Ever since I was young, I always had a book in my hand. Even before my mom would read stories to me and my brother, I’d always wanted to read alone in my room and live in the stories under my bed. My parents had me at a young age, both still in school, so I was a kid being taken care of by bigger kids. My mother would read her textbooks to me, with the intention to study but I’d read along beside her. Reading was how I learned to escape the real world and the struggles that I saw my parents go through. Reading made me understand the struggles of living in society, the importance of needing money, keeping a job, and having to support a family. But my parents were just kids, so I learned to step up and mature too young. I’d learn from the books under my bed and take care of my own curiosities. As I got older, I picked up writing horror stories in middle school. My biggest inspiration was Edgar Allen Poe and his short story,” The Masque of the Red Death”. It was the symbolization of the seven rooms that enthralled me. How easily Poe was able to pull me in and reveal the different stages of life and the weaknesses of humanity. I’d written my own story that same day, working for weeks on the computer. I’d pull my classmates in with my writing and leave them wanting to know the end. However I’d been caught, getting in trouble, my principal told me that day after crying my eyes out, that someone my age shouldn’t be able to write such a genre so realistically. I’d watch the adults speak about my stories and it had scared them, and I knew I had a talent for writing just as Edgar Allen Poe. I continued to pick at the words in my mind and put them together to show the images in my mind. All the books I’d read had given me the skill to understand writing from a different perspective, through a writer's mind. I joined the Literary Arts program in high school and graduated with experience in Screenwriting, Playwriting, Journalism, Creative nonfiction, and flash fiction. I’d written more than I read books in those 4 years of the program.With all that I’ve learned from those first textbooks, I’ve set my path to be just like the authors I read. To want someone to pick up a book with my name on it and that be their reason to love books.

I remember watching the movie Hidden Figures with my class in 2016, just when it was released. Watching the story of three talented African American women working for NASA, doing all the work behind the scenes, and seeing how uncredited they were. It changed something in me that day, in that theater. The struggles Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Goble Johnson went through were sexism, segregation, and racism. Not only in their place of work but even in their own communities. However, each woman was able to strive and break the chains society implemented on them by speaking out or taking risks to get what they wanted. Even when the odds were stacked against them, I imagined that if it were I in their shoes I wouldn’t know what steps to take. Because those women wanted something so badly, that even with the people around them not wanting them to succeed, they still were able to get it. However, those struggles that they went through in the 1950s and 1960s aren’t as difficult now in the 21st- Century. There is still discrimination in the workplace sexism and racism that continues to this day. I was heavily inspired by their stories and told myself I wouldn’t put myself down simply because the first person said no to me. I would get up and do it again, meet people who are in the position I want to be in, ask them their story, and figure out how I can be able to do just the same. Being able to push myself to obtain my degree and follow a career path that I worked for. They’ve inspired me to know that there are goals to achieve, whether small goals or long-term goals, there is always something to obtain. And to stay confident in myself, even when I have doubts about myself compared to those around me, I can always improve myself and know that everything I’ve done is important. To stay determined and overcome whatever comes my way, not only in my personal life but in continuing school when it comes to my education I know I will experience doubts about myself and my ability to understand. Learning the story behind the three women who strived for what they wanted and to be remembered in history to this day, I know I can do the same. I will continue to push myself even when the odds are going to be against me.

If I didn’t care about my Mental Health, I wouldn’t have wanted to better myself. I’d be just another student in the school system just getting through, uncaring about whether I did good or badly in school. Thankfully that wasn’t the case, instead, my Mental health is my top priority. My Mental health is the key to driving my life. I'm happy and healthy, I’m able to take care of myself physically and emotionally, have a healthy social life, and want to continue to strive for my education. It took me many years to understand that I can’t do everything myself and that I shouldn’t have to do everything on my own. It was important to have a support system behind me that wanted to help me be better, to want for me to build strong connections with new friends and family. Having a support system has helped me build my self-confidence, and become unafraid to stand out and speak up without feeling so much anxiety build up because I feel like what I'm saying is wrong and nobody listens to me. I’m now able to maintain a balance between taking care of myself while also pushing myself to want to grow past what has become easy. Taking time to do what's necessary first and remembering to take breaks in between not to burn myself out so quickly. Having wellness days, where I spend my time reading and writing without the stress of a close deadline, simply doing it for my own entertainment. After neverending days of studying, I’ve learned to look forward to my wellness days of having no assignment due. Being able to spend time with friends and journeying home no matter how far away from college to spend time with my family. I’m able to recharge and want to keep going. Taking care of my Mental Health hadn’t begun easy, I had to experience burnout, sadness, and a feeling of complete devastation to learn that it’s alright to just stop and step away. To take time for the little things that brought me happiness and build a balance. I’m now thankful that I’ve learned to do so before experiencing my hand at adulthood, where I know without my friends and family I wouldn’t be able to keep going. Thankful that without balance I wouldn’t have become strong enough to want for myself and to be proud of myself.

I made the most money in 7th grade. Grasping my craft, to take words and use them to delve into my own imagination and project them into the minds of my middle school friends. It started with a Reese's cup, hers for a story from me about her and her crush being on a date. It wasn’t money but taking that Reese's cup, was the best decision I had made. A picnic date, written, 1 page front to back. She’d read and her eyes shone. She gave me $2. I saved that $2 and wrote another story longer and better for another classmate she gave me $5. That $5 turned into $25 and then $30. Writing stories for the girls in class A and B, all for a glimpse into a future they hope to see. Ideas flew into my mind, selling small candies with my writing and gaining money back into my hand. Seeing the satisfaction on their faces, hearing the whispers of my works. My joy however was short-lived, writing romantic love stories had gotten to bore me and those around me. I began selling snacks, in between classes and during breaks. I'd stacked the money into the palm of my hands starting my savings for college already. I put my first $100 in my account that month. I'd started observing my peers, my mother's friends, and the wants that they wished existed to them. In high school I watched the Girl Scouts sell the same candy and cookies from middle school, the annoyed looks of students who grew tired of the same idea. That's when I decided to try and create ways to make money and make others happy. Starting from the basics, selling snacks to students. Helping students with their essays brought more than I'd thought. Being a writing major, I was able to set meetings with students by the day and set prices at reason. I then met a girl writing about acne products. This led to discovering my interest in becoming an esthetician, helping my family with skin problems through massages and creams. I wanted to open my own business. My mother took many programs about business and accounting. Giving me the idea to get my degree and later my certification. Being able to build myself from various experiences, I dreamed of a future I'd build to set myself to success and help those who've been there for me.