The word resilience is so much more than a phrase; it's a movement, it's the very thing that keeps me going every single day. I have found out a secret formula that many people my age have yet to uncover, in order to seek out any dream you may desire in this world you must have resilience. See, my high school career wasn't a cliche teenage drama where everything works out in the end. It was a terrifyingly captivating rollercoaster where I never truly knew what was going to happen next. I think it was through my failures that I discovered who I am, who I want to be, and what I will one day accomplish. The weight of what I can do doesn't fit in one category I can see myself making films and music, running businesses, writing stories, and writing history. I was made different, it never mattered how hard I failed or how much I wanted to quit; there was something in my blood that wouldn't allow me to give up. When I was a kid at my elementary school, they had a program where we would recite poems, at the end of the year we would have a grand finale where kids from all over the state would come to compete. I remember the anticipation I felt after performing my poem to the audience, I remember wanting them to advance me to the next round so badly. However, after four years of competing in these competitions, I never even got close to winning. But for me, failure isn't an option; its an opportunity to improve. Eventually, I moved away and couldn't compete in these competitions anymore; however, I then shifted this into an opportunity to become my own poet, songwriter, and author. During my freshman year of high school, I signed up to be in the talent show. In that talent show, I performed an original piece called "To the Girl," which was about feminism and the pressures that are put upon girls in our society. The crowd absolutely loved it, and to my surprise, I won third place. It was the first time in my life that I received recognition for my hard work. Going through my high school career I experienced many small wins such as this. I am confident that this small win was the beginning of an era where I would see the seed of all of my dreams develop into a magnificent fruit full of endless possibilities. Yet to get to that point where I was able to plant these seeds, I had to be resilient. Patience was the key because I believe that through all of my "failures," I have never truly failed, I was merely preparing myself for that next step that was going to bring me to the next level of success. I am resilient whether I choose to become an author, a poet, a track star, a screenwriter, a journalist, or a lawyer, I will always find a way to push through and accomplish my goals.

Hi, my name is Breanna. Sometimes I wonder what exactly my name means. When you meet me, what story does my name tell? Am I Breanna the singer, or Breanna, the activist. Breanna, the lawyer? Or Breanna the dreamer? Does my anxiety make up my personality? Or do those small moments when I actually have confidence make up the fragments of my being? I wonder what people see when they look at me. Do they see Breanna, the black girl? Breanna, the threat? I've always been queer. I love men, I love women, I love people. No one knows that about me. It's a hidden secret of mine. Why is it that society tells us to hide the things that make us who we are? Why was I said to hide? I remember walking through the halls of my church, afraid that people could see through my facade. That they'd think she doesn't belong here. "She's a sinner" "She likes girls." I guess I like Breanna, the activist, more. Truth be told, I don't know If I have the right to call myself an activist, I haven't done nearly enough. Sometimes I don't know that I would've even cared about politics if I hadn't been born a black queer woman. I wonder what my life would be like if I was born a rich white cis- hetman. If I was at the one percent, would I even care? These are questions I ask myself, but I'll never get the answer. I'm not a major activist; I haven't done enough. To call myself an activist in the face of heroes like Angela Davis and Malala Yousafzai would be ostentatious. However, I can tell you that I've tried. I am a writer and a dreamer, and I've tried. 2020 was the year I woke up, the year I really saw the world for what it was. George Floyd was killed! His last few moments on this earth were captured for everyone to see. I remember sneaking out of my house to protest in my racist small town by the name of Temecula. That's how I showed up for my community, standing next to them in solidarity while we yelled at the police. They looked at us as if we weren't human, as if we were scum! A hindrance to their day. At that moment, as I stood next to strangers, fighting for the same thing, I realized there was hope. The word is fucked, and I'm not so pretentious to believe that I can fix everything, but I do believe I can fix something. At that moment, the course of everything I knew changed. That day I changed my major to political science and decided that I wanted to be a lawyer. Under-represented communities deserve lawyers that give a shit that understand the racial disparities within our country and want to change them. Our current political system is filled with people who gave up. The George Floyd Protest taught me one thing, all we have is hope. Hope that things will change, and hope that we have the strength to change it. Without that hope, we are lost. So I'll leave you with that hope.

