Humanitarian & Author Patricia Alcivar: Champion Beyond The Ring
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Patty Alcivar at Summit of Cotopaxi, 19,347’ in Ecuador, one of the highest active volcanoes worldwide.
MICHAEL PERLMAN
CHAIRMAN, REGO-FOREST PRESERVATION COUNCIL
“Hope, faith, and action are key to rising above,” and “Never, ever give up!” says longtime Forest Hills resident Patricia Alcivar, a Latina woman who exemplifies courage and perseverance. She proves daily that it is attainable to pursue her dreams, cultivate her talents, and share good deeds as an author, boxer, climber, runner, humanitarian, and inspirational speaker, despite facing physical and mental abuse during adolescence.
“Courage, a memoir by Patricia Alcivar” is her first production of its kind that is part of a conceived series, where the second will be titled “Climbing for a Dream, 7 Summits” after she completes her “Seven Summits.” Her upcoming engagement will be held on June 13 at 6:30 PM at Travers Park in Jackson Heights, where she will share an empowering story for “Mobile Stories” as an opening speaker. “Believing in a higher power, counseling, and taking action have positively changed my life. I would never advise anyone on anything I have not done myself,” she said.
Writing “Courage, a memoir by Patricia Alcivar” was five years in the making. She began at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, and would dedicate two hours daily from 5 AM to 7 AM prior to her workday. “It was one of the hardest endeavors ever,” recalled Alcivar. “I translated my book into Spanish, ‘Valiente, relatos de Patricia Alcivar,’ and self-published both books in December 2024. I also produced an audio recording of my book and published the audio version in June 2025, available on Spotify and all major audio book platforms. It has been a one-woman show for now, and working extra hard to give my book the exposure to get noticed.”
Alcivar’s home life consisted of significant hardships, but Alcivar remained true to her ambitions, and the only means forward was to embrace that light, and ultimately become a beacon of hope and inspiration for her audiences. In 2005, she proudly called Forest Hills home and then briefly explored a new path in Asheville, North Carolina from 2007 to 2010. She was born in Elmhurst.
Alcivar’s parents were immigrants from Barranquilla, Colombia, who faced a challenging upbringing among impoverished conditions with resources that were minimal to none. She was one of four sisters who was raised in a small two-bedroom apartment in Woodside. She reminisced, “Out of four sisters, my father chose me to abuse physically, verbally, and mentally. There were many instances, but one that I will never forget was when I was about eight and he caught me doing a little dance on top of the new dining room chairs he just purchased, after he warned us to not horse around on them. He saw it as an act of disrespect. Then he gave me the beating of a lifetime, where I was unable to sleep on my back for a month. Later in my adult years, I learned through an x-ray that he fractured my lower back through that beating. My family was extremely dysfunctional, and the toxic behavior was common among my sisters.” Currently, she is only close to her younger sister and niece, and considers them her only family, in addition to her dog.
At the age of 13, she landed her first position, delivering the New York Daily News to Woodside residents. “When I needed extra money to purchase running sneakers and help pay for karate school, I got a job as a cashier at Sneaker Stop in Sunnyside. Once I left an abusive home, I was miraculously able to get my first real job in the professional world as a receptionist at the battered women’s shelter, Sanctuary for Families,” said Alcivar, who graduated with honors as a Salutatorian at Middle College High School nearly two years early. She obtained certificates in Paralegal Studies, returned to school in 2011, and graduated EMT School at LaGuardia Community College.
Alcivar has taken various steps to restructure and enhance her life. At a young age, she was diagnosed with a mild case of ADD, but her parents did not have the resources for doctors and medication, so a counselor suggested activities to help drain excess energy. She explained, “I knew that athletics was a healthy outlet, so I took it upon myself to seek what could help me feel alive. I ran my first ever New York City Marathon at 16. Upon completing my first marathon, I promised to run at least one marathon every year, to remind me of everything it took to complete my first. I ran 50 marathons, as I run more than one per year. I have also been in counseling since I was 16. Counseling, my faith, and prayers continue to provide clarity and acceptance of my past.”
Her motivation continued through other pursuits including boxing, which she began shortly after leaving home, while working at Sanctuary for Families. They offered staff members complimentary classes at The New School. She reminisced, “When I was flipping through the catalogue and saw ‘The Art of Boxing,’ I remembered the Rocky movies I watched with my sisters at home. I wanted to be just like Rocky, so I signed up. It is a funny story, since the class turned out to be a box aerobics class. When I told the ginormous instructor that I was not coming back, he challenged me to throw any punches to try and hurt him to see what I had. I found an opening in his solo plexus and he went down. He took me under his wing, and began training me for the NYC Golden Gloves. I went on to become a two-time NYC Golden Gloves Champion, USA National Female Boxing Champion, Gold Medalist at the first ever International Women’s Boxing Championship against Canada, and the first female ever to be voted and win ‘Athlete of the Year,’ as voted by the Olympic Boxing Committee. As a professional boxer, I captured the NYS Title in front of a sold-out crowd in Queens.”
Patty Alcivar, NYS Championship Boxing Belt.
Alcivar is a people’s person to the fullest. Since 2021, she has been serving New Yorkers through the NYC Department of Health as a project manager and communications specialist for the External Affairs Communications Department. “It has been an incredible privilege, and I absolutely love my job because although it is very challenging at times, I feel that my work makes a difference for the lives of New Yorkers by communicating and translating materials on safety and health through press releases, radio advertisements, TV/digital media, social media, newspapers, and brochures. I am also activated during any emergencies and high alerts in the city such as hurricanes, Covid, and the FIFA World Cup,” she said.
