Meet Yafreysy

Driven and independent student finds the path to her future with an assist from her success coach

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Even as a little girl, Yafreysy Mora always knew she wanted to be an accountant. She hoped it would provide her with the independence and stability she craved. As she explains, when her family left the Dominican Republic and came to the United States when she was 12, circumstances left Yafreysy needing to provide for herself in ways she never had before. “I stopped being a kid,” she says. “I had to be the adult because I had to make sure I went to school. I had to make sure I learned English. I wanted to go to college, which meant making sure my high school record was amazing because I wanted a full-ride scholarship.” Over time, Yafreysy got to the point that she was doing everything by herself — the paperwork, the communicating, the scheduling. Having been so independent for so long, Yafreysy didn’t want to accept — or ask for — support, even from her family.

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That spirit and determination earned Yafreysy a full scholarship at Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU), a private HBCU in Charlotte, North Carolina. As part of the school’s student support services, they created a team of student success coaches, all trained and certified in InsideTrack’s coaching methodology. These coaches provide students with an advocate — someone who’s on their side to help them maximize their abilities to overcome challenges as they arise. Yet when some students are offered coaching, their first reaction is that they don’t need help. Or that it sounds like another demand on their time. Such was the case with college sophomore Yafreysy Mora. 

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“I initially felt like seeing a coach was just another requirement I had to deal with as part of the college process. I didn't think I needed one, because for most of my life, I've done everything by myself and I've always been very on top of my responsibilities.” Despite her initial reluctance to seek help, the support of her coach proved invaluable in helping Yafreysy navigate the challenges of college life — challenges that went beyond academics into life lessons she will take with her well beyond graduation.

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“I’ve always tried to be perfect”

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Yafreysy remembers what it was like during her first semester in an online class. “I was used to being in the classroom and holding eye contact,” she says. In the online format, she missed a few assignments and her grade dropped down to a B. That’s when she realized she could use some help and reached out to her coach. Having always been an A student, Yafreysy felt a bit lost. “I was very out of my zone,” she recalls. Because she had always been a top student, she didn’t have experience advocating for herself. Working together, her coach supported her in how to start an email, how to initiate a meeting, how to share her concerns with her professor and other college necessities. 

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“I've always tried to be perfect in everything, which cost me my mental health. But working with a coach has helped me see that I just need to try my best and that should be ‘my perfect.’ Embracing that has really helped me in all aspects of my life.”

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For Yafreysy, the lesson went well beyond the skill of reaching out to a professor. “I learned that I actually have people here to help me out through challenging times. I thank my coach for that.” Slowly but surely, Yafreysy evolved from doing everything by herself to leaning into her coach’s expertise, unlocking opportunities she had never considered before. By asking questions and bouncing thoughts and ideas off her coach, she realized that she didn’t have to do it all alone.

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Achieving her goals — along with work-life balance

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Prior to connecting with her coach at JCSU, Yafreysy put academics first — no matter what — and everything else fell by the wayside. Working with her coach helped her see that she needed balance in order to be successful. “School is not everything,” she said. “You need to take care of yourself. You need to eat and make sure you’re hydrated. You need to make sure you’re getting enough sleep.” For this very driven learner, dedicating time to her basic needs was a revelation. Because Yafreysy was having such a hard time seeing herself as both student and person, her coach helped her set up a planner so she could define specific time for school, as well as time for family and herself. Putting this into practice showed her that she can be meticulous and focused in her professional life, but looser and more relaxed in her personal life. “It’s a good balance,” she says with a smile.

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In terms of her major, Yafreysy is following through with her longtime goal of becoming a certified public accountant. In high school, she had researched the field extensively and had her eye on a top international firm — a firm where she had the opportunity to job shadow and work with a mentor. “There are lots of different departments, and that’s when I realized I wanted to be an auditor. As a CPA, I would be able to work as an internal auditor, external auditor, or start my own accounting firm,” she says. Yafreysy loves the options afforded by her career path and is happy with the work and the compensation. 

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Through coaching, she has gained something she never expected — the skills to develop a work-life balance and the firsthand knowledge that accepting support is a sign of strength, not weakness. She’s also begun slowly reconnecting with her family, using what she's learned in her coaching sessions to set healthy boundaries. “Changing my mindset has really shaped my entire life from now on.”

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“Having a coach shows us it’s okay to ask for help. And then once we have that help, we will be unstoppable.”

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