{"id":1115,"date":"2026-05-21T15:32:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/someone-san-diego-should-know-estela-nunez\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T15:32:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:32:44","slug":"someone-san-diego-should-know-estela-nunez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/someone-san-diego-should-know-estela-nunez\/","title":{"rendered":"Someone San Diego Should Know: Estela Nunez"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>Estela Nunez greets students on the first day of her four-week job readiness class with a warm smile. \u201cYou look like you never had a bad thing ever happen to you,\u201d one student remarked, implying she could never understand his hardships.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/chula-vista-police-officer-charged-with-motorcyclists-death-in-on-duty-crash\/\">Chula Vista police officer charged with motorcyclist\u2019s death in on-duty crash<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe typical student was just released from custody and ordered to take the class,\u201d Nunez said. \u201cSome have been in prison for over 20 years and many are gang members. They don\u2019t want to be in my class and initially reject me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, attitudes change during the first week \u201cstand and deliver\u201d session when everyone shares their life journeys.<\/p>\n<p>Nunez goes first, and the warm smile is replaced with painful reality.<\/p>\n<p>Born in 1983, Nunez and her five siblings were raised in Linda Vista. Their father was a janitor and mother a housekeeper.<\/p>\n<p>The family was poverty-stricken, living in a small apartment. \u201cI don\u2019t remember ever eating meat,\u201d Nunez said.<\/p>\n<p>Her father was physically abusive, and her mother left when Nunez was 9.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother left and my father\u2019s anger filled the house with fear,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was a monster.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cHe was sexually abusive toward me beginning at age 5. My memory is of my father crawling on top of me. It lasted 13 years. He would say this was my duty as a daughter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was very possessive. I could not have friends or go anywhere but home after school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nunez tried to end her life at 13. At 15, when she refused his advances, he turned violent.<\/p>\n<p>At 18 she left. \u201cI walked out the door with literally just the clothes on my back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>She dropped out of high school and was homeless for two years, living in a riverbed near Old Town. Initially, she slept alone among bushes, but soon connected with a group of homeless teens. She learned to beg for money and steal food.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt so hopeless,\u201d she said. \u201cI was doing nothing. No purpose. No direction. I was overwhelmed by pain that seemed endless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her turnaround began when a man she solicited for money offered her employment at a restaurant. She worked at fast food restaurants for seven years and rented an apartment in Tijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/photos-bike-anywhere-day\/\">Photos: Bike Anywhere Day<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomething inside me refused to die,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>After moving to an El Cajon apartment, she enrolled in a job readiness class and did so well she was hired to teach the class. That led to employment with Second Chance, a well-regarded nonprofit that helps participants achieve self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n<p>However, she was still hurting emotionally and needed to address lingering pain.<\/p>\n<p>In 2014, Nunez was 31 when she walked into a San Diego police station and reported her father\u2019s sexual abuse that occurred during her childhood.<\/p>\n<p>After being told of the difficulty in proving the case, she confronted her father and recorded his admission.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, her father was convicted in San Diego and sentenced to 225 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat chapter of my life closed,\u201d she said, \u201cI could finally look forward to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her achievements were rapid. She earned a high school diploma in 2017 at age 34, followed by alcohol, drug abuse and anger management counseling certifications and associate degrees from San Diego City College in social work and psychology.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Nunez, 43, graduated with honors from San Diego State University with a bachelor\u2019s in social work.<\/p>\n<p>While pursuing her education, she also worked full-time teaching and counseling some 2,000 students over 10 years at Second Chance. More than 70% found employment and 40% returned to school after receiving her job readiness and life skills guidance.<\/p>\n<p>As for her future, Nunez is entering a master\u2019s program in social work at San Diego State. Her career goal is to become a professor while continuing to help people turn their lives around.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI no longer view my past as chains meant to hold me down. I saved myself. Now I get to help others by showing what it looks like,\u201d Nunez said, citing hard work, education and believing in yourself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything is possible if you just give yourself a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>About this series<\/h4>\n<p>Goldsmith is a Union-Tribune contributing columnist.<\/p>\n<p>We welcome reader suggestions of people who have done something extraordinary or otherwise educational, inspiring or interesting and who have not received much previous media. Please send suggestions to Jan Goldsmith at\u00a0jgsandiego@yahoo.com<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/rubio-doubtful-of-diplomacy-with-cuba-as-trump-raises-new-threat-of-military-action\/\">Rubio doubtful of diplomacy with Cuba as Trump raises new threat of military action<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>She was abused as a child and homeless as a teen, but she found strength to overcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Someone San Diego Should Know: Estela Nunez - 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