Volunteering is an essential aspect of Alcivar’s life. She said, “Thinking of others and helping in any way is what life is really about.” She undoubtedly defines the concept of a humanitarian and embarks upon an illuminated path. She has a deep love for animals and finds it heartbreaking when encountering anyone who is facing hunger or poverty, especially since she has walked in those footsteps. She explained, “I have been an active volunteer for New York Cares, Citymeals on Wheels, Hope For New York, City Harvest, and Volunteers of America for the past 10 years. I try to donate every week to different causes. One that is very important to me is Project GRL, which helps combat human trafficking of women through Joyce Meyer Ministries. It is my way of ‘tithing.’ I hope to one day help run a foundation for people in need.” As a case in point, she helped pack and deliver meals. “I get to hand out and see the faces of people in need, and it is impacting and rewarding, just to know that I made a small difference,” she continued.
Alcivar has been a speaker and presenter at events in diverse settings citywide, elevating audience’s spirits and benefiting those in need. She said, “My life prepared me well. I was a featured speaker in Chicago for ‘Outdoor Experience,’ where I shared my challenges and accomplishments as an athlete. I was also the featured speaker for Arc’teryx SoHo and presented ‘Climbing for a Dream, 7 Summits’ in front of a full house.” Last year, she spoke for the Queens Historical Society, NYC Department of Health, and Dignity Memorial Chapel about her book, “Courage, a memoir by Patricia Alcivar.”
She finds writing to be very therapeutic, and began cultivating her talent in high school. She maintains a blog through Medium:
https://medium.com/@
A bold and commendable social media advocacy campaign, “Show Us Your Courage” is its planning stages, and Alcivar is exploring sponsorship opportunities. She explained her vision. “Once launched, a comprehensive campaign will encourage women to share their stories of courage through posts or videos. Courage takes many forms, and the goal is to create a supportive community where women feel empowered to open up about their experiences, and know they are not alone in their struggles. This campaign is deeply personal to me. I have relied on courage and faith to overcome challenges in my own life, and this initiative is an opportunity to pay that forward by inspiring, supporting, and uplifting others.”
Alcivar is a woman of morals. “Do what you say you are going to do” is essential to her life. “Being on my own since such a young age with no one to represent me, all I had was my word. If I say I am going to do something for you, I will do it no matter what. ‘Face you fears, live your dreams,’ is another one of my favorite mantras, since I live it on a daily basis,” she said.
When asked which other brave women are her major inspirations among heroes, Alcivar responded, “She needed a hero, so that’s what she became.” “This is one of my very favorite quotes because it applies to me. Growing up, I did not have anyone I specifically looked up to. There were no realistic role models that I could resonate with. There were no Latina young women who spoke out about abuse and were athletes and/or successful.”
Alcivar ran her initial marathon when she was barely 16. At 14, she tuned in to the Boston Marathon on TV, and found instant inspiration and announced that she would pursue that. “My mom and sisters laughed out loud hysterically, and said I would never be able to. I woke up the next morning and ran down Queens Boulevard, and have kept it up ever since. I completed my 50th marathon recently at the brutal Breakneck Ridge Trail Marathon in the Hudson Valley, which features over 9,000 feet elevation gain on technical trails. It was appropriate indeed! My new goal is to complete 100 marathons someday.”
Patty Alcivar holding her Finish Medal after completing her 15th NYC-Marathon.
It feels as if she can leap tall buildings in a single bound, but rather, she has climbed and summited four of the Seven Summits, acclaimed as the highest peaks in each continent: Kilimanjaro in Africa, Aconcagua in South America, Elbrus in Europe, and Denali in North America. Looking ahead, she explained, “I have three left: Mount Everest in Asia, Cartensz Pyramid in Indonesia, and Mount Vinson in Antarctica. I have self-sponsored all of my climbs so far, and the final three are impossible to. However, defying the odds throughout my life has been a standard. Surviving on my own and not becoming another statistic has been an accomplishment in itself. Making history as the first female USA Boxing National Champion was defying incredible odds, and pursuing the goal of becoming the first Latina from Queens to climb the 7 World Summits would be a gift from above to my inner child. I grew up being told I was good for nothing, and I would be a nobody. Accomplishing this feat would finally put an end to that.”
Her short-term goals are to continue growing in her faith and being the best dog mom possible while her dog is still alive. “Jack is pushing 17 years, and I rescued and adopted him when he was six weeks old,” she recalled. Additionally, she hopes to become a better ultra-runner and would like to keep climbing. Her longest distance to date is 100K, but she visualizes completing a 100-miler soon. She hopes to generate the necessary exposure for her memoir.
In the long-term, she aspires to complete climbing the Seven Summits, have her memoir appear on the big screen, consisting of Netflix, Hulu, and in movie theaters, and finish writing part two of her next memoir, “Climbing for a Dream, 7 Summits,” as well as launch a foundation and obtain a nursing degree.
There is much to be grateful for, and even within darkness comes light. She explained, “Without a doubt, I am grateful for my faith and true belief in my higher power. I grew up without the love of my parents, family, or friends, but I always felt that somehow, some way, I was being guided and protected. In the neighborhood I grew up in, it was normal to see pregnant teenagers. My own sisters became young moms at the age of 16, 17 and 18. Despite all the abuse, I came out alright.”
