Leticia Campos is starting a new chapter.
After years of working in health insurance, the 35-year-old single mother recently went back to school to study to become an occupational therapist, enrolling at Austin Community College.
For the past year, her weekdays have been occupied by online classes, coursework and raising her 4-year-old son. On weekends, she works full days at a local waxing salon to help make ends meet.
On a recent Sunday toward the end of her shift, Campos described the early days of the pandemic, when the salon closed for two months and she was out of work and without child care options for her son.