From Trash to Triumph: The Raquel Torres Story ♻️👑

They will never be able to see me succeed. A girl from the mountains of waste in Manila surrounded by the strife of toxic fumes from a wasteful system. My childhood was a land fill of broken dreams - A child of a single mother who was working 16 hours sorting trash for one meal on the table - I slept on a mattress made of shredded PET bottles. Played with a doll from melted grocery bags. 💔

But I will not be trash.

At age 14, I foraged textbooks from dumpsters and studied chemistry by candlelight. At 18, I sold my only pair of shoes for a community college application. For three years, I ate instant noodles every. single. day. while competing with an Ivy League nepo-babies in biopolymer labs wearing a secondhand lab coat to their reactions, and laughing at the immigrant. Until my research on algae based plastics landed a full ride on a jet plane to MIT. 🎓🔥

Now? I happen to be a Bioplastics Queen turning pollution into revolution. My patents have displaced petroleum plastics in 12 countries. My startup was valued at 2.3B! I wear Louboutins to construction sites because every step-crushes the lies that people like us can't fit into STEM.

This isn't just a comeback. It's a takeover. 💋

BossLadyScience #WasteToWealth