My favorite Disney Character is Princess Tiana from "Princess and the Frog." She is probably the most relatable Disney character for me. I love that she had a real goal she didn't want to just wait for prince charming, she wanted her own restaurant. I admire how she worked and saved, this is the part that reminds me so much of myself. I work so hard to get what I want and need for me and my kids, and I'm not hoping or waiting for someone to help me get there. Sometimes like her, my goals seem so big and so far but despite that I am committed to them. Her father was her motivation, he was the one who pushed her to want her own restaurant, my kids are that for me. Princess Tiana is the most underrated princess but also the most relatable one.

My journey has not been an easy one I am black and white; this has been a struggle for me. My Mother is black, and my father is white, my maternal grandparents were always excepting of my parents and their kids, but my paternal grandparents were very racist and limited they interactions with me and my siblings. Outside of the family issues with acceptance, I have also had issues with where I belong. As a kid growing up in Bayview Hunters Point which is majority African American, I was always teased and called a white girl it never truly felt like I fit in with my peers even though I was raised to identify solely as African American. As I grew up, I was always trying to find a middle ground, I never wanted to seem like I was trying to act too black around my black friends or too white are my white friends. As I have gotten older, I have learned to accept and Embrace my White roots, and My African American roots because they are what makes me who I am. I had a really hard time as a teenager, I went in and out of foster homes and juvenile detention centers. My parents tried to take care of us but with 8 kids and limited resources they really couldn't be there to keep an eye on us all. I got trapped and impregnated at 18 by a 33-year-old man that I met while I was 17 and left him after years of controlling me. I spent my twenties trying to get a job and better my life, but I was also an alcoholic and not very well educated or trained to succeed in the workforce. It took years for me to learn how to talk, walk, dress and even be confident enough to get a job. I met a man and we moved to Arkansas for a fresh start unfortunately he used that opportunity to seclude me and abuse me, I tried to report him many times to no avail eventually I sent my son to his dad until I could escape him, which I did 1 year later. After that I pulled my life all the way together started school and was able to get a job. Being a single mom was hard and I had to choose between school and work due to bills I chose work. I took a 3-year hiatus from school and now I am back. My passions are to help people who had similar life and struggles to me. Especially teen girls, educating them on watching out for predatorial men, and teaching them to be self-sufficient so they aren't controlled and abused later. Work with them on early pregnancy prevention, help young men and women pursue college or vocational training as opposed to going straight into the workforce or participating in things that can get them in trouble. I also want to help men and women in prison or recently released with housing, and job training so that they can stay out of jail. I am going to be a licensed social worker, and after a few years of that I will open a group home for teen mothers, and then I would like to open a non-profit.

I am a single mom of two children, a Smart, Handsome, Artistic, funny, kind 14 year old boy who has Autism Spectrum disorder and ADHD, and a bubbly, silly, Cute, 8 year old girl. Both of my children really saved my life and motivate me in so many ways. My son motivates me because even though he struggles with ASD/ADHD he still works hard everyday to make friends and get good grades, seeing this with him motivates me to keep going everyday just like he does. My daughter is such a free spirit who just loves living life and she motivates me to not let the frustrations of life get me down and keep pushing because in the end everything will work out. Both of my kids motivate me to keep going so that I can give them the life they deserve. My experience has a single mom has really shaped me to be resilient, I don't have much support and so it is on me to keep going no matter what. I lost my sister September 29th of this year and it really was a struggle for me to find the strength to keep going but being a single mom I have had to learn to process my grief while supporting my kids, working, and going to school. It has also shaped me to have patience, it can be hard dealing with all the things that come with being a parent, working mom, and student: kids arguing, making sure you can pick them up and drop them off everyday, while also fitting that in your work schedule, then coming home cleaning, and making dinner, and then fitting in enough time to study. It can be exhausting and easy to lose patience but I have learned to really be patient. I really have not had much support, when I first started school I was on welfare, and the case workers support, and the college daycare support helped me so much. Now it's just me and my kids, and there support is what helps keep me going now.

