Today we’d like to introduce you to April Bray.
Hi April , so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story has never followed one perfectly straight path, but the common thread has always been people, connection, and creating a sense of belonging.
I began my career in healthcare and worked as a nurse for nearly a decade. That experience taught me how to remain calm under pressure, listen closely, advocate for others, and meet people with compassion during some of their most vulnerable moments. Eventually, my life shifted as my family grew, and I began looking for ways to stay deeply involved in my children’s lives while continuing to make an impact outside my home.
That journey led me into the world of international student exchange. What began as opening our home to one student grew into more than ten years of working with exchange students, host families, schools, and community representatives. My family has now hosted 25 students from around the world, and those experiences completely expanded the way I see family, culture, and community. I eventually became a regional manager, leading a team across Texas and Oklahoma and helping place more than 100 students with host families each year.
Over time, I realized that what I loved most was not simply managing programs. I loved telling people’s stories, bringing the right people together, highlighting local businesses and organizations, and helping others feel seen. After stepping away from my regional management role, I began building a new chapter centered around community engagement, storytelling, public relations, and business development.
Today, I work with Honestly Texas Rice, a locally grown Texas brand, where I help develop partnerships, influencer relationships, community outreach, events, and brand storytelling. I also work with BeLocal Richmond and Fulshear, creating content that introduces residents to the businesses, nonprofit organizations, and people who make our area special. Alongside my professional work, I remain active with local chambers and nonprofit organizations, and I continue supporting international students and host families.
I am also a wife, a mother of six, a longtime host mom, and a proud Peruvian-Texan. Those parts of my life are not separate from my work; they shape how I lead, communicate, and connect with people. My path has been unconventional, but it has taught me that sometimes the things that appear unrelated are actually preparing you for exactly where you are supposed to be.
At this stage of my life, I am focused on using my experiences, relationships, creativity, and voice to strengthen my community, celebrate meaningful stories, and help people and organizations build genuine connections.
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?
It definitely hasn’t been a completely smooth road. One of my biggest challenges has been learning how to grow professionally while also being fully present for a large family. As a mother of six, there have been many seasons when my career had to shift around the needs of my children, and for a long time I worried that taking a less traditional path meant I was falling behind.
Leaving nursing was also a major transition. I had built an identity around being a nurse, so stepping away from that career meant starting over in many ways. Later, as I moved into leadership within international student exchange, I had to learn how to manage people, navigate difficult conversations, solve problems across a large region, and carry the responsibility of supporting students and families through challenging situations.
Like many women, I have also struggled with feeling that I needed to prove myself before I was allowed to take up space. I have battled perfectionism, fear of disappointing people, and the tendency to say yes to too much because I genuinely care about the people and organizations I serve. Eventually, I had to recognize that being capable does not mean being endlessly available.
One of the hardest decisions I made was stepping away from my regional management position after more than a decade in the exchange world. It was work I deeply cared about, but the pace and responsibility had become difficult to balance with my family and personal well-being. Walking away from something familiar without having every detail of the next chapter figured out was scary, especially because I have always valued stability.
At the same time, that transition forced me to take an honest look at what energized me most. I realized that my greatest strengths were relationship-building, storytelling, leadership, community outreach, and helping people feel connected. Starting over in a new space has required humility. I have had to learn new industries, ask a lot of questions, build new relationships, and become comfortable being a beginner again.
Those challenges have shaped the way I lead today. I have learned that resilience is not always about pushing harder. Sometimes it is having the courage to change direction, ask for help, establish healthier boundaries, and trust that your experience still has value. Even when the next step looks different from the original plan.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work centers on connection. Connecting people to opportunities, businesses to their communities, and meaningful stories to the audiences who need to hear them.
Today, I work across public relations, business development, community engagement, influencer partnerships, and content strategy. With Honestly Texas Rice, I help grow awareness of a Texas-grown brand through strategic partnerships, community outreach, events, influencer relationships, and storytelling that gives people a reason to care about where their food comes from. I also create community-focused content for BeLocal Richmond, highlighting the small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and local leaders who give our area its personality and heart.
Before stepping into this chapter, I spent more than a decade working in international student exchange. I began by supporting students and host families and eventually became a regional manager overseeing a large team across Texas and Oklahoma. Each year, we helped more than 100 international students find homes and build meaningful relationships within their American communities. That role required leadership, recruitment, crisis management, training, problem-solving, and an enormous amount of trust.
What I specialize in is making people feel seen. I can walk into a room, understand who needs to know whom, recognize the story worth telling, and find a way to bring those pieces together. I am known for building genuine relationships rather than collecting surface-level contacts. Whether I am developing a brand partnership, supporting a family, interviewing a local business owner, creating content, or representing an organization in the community, I want people to feel that I am truly invested in them…not simply completing a transaction.
I am most proud of the communities I have helped create. Some of my greatest accomplishments cannot be measured only in numbers. They are found in students who gained a second family, team members who discovered confidence in their leadership, small businesses that felt celebrated, and organizations that found new supporters because their story was finally told in a way people could connect with.
What sets me apart is the combination of experiences I bring to my work. I am a former nurse, a longtime nonprofit leader, a mother of six, a host mom to students from around the world, and a content creator. Nursing taught me compassion and composure. Leadership taught me accountability. Motherhood taught me flexibility and resourcefulness. International exchange taught me cultural awareness. Community work taught me that the strongest relationships are built when people feel welcomed, valued, and understood.
I do not believe community engagement should feel corporate or performative. People can tell when someone is simply networking, and they can also tell when someone genuinely cares. My strength is bringing professionalism, creativity, warmth, and strategy together in a way that feels human. I do not just promote businesses or organizations. I help people understand why they matter.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People can work with me through community partnerships, brand collaborations, storytelling, events, influencer campaigns, and projects that bring people together around something meaningful. Through my work with Honestly Texas Rice, I’m especially interested in connecting with chefs, restaurants, food creators, retailers, nonprofit organizations, event organizers, and community partners who want to collaborate with a locally grown Texas brand.
I am especially interested in collaborating with local businesses, nonprofit organizations, community leaders, creators, and mission-driven brands that value genuine connection over surface-level promotion. I can help shape a story, develop a partnership, create engaging content, support an event, build community awareness, or connect the right people and organizations to one another.
I am also always open to opportunities involving public speaking, panel discussions, cultural exchange, women’s leadership, community engagement, and conversations about building a meaningful career through an unconventional path.
The best way to support my work is to share ideas, make introductions, invite me into conversations where community and storytelling matter, and support the businesses and organizations I highlight. Some of the most impactful opportunities begin with one person saying, “You two need to know each other,” and I never underestimate the power of that kind of introduction.
Above all, I want to collaborate with people who care deeply about what they are building and who believe business can still feel personal. I bring creativity, strategy, warmth, and a strong network to the table, but I also bring genuine curiosity. I want to understand what matters to people and help them communicate it in a way others can feel.
I am not interested in creating noise simply for the sake of visibility. I want to help create connection, momentum, and work that leaves people and communities better than we found them.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hostmama_abrilina/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Abrilina15/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abrilinacommunityconnector
