August 2023 was a particularly bad time in Diana’s life, which she recounts with a stray tear or two seeping from her eyes, despite her resolve to be straightforward but strong.  Her boyfriend at the time was away from home and Diana found herself mired in self-doubt. Diana claims she was narcissistic in the past and could be self-obsessed, but others might forgive those characteristics, since they were clearly self-protection strategies for a young woman who had encountered a rough start to life.  Feeling impotent, blaming herself for her choices in relation to her children, ruminating the number of failed projects in her past, and even questioning her relationship, Diana made an attempt on her life, overdosing with pills to end her pain. Her existence today she owes to her ex-husband who saw the suicide post she had made online, apologising to everyone for not making them proud of her, and reacted immediately. Diana’s ex sent money to their former cleaning lady to catch a taxi from Pattaya to Hua Hin to check on Diana. She was found unresponsive on the floor; an ambulance was called and a stomach pumping saved Diana’s life.

Diana was born in Nicaragua, the largest geographical country in Central America, nestled between the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean to the east. It is a country of great physical beauty but savage political turmoil, with Spanish as a major language due to previous colonisation.  It is one of only five nations in the world where abortion is not allowed, in any circumstance.  This is crucial in understanding Diana’s story, along with the fact that there is no enforcement, social or legal, of parental financial responsibility for men who father a child. In fact, Diana’s mother was the fifth long-term partner for Diana’s father, Diana being one of 26 of his acknowledged children, yet clearly one of his favourites as she was the only one who benefited from a university education, in Graphic Design, at his expense. Diana’s father was of mixed African and Chinese heritage, something you will see if you look closely at her facial features.  She would have had a Chinese surname if it were not for the 12-year-old niece sent to register her birth losing the piece of paper with the name written on it before arriving at the registry office.

It is possible that Diana’s mother was jealous of her partner’s attachment to their daughter, as Diana suffered sustained physical aggression and violence at the hands of her mother, particularly after her parents separated when she was just six and her little brother was 4.  Diana has a limited number of happy childhood memories but recalls starting to learn to use a sewing machine from her grandmother, because she wanted to design and make outfits for her Barbie dolls.  Another treasured memory is travelling to an island with her father as a 5-year-old and him teaching her to swim.  Diana remained living with her mother until she was twelve.  Her mother was an abuser of both alcohol and illicit drugs, and Diana firmly believes that the physical touching she received one night from a man who entered her bedroom was the result of her “sale” by her mother to procure drug money. Diana’s terrified screams and the prompt response of relatives who lived nearby saved Diana and her father was awarded her custody in court. Now Diana’s father is the only parent with whom she has contact.

Diana could not live with her father on the island as it had no secondary school.  He arranged for her to live with a former wife, with whom he had a son and daughter, the daughter of a very close age to Diana.  Her life with this family group was quite happy, and with Diana and her half-sister both resembling their father, the girls were often mistaken as twins, particularly as their “mother” chose to purchase matching outfits for the girls.

During her teenage years Diana bore the scars of the physical abuse at the hands of her mother.  She experienced frustration at her treatment and felt it was easiest if people were afraid of her.  The victim turned into a bully, with just a few loyal friends who understood what caused her aggression, although the teachers attempted to help Diana manage her behaviour. After school, Diana’s father supported her as she undertook studies in Graphic Design, but his financial support ceased when she disappointed him by falling pregnant at 19 years of age, with twin girls Nahomi and Nohemi, now 14-years-old.  Their father Lesley “was not a nice guy”, involved in illegal activities, but Diana, still so very young, had just been craving love and affection. It was a number of years before Diana spoke to her father again, and even longer to get their relationship back on a positive path.

So, just 19 and pregnant with twins, Diana found herself homeless but determined to find a way to support herself and her children.  She purchased and sold Nicaraguan pottery items at tourist markets, travelling by bus. Diana designed shoes which she found a shoemaker to manufacture for her, only to have her design stolen and cheaper, inferior “knock-offs” in the market.  After her twins were born, she stayed home, almost penniless for 3 months. Diana resorted to YouTube to find how to make a rice pudding dish she could sell by the cupful, even offering free delivery each Sunday.  All her deliveries had to be made in an hour because she could only afford the taxi hire for an hour.  Diana did what she needed to, to ensure the young family had food in their bellies. Diana even sought refuge in the home in Costa Rica belonging to her grandmother, selling all her possessions to obtain passports for herself and the twins, but for a variety of reasons this was not a sustainable long-term option.