A book that transformed me was "A piece of cake" by Cupcake Brown, I read this book while I was in a juvenile detention facility for being a run a way. The book is about a women who lost her mother as a child, was sent to an abusive foster home where she was sexually, and physically abused. Only to become a gangbanger as a teenager and then spent her twenties as a full blown addict. With the help of a bunch of people in her life she got clean and eventually received her law degree! This story was instrumental in making me realize that it wasn't to late for me, I may have been going down the wrong path at the time I read the book but it made me realize it wasn't too late. When life gets hard or overwhelming I think about Cupcake and how she persevered and I know I can get through it. She went through so much and the fact that she took control of her life and changed her fate was and still is so inspiring.

My goals for the future are: To become a social worker, so that I can help at risk youth by: Educating young girls on the dangers of dating older men, helping young men and women with getting jobs, being interview ready, writing resumes, and even being able to code switch in the corporate world. Helping Incarcerated, and previously incarcerated men and women get housing, job training, or degrees, learning their passions and helping them learn how to get to them. My ultimate goal is to open a group home for teen mothers who otherwise have nowhere to live and give them support to work, or earn a degree, or a vocation to be able to take care of their children, and ultimately help them find housing. In order to accomplish these goals: I am working towards my degree, and obtaining certifications to open a group home. The hardships I have experienced: I wanted to start college right out of high school, but I met a 31 year old man who promised me the world and convinced me to have his baby, coming from a poor family I believed I hit the jackpot. Unfortunately, he became controlling and refused to let me go to college or work, so I left. I went back to go to beauty school, but me and my son did not have stable housing. I met a new guy and we moved to arkansas to start a new life again he was controlling and abusive and would not let me complete schooling. I was able to escape and started school again for nursing I did really well making the deans list twice and almost ready to apply for nursing school. Unfortunately being a single mom I had to move from the home I was living in and get a full-time job i tried to work and got to school but struggled and ultimately had to choose work over my degree. I am finally back in school but I am still a single mom working full-time with 2 kids one my 14 year old has Autism spectrum disorder. The hardship of working full-time, while trying to support both kids and paying bills that I can barely afford is what I'm dealing with now, while still trying to stay on top of my schooling.

I am child number 5 out of 8 children, we grew up very poor, and was raised in SF public housing (Bayview Hunters Point). My parents struggled taking care of all of us kids and we didn't always have everything we needed and wanted. Becoming a teenager was hard I was teased often for having used clothes and hand-me-downs and this drove me to make a lot of bad decisions in order to get the things I wanted. At 17 I met a 31-year-old man who promised me the world and at 18 convinced me to have his baby, when my son arrived, he did not keep his promise to take care of us and became very controlling and emotionally abusive. My parents couldn't help me financially and because I had a baby young, we had a very contentious relationship. Me and my son spent the first 4 years of his life homeless and couch hopping. Until we met my daughter’s father who abused us both forcing me to send my son with his father for his safety until I could safely leave him a year later. I am now a single, full-time working mother of 2 my 14-year-old son who is on the Autism Spectrum, and my 8-year-old Daughter. Coming from a low-income household has led me to be very determined when meeting different challenges. Remembering my childhood pushes me through those hard days and nights of being a single full-time working mom with no support. I refuse to have my kids grow up the way I did, be exposed to the things I was, and be forced to make the decisions I had to make. Also growing up low-income taught me how to be resourceful and I use that to this day when I am faced with challenges. I plan on using my life experiences in a lot of ways: I am going to become a social worker I am going to help at risk youth by: Educating young girls on the dangers of dating older men, helping young men and women with getting jobs, being interview ready, writing resumes, and even being able to code switch in the corporate world. Helping Incarcerated, and previously incarcerated men and women get housing, job training, or degrees, learning their passions and helping them learn how to get to them. My ultimate goal is to open a group home for teen mothers who otherwise have nowhere to live and give them support to work, or earn a degree, or a vocation to be able to take care of their children, and ultimately help them find housing.