around first-generation identity, ambition, burnout, belonging, and the pressure to succeed. This format works well for smaller cohorts, leadership groups, and student communities.
Best for: moderated conversations, student panels, intimate campus events
PERFECT FOR:
✓ First-Generation Student Programs
✓ Student Success Centers
✓ EOPS & CARE, TRIO and Puente Programs
✓ AVID, Upward Bound and College Access Programs
✓ High School and School District Events
✓ Hispanic Heritage Month Programming
✓ Student Wellness and Mental Health Initiatives
✓ Welcome Week and Orientation
✓ Leadership Conferences
✓ Student Equity and Belonging Events
✓ College and University Retreats
Selected Campus & Student Partners
UC Berkeley — Master of Public Policy Program
De Anza College — Puente Program
Kompassion Conference — Santa Ana Unified School District
MEET ANA LILIA
SPEAKER, BREATHWORK FACILITATOR &
FIRST-GEN COLLEGE GRADUATE
Ana Lilia is a first-generation college graduate, speaker, breathwork facilitator, and founder of Dream Bigger.
As the eldest daughter of Mexican immigrants, Ana grew up carrying many of the invisible responsibilities that first-generation students know well: translating, navigating systems, making her family proud, and learning how to succeed in spaces that were not always designed with her in mind.
After graduating from UC Berkeley, Ana spent years pushing through pressure, perfectionism, and burnout before discovering the power of nervous system regulation. That personal experience became the foundation of her work.
For more than 11 years, Ana has helped thousands of people regulate stress, release emotional overwhelm, and build a more sustainable relationship with success.
Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, NBC Nightly News, Harper’s Bazaar, Telemundo, and WebMD, and she has led workshops for organizations including Netflix, Sony Music, Facebook, and the American Heart Association.
Today, Ana brings that work to college campuses to support first-generation students in feeling seen, resourced, and reminded that they do not have to sacrifice themselves to succeed.
BRING ANA TO YOUR CAMPUS
Ana Lilia helps first-generation students recognize the hidden pressure they carry, regulate stress before it becomes burnout, and build a more sustainable relationship with success.
Her workshops are ideal for first-generation student programs, EOPS, CARE, TRIO, Puente, student success departments, wellness initiatives, leadership conferences, and Hispanic Heritage Month programming.