I am a writer. The funny thing about being a writer is that it's one of the most underrated talents in the entire universe. When you're a writer, you can't throw a football at the speed of lightning. Or sing a whistle tone that would give Mariah Carey a run for her money. Yet despite being underrated, we make the world go around. That amazing show you've been binge-watching on Netflix came from a writer. Or think of that catchy song you just heard on the radio. More than likely, it probably was written by someone like me who understands how to curate words and melodies in a way that makes you feel drawn to it. Writing is my superpower. It's how I express my creativity to the world. It feels so much more than a hobby or talent. It feels like my birthright. I express my writing through lyrics, poems, journaling, scripts, or short stories when I have felt alone in the world—damned to repeat the cycle of every other tortured artist. Writing has been there for me. I write when I'm stressed, write when I'm happy, and write to live. There's nothing more beautiful as a writer than expressing your work to the world. When I get the chance, I turn my lyrics into songs and perform my poems to an audience. My voice is quiet but my words are loud, my job is to express my words in the best way I can.

When I was a child, they used to call me a tree hugger. The Earth made me happy. I loved everything that had to do with nature. Whether that be the grass, I touched outside. Or the puddles of water I would jump up and down in. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to hurt Earth. After all, she gave us her trees to fill our lungs with oxygen and water to quench our thirst. It seems as though when people grow older, they forget what it means to be a child, how the little things feel you with joy. Nature has always been my happy place. Sometimes when I feel upset, I go back to my roots. I take off my shoes and rummage through the grass. Feeling the same love for nature, I did when I was a child. Now I am all grown up; I understand it is not enough to gaze at the beauty of Earth. It is more important to fight for Earth. Today I appreciate Earth by marching the streets of San Francisco and demanding our politicians to do something about climate change. I use my voice and platform to speak about rising sea levels and over-polluted air terrors. Nature has always given me the ability to walk through life happily, and now it is my turn to show up for her in the best way I can, whether through advocating for Earth politically or picking up trash when I see it! I appreciate nature by understanding how precious she is so that I can continue to enjoy the beauty of nature for many years to come.

This is my dog chance looking innocent after he stole my pizza and ran Everyday is pug day

I'd like to believe that I have many talents, however, one of the talents that I feel best represents who I am as a person is acting. I love to act and feel as though it was what I was born to do. There is something about the way I can divulge my self into being another character that excites me. It's as if I am creating a whole other person outside of myself self and for those few moments, I get to live a life that may be completely different from the life I'm used to living. Since I was a little girl I have always tried to be apart of things that would put me in front of the spotlight, from dance recitals to talent shows if there was a spotlight I tried to find it. As I've got older I continue to explore my interest in the literary arts through my involvement in anything having to do with films, plays, or productions. I've acted in haunted houses, sketches, and short films and have taken acting classes at JDS Actors Studio. When I can't be apart of the production, I try my hardest to help behind the scenes. Another useful tool that I've found helps to enhance my acting skills is creative writing. Through the work, I've done over the years I've utilized my writing skills to develop my acting skills. Because if you can write a character you can become a character.

The word resilience is so much more than a phrase; it's a movement, it's the very thing that keeps me going every single day. I have found out a secret formula that many people my age have yet to uncover, in order to seek out any dream you may desire in this world you must have resilience. My high school career wasn't a cliche teenage drama where everything works out in the end.I think it was through my failures that I discovered who I am, who I want to be, and what I will one day accomplish. I can see myself making films and music, running businesses, writing stories, and writing history. I was made different, it never mattered how hard I failed; there was something in my blood that wouldn't allow me to give up. When I was a kid at my elementary school, they had a program where we would recite poems, at the end of the year we would have a grand finale where kids from all over the state would come to compete. I remember wanting them to advance me to the next round badly. However, after four years of competing in these competitions, I never got close to winning. But for me, failure isn't an option; its an opportunity to improve. Eventually, I moved away and couldn't compete in these competitions anymore; however, I then shifted this into an opportunity to become my own poet, songwriter, and author. During my freshman year of high school, I signed up to be in the talent show. In that talent show, I performed an original piece called "To the Girl," which was about feminism and the pressures that are put upon girls in our society. The crowd absolutely loved it, and to my surprise, I won third place.

