Today we’d like to introduce you to Desiree Burgos.
Hi Desiree, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am Desiree Burgos, most call me Des. I am from the most amazing island, Puerto Rico. There I did a lot of church responsibilities and learned a lot about leadership. I came to Utah in September 2016 by myself and started working two weeks later at a fast food restaurant. I learned most of my English working with people and asking lots of questions. I appreciated that everyone was so willing to teach me. I consider myself a bubbly, kind, funny and nature lover human being,. I love making people happy. I kept growing and changed companies. I came across Shake Shack Enterprises in 2023 and joined them as a manager. I was able to help open the first Shake Shack with Drive-thru in Utah, interview and orientated the team members. Amazing experience! I love developing people and seeing them making themselves proud. As recent as this past February I got promoted to Assistant General Manager and took that same store under my wing, since our GM also got promoted.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Sadly my active work had to come to a pause. The first couple of months of the year I was experiencing a really bad abdominal pain. One day I couldn’t handle it anymore and decided to go to the hospital. A mass was found and they told me “we think you might have cancer”. The fear was like I never experienced before. Met with the Oncologist Gynecologist 4 days later. She said I needed surgery. Mass was too big for it to go away by itself and it was close to the right ovary and uterus. There was always the chance that it could be cancer but they were hopeful, since I’m so young. A month later I got my surgery. Cancer was indeed found in both ovaries and uterus, so they removed everything they saw with cancer. Spent 4 days at the hospital, and I was called the “overachiever” by the staff with how well I was healing and recovering. A week later my doctor called saying “you have stage 3 endometrial/uterine cancer and you need chemo”. I was about to get my own restaurant at work, I just got married in January, “it wasn’t supposed to go that way”. I experienced such sadness, anger, fear. But I let it all out and have been making my peace with the fact that it’s what I need to live and fight. I then met with the staff of the cancer center. They were so amazing. Gave me all the information. Chemo started on May 28th and I already had my second treatment My husband, family, friends and my dog have been my rock. There have been some dark days and some better days but I know I am getting ready for this and will beat it. I am so into this because this type of cancer is actually common in women and hard to detect because the symptoms are “regular” symptoms shown on a regular menstrual cycle (which is what happened to me). My work bosses have been way more supportive than what I was expecting. They have been also looking out for me and showing so much care, and they are ready for me to come back when chemo is done. The one thing I have learned is mindset. Mindset is really everything in life. I’m not fighting with the cancer but I am healing through it. Chemo is my liquid gold helping me kill it and I know that even when the process is painful in so many ways, I will heal through it.
PS: I am sharing my journey on my instagram: Fearless,Viva.Healing and I can share as much more as you need 🙂
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As I have shared in the prior boxes, I am on a leave now due to my diagnosis. But what set me apart at work is that for the 2 years I was there, I was the mom of the restaurant. Fun to be around with, the super loud laugh (one could tell I was there) but also the strict mom side of “you gotta get the job done” but because everyone trusted me, it was easy to do the hardest. I was also the one who filled the restaurant with team members pictures and everyone loved it. We also got complimented by a guest through corporate for our dogs pictures in our drive-thru that I also implemented. Everything that I learned was because my love for connecting with the right people, and always always asking questions. My boss complimented me multiple times about how I was never afraid to share my opinion even if it wasn’t most popular.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Wow! I think I have to live what I have to live. If I think about luck I would say, that my dream has always been to have my own restaurant. I was offered one that just open a week ago. It was for me and what happened? Cancer came to my life. So I thought “WHAT IS HAPPENING?” but you know that going through this process I understood that my life is what it is right now and I have learned so much in this Cancer journey as I never though I would. So I don’t really think luck has a play in my life. Just my actions and decisions on how live my life.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @fearless.viva.healing
- Facebook: Desiree Bernal
