August 2018 - CLAUDIA DELGADILLO

CLAUDIA DELGADILLO

Bio: Claudia Delgadillo Bergheger was born in Mexico City and raised in the state of Illinois. At the age of 20 she earned her Associate’s Degree from College of Lake County and married her husband Brian, a U.S. Army Veteran. Months later Claudia applied for a $100,000 tuition prize contest and was declared a winner. At 21 she moved to Tennessee to complete her Bachelor’s degree at Austin Peay State University with a major in Political Science. While at Austin Peay, Claudia took on multiple leadership roles; one being, President of her University’s Pre-Law Society where she provided members with LSAT preparation material and guidance throughout the law school application process.

Upon graduation, Claudia joined The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s Leadership and the American Presidency 2016 class in Washington, D.C. Here, she learned how to take her professional career to the next level, network efficiently, and apply the acquired leadership skills to her career and personal life. Her experience in D.C. led her to initiate a research project at Fort Campbell Army post to help veterans facing the transition process from active duty soldier to civilian. Today, Claudia works in a gubernatorial political campaign in Tennessee where she has the opportunity to impact the lives of over 6 million Tennesseans during this upcoming election.

INTERVIEW WITH CLAUDIA DELGADILLO

How do you approach challenges?

I approach challenges with an open mind because I know that with every challenge comes an opportunity to learn and grow in different aspects of my life.

What would you say to someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?

Embrace every challenge, don’t run from something that may appear difficult, instead run to it, and defeat it. Learn to step outside your comfort zone, when you do that you grow and you learn. And when faced with adversity, keep your head up, stay strong and trust that in the end things will always workout for the best.

What are you passionate about?

Absolutely leaving this world better than I found it! There is so much opportunity in simply healing this world from so much anger, misunderstanding, and lack of empathy.

What movie can you watch over and over again and never get tired of?

Forrest Gump is my favorite movie because I admire the character of Forrest and how well he exemplifies the traits of humility, kindness, and loyalty. He displays many great examples throughout the movie from being a friend, to someone that may seem lonely, to running in a jungle in the middle of a war to save his comrades in danger. The best part about that is that everyone has the power to be that friend or hero in a person’s life.

One of my favorite scenes is when he decides to run across the country just because he felt like it. That scene serves as a reminder that if there is something I want to do I just need to go for it. Many times we find ourselves wanting to do things that could help improve our quality of life or simply wanting to fulfill a goal, but we quickly talk ourselves out of it and become too afraid of failing. However, that is the best part, that if you fail or succeed you still win because with every failure comes a lesson learned and in every success comes a feeling of fulfillment.