Isabel Cotti considers herself incredibly blessed. She grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, where she attended the girls’ Regnum Christi school just one year after it opened. She was fortunate to continue learning there all the way through high school.

Most of her family were members of Regnum Christi, and she grew up participating in ECYD; an international Catholic organization of adolescents who make a covenant of friendship with Christ and with each other, for the construction of a new world according to the Gospel. Isabel went to several international ECYD conventions during her elementary and middle school years. Even though she grew up with ECYD, she admits she did not fully understand what it was. It was just a part of the lives of everyone in her family.

At age 15, Isabel served as an ECYD missionary in Europe, traveling to Barcelona, Madrid, and Austria. After high school, she gave a year as a Regnum Christi missionary and participated in World Youth Days in 2000 and 2002. She was also a regular at the Holy Week missions with Mission Youth in Venezuela.

Isabel continued her education, earning a bachelor’s degree in Communications and Mass Media. It was during these college years when Isabel fell away from Regnum Christi and the Church. As she thinks back, she wonders how she could have fallen away given the many blessings she experienced being raised with such a strong faith. She knows that it was through that very upbringing that the Lord kept her close to His heart and waited patiently for her return.

Even while she was pursuing what “the world” had to offer, she always thought of RC with a sense of nostalgia, wondering if she could ever go back to that way of life. God has his plan, and he kept Isabel under his wing, eventually guiding her back to her faith.

Isabel moved to New York to pursue a Master’s Degree in Voice Performance and eventually met the man she was to marry. God blessed Isabel with a wonderful, Christian husband who helped make Christ the center of their family life. Her husband Mike and daughter Isabel are the driving forces that helped her find her way.

Isabel and her family now live in Toms River, NJ, where they own a small online retail business, and she also works at a staffing agency. Isabel is involved in parish life and volunteers as a CCD teacher. She is so thrilled that her daughter is happy to have her as a teacher!

Last May, when her daughter’s summer camp plans fell through, the Holy Spirit moved her heart to check and see if there were any ECYD summer camps in the area. She found a Challenge camp in Connecticut and thought, “I can drive to Connecticut!” Without thinking twice, she reached out and not only registered her daughter for the camp but also signed up to be a Mom volunteer. Working with the girls and the other moms, Isabel realized how much she missed Regnum Christi and their evangelizing mission.

Her daughter wants to start a new Challenge Club in Tom’s River, and Isabel is looking forward to tapping into all her past experiences to help her daughter make that happen. Isabel is eager to discover how she can reconnect to Regnum Christi in New Jersey and what new adventures God might be calling her toward.