Yesenia Puente Bravo (@yeseniapuentebravo) is opening up about her painful journey of surviving domestic violence and how her husband’s attempts to sabotage her education almost derailed her dreams.
Despite the challenges, she persevered and is now a licensed social worker with a master’s degree. In a deeply personal Instagram post, Yesenia reflected on the emotional toll of her marriage.
“My husband hated me. But God loved me so much,” she wrote, explaining how her faith carried her through nights filled with stress, sleeplessness, and the deliberate obstacles her husband placed in her path.
In an accompanying video, Yesenia detailed one of the most traumatic moments: when her husband unplugged her computer in the middle of a timed final exam while she was earning her associate’s degree.
At the time, Yesenia was caring for both a six-year-old and a newborn while trying to finish her coursework. She described pleading with her husband to help with the baby for just two hours so she could complete the exam. Instead, he forced the crying child back onto her and then unplugged the computer, locking her out of the test.
“That moment was so hard because there was such deep pain that somebody would do that to me for my final exam and just want to see me fail,” she said.
The test was worth 30% of her grade, and missing it should have caused her to fail the class. But to her surprise, her professor awarded her an A after recognizing that something serious must have happened. Yesenia called this outcome nothing short of divine intervention.
She now looks back on that time as proof that abuse doesn’t always appear in the ways people expect. “Domestic violence doesn’t always look the same. It is not always physical and verbal. For me, most of it was sabotage, most of it was hatred, most of it was ruining plans that I had, ensuring that I do not succeed,” she explained.
Her message to others in similar situations is clear: seek help and support from people who truly value women.
“No one should be abused, and everybody deserves to pursue their God-given purpose,” she said.
Yesenia’s story is a powerful reminder that resilience, faith, and perseverance can overcome even the most destructive attempts to silence or sabotage.
Today, her success as a social worker stands as both a personal victory and an inspiration for others navigating abuse and adversity.
