Biography

Jessica Santana Salamanca

Jessica Santana Salamanca works as an administrative
assistant at Universidad Técnica Nacional. She not only
performs administrative duties to support academic offices
but also is engaged in supporting students in the different
processes. Since she thinks that helping others without
expecting anything in return is the most valuable thing for a
human being, she loves helping students.
Jessica was born on April 16, 1971, in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Being a complete error
on the database of the National Register of Citizens, her date of birth has an interesting
and unusual story behind it. It was registered as if she had been born on May 16th
instead of on April 16th (her real date of birth). This error could not be corrected, for her
declaration of birth was lost.
Looking back to the past, the most influential person to Jessica in her childhood was her
aunt who looked after her while Jessica’s mother worked to put food on the table. At the
beginning, Jessica refused spending time with her aunt because her upbringing
practices were pretty strict. Eventually, Jessica realized that she had become an
organized and responsible person thanks to that. At some point, those characteristics
had a profound effect on her educational development since she would always go the
extra mile to be a diligent student. As well, she remembers herself as a convivial and
affable student who really enjoyed getting involved in the different school activities.
Unfortunately, because she and her family were facing economic problems, she could
participate in extracurricular activities until the last year of high school. She decided to
take part in a theater club, which sowed the seeds of her passion for acting. The factor
that led her become an actress later.
When Jessica was only sixteen years old, she was told to pursue further studies; she
got an associate degree in Office Administration. Although she was not enough
convinced about that decision, she got the taste of it later. Furthermore, her professional
career started when she was hired as the secretary of the director of executive
assistance courses at Colegio Universitario Boston. Jessica considered that her human
relationships professor was a key in the process of adapting to work environment. He
gave her plenty of essential pieces of advice related to teamwork and conflict solving
skills that were helpful in her first job.
Currently, Jessica stands by the philosophy that everything has a why. Every
experience that she went through has contributed to the way she perceives life now.
She has learned about the importance of tolerance and patience. She firmly believes
that the perfect time for things happen is when God wants and not when we, humans,
want. In the same way, she considers that happiness is subjective, but she also
describes it as the peace that you can feel while doing something.
From her point of view, familial bonds are the strongest, and something important that
should be highlighted is that family is not only the people with whom you share blood
ties but also those people who stand by your side even if the situation goes from bad to
worse. For that reason, she is enormously grateful for every thing that her mother has
done for her. Despite the fact that her family lacked many material things, love and
happiness were always present at their home. Consequently, her brave and hard-
working mother is the person that she admires the most.