My guest today has recently published the story of her early life. It is one that would make of us immediately feel incredibly sad for the young child that suffered so much and then fell into a disastrous and violent teenage marriage. But, Mary Ann Pérez has written her story from a different perspective and does not come across as a victim but as someone amazingly strong and courageous who has turned the past into an inspiring story of hope.

Mary is Puerto Rican born in the Bronx, raised in Miami and then moved to Houston. She has been happily married for the second time to a ‘phenomenal’ man for the last twenty years and has four grown children and two grandchildren. She has been writing her memoirs for some time but has only recently felt comfortable sharing her story. As she says she needed first to confront her past…