Page 17 - San Antonio Vol 1 No 1

KAT VENICE PHOTOGRAPHY
My biggest reward is knowing that my clients are really thankful for all the work I put in every day. e clients I work for are the absolute best! ey are the type of people that give you a hug of gratefulness out of nowhere, they show up at the o ce and bring me lunch, they trust me and that is what really matters to me.
AALM: What do you nd particularly challenging about your practice? How to you overcome these challenges?
Vargas-Calderón: e biggest challenge is to work at a level that I can ful ll the clients’ expectations. Most clients are ill informed about the legal process and what the di erent approaches to a case should be. ey have talked to friends, family members, and even seen unrealistic advertisements of other “successful legal stories.” When I sit with my clients, I like to be very up-front with them and explain all the possible outcomes in their case. I like to bring in a sense of reality with their speci c facts and explain to them that all cases are di erent. en, we set our goals in the case and I let them know that I will work my best to achieve that goal.
AALM: What do you enjoy doing outside of work? Hobbies? Sports?
Vargas-Calderón: I love my family life with my kids and my husband. We are a very active family and enjoy all sorts of outdoor activities. We go biking, camping and practice di erent sports. I particularly enjoy practicing yoga and go out paddle boarding now and then. You can also nd me zoning out to any of John Grisham’s books while the kids are out playing.
AALM: What do you most hope to accomplish in the future? Where do you see yourself in ve years? In 10?
17
A CALLING IN PORT ARANSAS
Coming from an island located in the middle of every single hurricane projected trajectory, my family and
I can understand all the preparation and anxiety that goes with hurricane season. As we watched the news and saw the destruction after Hurricane Harvey last year, we knew we had to do something.
I immediately started making calls and in one day I found a babysitter for our kids, had our van full of donations and drove down to Port Aransas with my husband to volunteer in whatever was needed down there. I can tell you today, it was one of the best and most rewarding opportunities I have ever had. You think you’re helping other people but, in reality, you’re the one receiving the blessings by being able to serve.
A couple of weeks later, it hit us even closer. Our little island experienced tremendous loss due to Hurricane Ma- ria. Once again, with our hearts shat- tered as we were here in San Antonio with no communication with our loved ones and no idea of how we could help being so many miles away, I felt that urge and started picking up donations from around the city and created my own fundraiser.
We managed to ll up our van again and send a lot of emergency items to the island.
This ‘calling’ as you might call it has given me the opportunity to teach our children about civil responsibility and most of all, about compassion.