Wife, mother, artist, optimist, role model, survivor, author, those are just a few of the labels for Lorena Junco Margain, a woman bigger than a short description that can fit neatly into one box. If you read her debut book On the Way to Casa Lotus you’ll get a glimpse into why. After a tragic medical mistake changed the course of her life, she chose to shed the bitterness, pivot and grow and the book is her way of showing people the way to do the same.
Released May 25 with an event at Easy Tiger co-hosted by Camila Alves McConaughey and Women of Today, Lorena’s book achieved best-seller status by late June. “I grin from ear to ear, “she says, “I never expected good things to come from a tragedy and I’m happy to be able to morph this energy into something positive that has an impact on patients and the doctors all over.”
Writing the book was therapeutic for Lorena.. She says she binged journaled since she was a kid and it’s how she came to peace with everything that happened to her, but says, “It was important for me to speak up for the ones who don’t have the support system behind them.”
Her favorite place to write? Her closet! She explains, “An episode of my podcast, On My Way, where I narrate things I’ve done to reconstruct my life after the tragedy, is on keeping your closet clean. I read Marie Kondo and it was cathartic for me to have control of that because my life was chaotic. So, I made a little altar space in my closet and that’s where I sit down and know my kids won’t find me that easily and I’m not bothering anybody.”
With the book done Lorena says, “I’m working very, very hard on creating a lifestyle of love.” She’s embarking on this with Pay It Forward boxes and care kits for the caregivers of chronically ill patients. “Since I’ve been hanging out at the hospital quite a lot I realized my mom and my sisters were the least tended because they would be feeding me or making sure I was not cold, but I was always worrying they were hungry or cold so I want to honor the caregivers,” she says.
She also has a line of handbags (on sale at Estilo Boutique) that feature the third eye and says, “I have a thing with intuition and how we all process everything through our own lens” and she and her husband Eduardo Margain co-own Austin FC!
“Being Mexican you bleed futbol and it’s a very passionate game in my hometown Monterey. I grew up fiercely loving soccer, so it’s so exciting,” she says, adding, “But, the biggest reason we did it is to bring people together and have a connection through a sport where you can be from anywhere and still speak the universal language of futbol. Soccer.”
Find the book, boxes and more at https://lorenajuncomargain.com/