Darlene marcos shiley biography

Talk about your beginning.

I was an only child and my parents divorced when I was very young, so I was raised by my mother and my grandmother. We lived in Alameda, in the shipyards, which was the projects.

My mother understood the importance of education and she didn’t like the school in the projects; she sent me to live with my grandmother during the week so that I could go to school in Oakland.

Did you go to college?

Yes.

I was the first in our extended family to go to college.

Darlene marcos shiley biography

I got into San Jose State with a scholarship from Bank of America. I was studying to be a teacher, but when I decided that wasn’t what I wanted to do, I sent the money back to B of A and became a biology major.

What did you take away from your upbringing?

I had strong roots but I was very quiet.

I learned a strong work ethic from my mother and grandmother. I worked a normal job during the day and performed at night. I was a pretty good soloist and I loved acting, whi