Diana was eventually driven to approaching the twin’s paternal grandmother to seek some support in caring for the girls to allow her to work more consistently, but even this was denied to her.  Diana left, humiliated, when the woman denied her son was the girls’ father, despite the very obvious physical resemblance.  It was divine intervention, according to Diana, that on leaving the house she encountered a woman whose kind-heartedness changed her life. Long story short, this woman’s father was in fact Diana’s uncle, estranged from her father during the Revolution, so she was actually Diana’s cousin, although Diana now acknowledges her as “Aunty”.

Aunty moved Diana and the girls into her home and became the twins’ primary care-giver from that moment, freeing up Diana to pursue a job.  Aunty even got Diana a computer so she could send her resume far and wide. Diana began working in a casino with an attached hotel, glad for whatever work she could get. It was while working here that Diana was again betrayed by men.  A hotel guest raped her when she took towels to his room, at his request in the middle of the night and then hotel management betrayed her by not supporting her after the attack, the manager even demanding sexual favours of her for her to keep her job when she reported the rape.  Spanish has some very colourful ways to tell someone where to stick their job. In a devastating turn of events, Diana was pregnant with another pair of twins, who were delivered prematurely.  A son died in hospital, but a girl was given up for adoption, Diana already having her hands more than full.

Diana redoubled her efforts to work towards a better future for herself and her twin girls. But to do this required making sacrifices which are still impacting Diana and her daughters today.  Diana was offered a scholarship to pursue work and further studies in product design at Copenhagen University in Denmark, with a lead-in time of only 3 days, and she knew it was an opportunity she could not afford to refuse.  Diana had to leave the girls in Costa Rica, just a matter of a few weeks before their first birthday. Diana misses her girls terribly and has had to sacrifice being with them as they have grown from infants into teenagers.  Even now, she only has weekly contact with them, as they have their own lives to lead.  Aunty has been a constant, Christian presence in the twins’ lives and Diana is eternally grateful that they are being raised in a secure environment, but wishes she had been able to guide them in her own way, believing they need to be encouraged to be more outgoing and less introverted like Aunty. She also wishes it was her job to teach each of her daughters how to be a good person and how to make your own particular mark in life. Like every parent, Diana would love to see her daughters surpass her, choosing their teenager friends much more wisely than she did.

It was in Denmark that Diana met and married her now ex-husband, who has been the most positively influential male figure in her life. Their relationship began with a whirlwind courtship, with his proposal of marriage coming in just four days. Being 24 years older than Diana, he offered her a level of love, care and responsibility she had never experienced before. It was during their nine-year relationship that Diana came to live in Thailand, first in Bangkok and then in Pattaya with her husband.  He helped Diana acknowledge that she had deep emotional and psychological scars that needed healing with the assistance of an expert. She still feels a strong affection for him, despite their growing apart which lead to their mutual decision to separate and ultimately divorce, before hatred could grow. This man also helped Diana emotionally and financially with her 18-month-long battle with uterine cancer, after their divorce. Clearly, he still cares for her well-being, as his rescue of her last year also demonstrates.

Here in Hua Hin, Diana has found “her tribe”, a group of friends with whom she truly feels both at ease, and valued. What she likes most is that she has community support in Hua Hin, which she never experienced in either Bangkok or Pattaya. Here, people want her to be successful in all she attempts. In her first year in Hua Hin, Diana has achieved an awful lot.  She has worked on her cosmetic brand, her party planning as well as her soy candle making operation.  To top all of that, Diana is leading the way with Mia House, where the focus is on women empowering women.  She has developed a retail space where she and other women can jointly showcase and sell their artisanal wares, everything a woman might want for herself or her home.  Mia House Hua Hin is the first step in Diana’s creation of her empire.  She has dreams for Mia Houses in Bangkok, Phuket and eventually the US and Europe, in a similar style to the global Sephora chain.  Diana hopes to be in a position to encourage her twins to join with her in leading her future business empire, perhaps even one day freeing her up to take some much-needed time to relax and prioritise herself. However, this is still at least 5 years in the future, once the girls finish their education in Costa Rica and are ready to expand their knowledge to embrace an international mindset.

A recent further success for Diana was her co-operation with Monsoon Valley Wine Bar for their Mother Dinner series. Nicaraguan cuisine was presented in a five-course wine pairing dinner on 31st May with Diana curating an array of traditional dishes then overseeing their preparation and presentation by the Monsoon Valley team, to universal acclaim.

Her new Mia House is her favourite place in the world, painted in her favourite pink.  Indeed, there is a particular shade of pink to suit every occasion and every mood, according to Diana. Now, if only she had a few more hours to fully relax with a face-mask, in front of her favourite newest TV series, before a good night’s sleep to awaken next to the comforting presence of her cat, Diana would be completely happy.