By Taryn Luna

Raising two children, interning at The Miami Herald and working toward two degrees would be tough shoes for anyone to fill.

For Wilma Hernandez, a 29-year-old Cuban immigrant from Pinar del Rio, those shoes happen to be heels.

“I walk better in heels,” she said. “I even run better in heels.”

Hernandez entered Miami Dade College in 1999. She and her husband, Juan, welcomed a baby boy to their family later that year.

“I always tell my editor that every story is like giving birth,” she said. “Like a child, it comes out and could be good or bad, you never know.”

Hernandez and her husband both took jobs at AT&T Wireless to support their family and pay for Wilma’s education.

“Having a child gives you a different sense of direction in your life,” she said.

Hernandez now strives to be a role model for her kids.

On New Year’s Eve of 2005, Hernandez and her friends were vacationing in New York City and walked by the New York Times building.

“I stopped the girls and I said, ‘Hey, you guys, you’re standing in front of my future employer,’” she said.

Three years later her “future employer” called to invite her to The New York Times Student Journalism Institute. Surprised and amazed, Hernandez thought it was a mistake.

“I was at my house with my daughter; I started jumping and crying,” she said.

This summer marks a special time in Hernandez’s life. After 10 years of struggling to balance work, classes and motherhood, she will complete her undergraduate education at Florida International University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and international relations.