Yolanda Nava has appeared on NBC, CBS, PBS, and cable stations as a news anchor and commentator in her home state of California, as well as national.

The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Yolanda is the author of the best-selling, award-winning book of Latino virtues, It’s All in the Frijoles, published by Simon and Schuster.

She’s also a former political wife, mother, mentor and trailblazer. In 2009 she suddenly lost sight in both eyes, yet she continues to inspire and empower others through her writing and speaking.

Her inspirational memoir Through The Dark is a winner of a 2022 Bookfest Award, and a finalist for the 2022 International Latino Book Awards – in three categories. Through The Dark is available on Amazon.

A Message from Yolanda:

I believe we each have unique God-given gifts and talents to be discovered, developed, and shared. We each have a purpose, something that is ours to do.  It is our responsibility to live into that purpose in order to make this world a better place for everyone.

Much has taken place since I suddenly woke up blind due to an undiagnosed autoimmune illness that nearly claimed my life. That was in August 2009. Within six months of returning home from the hospital  to Santa Fe, I began writing Through the Dark with the intention of helping people facing traumatic, cataclysmic, life-changing crises, so they, too, might come to thrive It has been a long, challenging and darkness-filled  journey. And yet, it has also been an amazing journey filled with adventure, travel, new experiences, new awareness, many angels, abundant joy, expanding faith, gratitude, love, creativity, and purpose.    

It is exciting to be alive during these  challenging, yet transformational times.

We each are being called upon to do that which is ours to do.  Yes, I continue to be an optimist. This inherent quality  is strengthened by my own discoveries, my ongoing spiritual study and growth has demonstrated that anything is possible. Even when one might wonder how that can possibly be true.  

When COVID struck, I chose to see it as an opportunity to go into writer’s retreat, rewriting much of Through the Dark, discovering new aspects of my own journey through various conversations and self reflection. The summer of 2018, I began writing poetry! It just started writing itself, after my heart was opened. That story is Chapter 10.

So poetry continues to flow through me. I share three poems at the end of Through the Dark. 

Poetry is the heart speaking and thinking. Yes, the heart thinks. Follow it!

Many are seeking creative work, nourishing relationships, unconditional  love, joy, a sense of purpose,  abundance, fulfillment, health, and well-being.   

Do we not all want these things for ourselves and loved ones? For everyone? I invite you to read Through the Dark, to gift it to others, and to help move it into the world.