It’s a question I never thought I would ask my daughter. But I loved being able to ask it.

“Yurema?”

“Yes, Mom,” my 11-year-old daughter said.

“Tell me what T-shirt you would most like to wear: one that says ‘I am a Wise Latina,’ ‘My Mother is a Wise Latina’ or ‘Sonia is a Wise Latina’?”

She cocked her head slightly and then quickly said, “I am a Wise Latina.”

Eleven years old, and this is the vision she already has of herself. It’s a pretty wonderful thing to watch that certain something blossom in a girl … one of those often fleeting moments when a girl owns her own power.

Read the rest of Maria’s essay at CNN.com