Hi, my name is Breanna. Sometimes I wonder what exactly my name means. When you meet me, what story does my name tell? Am I Breanna the singer, or Breanna, the activist. Breanna, the lawyer? Or Breanna the dreamer? Does my anxiety make up my personality? Or do those small moments when I actually have confidence make up the fragments of my being? I wonder what people see when they look at me. Do they see Breanna, the black girl? Breanna, the threat? I've always been queer. I love men, I love women, I love people. No one knows that about me. It's a hidden secret of mine. Why is it that society tells us to hide the things that make us who we are? Why was I said to hide? I remember walking through the halls of my church, afraid that people could see through my facade. That they'd think she doesn't belong here. "She's a sinner" "She likes girls." I guess I like Breanna, the activist, more. Truth be told, I don't know If I have the right to call myself an activist, I haven't done nearly enough. Sometimes I don't know that I would've even cared about politics if I hadn't been born a black queer woman. I wonder what my life would be like if I was born a rich white cis- hetman. If I was at the one percent, would I even care? These are questions I ask myself, but I'll never get the answer. I'm not a major activist; I haven't done enough. To call myself an activist in the face of heroes like Angela Davis and Malala Yousafzai would be ostentatious. However, I can tell you that I've tried. I am a writer and a dreamer, and I've tried. 2020 was the year I woke up, the year I really saw the world for what it was. George Floyd was killed! His last few moments on this earth were captured for everyone to see. I remember sneaking out of my house to protest in my racist small town by the name of Temecula. That's how I showed up for my community, standing next to them in solidarity while we yelled at the police. They looked at us as if we weren't human, as if we were scum! A hindrance to their day. At that moment, as I stood next to strangers, fighting for the same thing, I realized there was hope. The word is fucked, and I'm not so pretentious to believe that I can fix everything, but I do believe I can fix something. At that moment, the course of everything I knew changed. That day I changed my major to political science and decided that I wanted to be a lawyer. Under-represented communities deserve lawyers that give a shit that understand the racial disparities within our country and want to change them. Our current political system is filled with people who gave up. The George Floyd Protest taught me one thing, all we have is hope. Hope that things will change, and hope that we have the strength to change it. Without that hope, we are lost. So I'll leave you with that hope.

Money is everything. Whoever said that money couldn't buy happiness was someone at the one percent trying to make us feel better for being financially exploited. Money decides who lives, who dies, who eats, who starves. Who gets to follow their dreams, and who ends up living pay-check to pay-check. Money is what has me shooting on stars, working double shifts, and writing essays in the middle of the night, hoping I'll get a chance to win. I have 15,000 dollars in student loans, 5900 dollars in overdue tuition installments, and 250 dollars in credit card debt. So no, I couldn't precisely tell you I know a lot about financial literacy. However, I can tell you that without it, life sucks. My parents never learned financial literacy. Sometimes we had money, sometimes we didn't, yet there was never a plan to save. The lack of savings has me in a predicament I am in now. I can't blame my parents for our financial shortcomings because they were never really taught to be financially free. Being an African-American, it was slavery, then sharecropping, redlining, then gentrification. While the rest of America was trying to build wealth, black people were trying to survive in a society that didn't want to see them thrive. Financial freedom is a privilege. It's an idea built on class more than anything. My parents grew up low-income, and I grew up middle class. The class jump through the generations is the only reason I can think about financial freedom. Financial freedom is ownership, savings, and capital. Monetary freedom would be the dream of being debt-free. While also having enough money to enjoy life and go on trips without worrying about the financial repercussions of that. Financial freedom is the idea of having my assets locked up somewhere, so I know that my children will never suffer. Financial freedom for so long has been an unobtainable dream for people of color. However, we finally live within a time where we're able to invest in things at the click of a button and find opportunities that we would've never been exposed to had it not been for the internet. Financial freedom is setting up a plan for the future. My dream is to be a lawyer and a businesswoman. I will build financial freedom through investing in stocks and NFT's and creating a savings bubble where I can put the money I earn somewhere that it can either sit or grow. By setting up a plan, I'm preparing for the worse. Preparation leads to financial freedom, and this is what often gets ignored.

