About Me — Ingrid Vergara
Flowing to the rhythm of life’s sweet music
Heritage
What’s in a name?
The history of enduring love.
My German grandmother Ingrid Asche was tragically lost in an accident before I was born. I carry a special piece of her in my name, “Ingi.”
Through stories, I know of Ingrid’s natural beauty and gentle heart.
She was only four in 1939, when war broke out in Europe. She took her mother’s hand and escaped on the last ship out of Rotterdam, Holland, before all waters closed to civilians. She spoke little English when she stepped ashore in America.
When she was nineteen, she fell in love with my grandfather, a United States naval officer, and became Ingrid Asche Newell. Now, she rests amidst presidents and military heroes at Arlington National Cemetery. Each time I visit, I envision her selflessness, class, and grace.
I see her reflection in the faces of my three strong uncles.
I would give everything to bring her back from heaven for the sake of her daughter, my mother; my steadfast companion and my voice of truth.
My mother met my father in his midshipman years at the U.S. Naval Academy. I am the middle of their three girls. I’ve always loved our home. It’s a place I feel safe, guided, and truly known.
Music
“Every child is an artist.” ~ Pablo Picasso
Early on, I was drawn to the arts — ballet, drawing, music, writing. As I matured, the violin took on a prominent place in my life.
My teacher inspired me. I can still hear her voice. She was a South African alum of the Tel-Aviv Symphony Orchestra.
Gentle and kind, she guided my soul into my instrument’s sound.
Hours spent in quiet practice provided a respite wherein my mind was free to daydream. It was in these hours that I discovered mastery demands intention; focus yields excellence.
Certain classical works will speak to my heart forever —
Beethoven’s late string quartets,
Rachmanoff’s cello sonata in G minor,
Barber’s violin concerto,
Schubert’s chamber arrangements,
Mahler’s slow movements,
— the list is endless.
Such pieces express something raw and beautiful, bridging the human and divine.
University
“That’s all well and good in practice…but how does it work in theory?” ~ The University of Chicago
Over its history, the University of Chicago earned its ranking as “the level of hell Dante forgot” and — more fondly — “where fun comes to die.” The mottos admittedly hold a glimmer of truth.
In my undergraduate years, as I walked across the quadrangle on cold winter nights, I gazed at the giant stone buildings around me and felt very small.
Even so, I was truly happy. I pursued majors in both economics and music, and my mind had fertile ground to come alive.
Moreover, music served as an escape from the institution’s inherent pressures. I thrived abroad in Vienna, where I spent my days studying in coffeehouses and my nights standing in the three-euro sections of the State Opera and Philharmonic.
In my final quarter, I developed a confusing medical condition that shook me to the core — I describe this journey elsewhere. Here, I’ll simply state that everything became infinitely harder, and there was no end in sight.
I felt the weight of society’s expectations propelling me forward.
Young Adult Life
“There is a wisdom of the head, and…there is a wisdom of the heart.” ~ Charles Dickens, Hard Times
I started my career in economic consulting. It was interesting work, and I worked incredibly hard.
Three years later, I began my MBA at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. At Booth, I fell in love with Raul Vergara Arias, a foreign student from Mexico City.
It’s one of those things that made intuitive sense. For the first time in my life, I had no doubts. He is the most rational person I know, and I have so much respect for his heart, his intelligence, and his culture.
We married in a secret civil ceremony at the University after we graduated, and in a traditional Mexican wedding near his home a few years later. I took his family name because, for me, it signifies our own new special unit.
Now, I am Ingrid Newell Watts Vergara, preserving my own heritage while entangling myself in another’s.
Our post-MBA careers took us to New York City. I worked around the clock in management consulting, specializing in life sciences strategy. Each day, I studied novel emerging therapeutics in development for all sorts of conditions. Some held the amazing promise to transform lives for people with rare diseases.
As for me, I was as sick as ever, facing my own mortality, yet living in denial as daylight came.
Intuition, Yoga, and Faith
“Reduced to our own body, our first instrument, we learn to play it, drawing from it maximum resonance and harmony.” ~ Yehudi Menuhin
I am fascinated by the subtle intricacies of our human bodies.
Our rhythmic patterns — the heartbeat, breath, circadian clock, nervous system, digestion, and so forth — work together in a perfect web that fuses our physical, emotional, and cognitive states.
The art of yoga taps into this intrinsic power. As a teacher and practitioner, I am acutely aware that taking time to harmonize our breath, bodies, and minds unlocks a renewed sense of lightness and strength.
I believe in intelligent design because I can’t otherwise explain the beauty in the complex, largely unconscious ecosystems that exist within us. On a more personal level, I’ve recently found relief from my illness; it is nothing short of a miracle.
Heart’s call
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” ~ William Wordsworth
Love, fear, passion, despair, resilience, pain, wonder…I pour out my feelings on paper so that ultimately I will look back and see beauty in them all.
As reflected in my writing, each day brings new thoughts, experiences, and emotions; this is a beautiful concept.
In life’s variability, we become deeper, more nuanced individuals. We grow in wisdom. We learn to appreciate the gift of the present.
One day, perhaps, one of my stories will inspire hope in someone out there. In the meantime, thank you from the bottom of my heart for following along.
