12 Life & Career Skills that Go Beyond the Classroom: A First-Gen Guide to Thriving in Life, Leading with Purpose & Building a Legacy

For many first-generation students and professionals, success has never followed a straight line. It has been shaped by family sacrifice, cultural expectations, unspoken pressure, and the constant navigation between home, school, and work. Long before leadership was a goal, responsibility, resilience, and survival were daily realities. In 12 Life & Career Skills That Go Beyond the Classroom, Oscar Garcia—first-generation leader, global keynote speaker, and empowerment-focused career strategist—shares what he has learned from growing up between worlds and building a life and career without a clear roadmap. This is not a book about fitting in. It is about reclaiming who you are—and learning how to lead from that truth. From selling chorizo at flea markets to standing on global stages, Oscar offers raw, relatable stories and practical lessons on rebuilding confidence, making meaning of lived experience, and turning adversity into purpose. With warmth, honesty, and clarity, he shows how first-generation students and professionals learn to navigate complexity while authoring their own sense of belonging. Inside, you’ll learn how to: • Reclaim your identity and confidence—even when no one before you has gone first • Transform lived experience into clarity, direction, and leadership strength • Draw power from culture, family, and community rather than leaving them behind • Create opportunities using the skills life has already taught you • Choose where you belong and lead with purpose in every room you enter This book is for the underestimated, the firsts, and the bridge-builders. It is for anyone who has questioned their belonging, felt caught between worlds, or carried the weight of expectations while trying to find their own voice. By the final page, you won’t just feel seen. You will feel grounded, capable, and ready to move forward. Because the truth is not that you are waiting for the breakthrough. You are the breakthrough.
ASIN: 196160065X
VSKU: BVV.196160065X.A
Condition: Acceptable
Author/Artist:Garcia, Oscar
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item is very worn but is perfectly usable. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing age related spots and browning . May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.