Little kids have big dreams! They say, "I wanna be an astronaut" or " I want to be a chef. Yet when they grow older, they are told to be realistic. "You want to be an actress? be realistic; you better have a backup plan." I am a performer, actress, singer, writer, activist, businesswoman, and a future lawyer. My vision isn't one thing; my vision is all those things. I see myself singing and traveling the world and writing my heart out and giving a voice to those who've been silenced. My vision is to be everything I aspire to be. When I was a child I wanted to see Justin Bieber in concert, all my friends were going. However, I didn't think I'd be able to go because my family didn't have a lot of money at the time. Somehow my father got those tickets for me, and I got to go. At that moment, I learned nothing is impossible; that moment taught me never to give up. One day, I will be in movies, write screenplays, and sell out arenas. Because unlike everyone else who grew up and forgot about their dreams, I refused to. There is nothing I can't accomplish or cant do. My tuition bill is past due, and I'm down to my last 100 dollars. The odds may not look in my favor now, but things will turn around. I will find the money for my tuition. Just like my dad got those Justin Bieber tickets last minute- I'm going to get my tuition money. Because things always look impossible until they're not.

Hi, my name is Breanna. Sometimes I wonder what exactly my name means. When you meet me, what story does my name tell? Am I Breanna the singer, or Breanna, the activist. Breanna, the lawyer? Or Breanna the dreamer? Does my anxiety make up my personality? Or do those small moments when I actually have confidence make up the fragments of my being? I wonder what people see when they look at me. Do they see Breanna, the black girl? Breanna, the threat? I've always been queer. I love men, I love women, I love people. No one knows that about me. It's a hidden secret of mine. Why is it that society tells us to hide the things that make us who we are? Why was I said to hide? I remember walking through the halls of my church, afraid that people could see through my facade. That they'd think she doesn't belong here. "She's a sinner" "She likes girls." I guess I like Breanna, the activist, more. Truth be told, I don't know If I have the right to call myself an activist, I haven't done nearly enough. Sometimes I don't know that I would've even cared about politics if I hadn't been born a black queer woman. I wonder what my life would be like if I was born a rich white cis- hetman. If I was at the one percent, would I even care? These are questions I ask myself, but I'll never get the answer. I'm not a major activist; I haven't done enough. To call myself an activist in the face of heroes like Angela Davis and Malala Yousafzai would be ostentatious. However, I can tell you that I've tried. I am a writer and a dreamer, and I've tried. 2020 was the year I woke up, the year I really saw the world for what it was. George Floyd was killed! His last few moments on this earth were captured for everyone to see. I remember sneaking out of my house to protest in my racist small town by the name of Temecula. That's how I showed up for my community, standing next to them in solidarity while we yelled at the police. They looked at us as if we weren't human, as if we were scum! A hindrance to their day. At that moment, as I stood next to strangers, fighting for the same thing, I realized there was hope. The word is fucked, and I'm not so pretentious to believe that I can fix everything, but I do believe I can fix something. At that moment, the course of everything I knew changed. That day I changed my major to political science and decided that I wanted to be a lawyer. Under-represented communities deserve lawyers that give a shit that understand the racial disparities within our country and want to change them. Our current political system is filled with people who gave up. The George Floyd Protest taught me one thing, all we have is hope. Hope that things will change, and hope that we have the strength to change it. Without that hope, we are lost. So I'll leave you with that hope. (I wrote a song about all the victims lost to police/ gun violence in America it's linked down below)