Tell me your story and explain why you’d be a good candidate! My name is Ruth. I'm from Africa. I grew up in the Civil War and I saw a lot of sad things. And I got fostered over to the USA when I was 14 but my foster family ended up abusing me really bad. So I ran away from home when I was 16 and began homeless. Thankful I was able to find shelter again. Which lead me to want to be a nurse. For I want to help my community in any way I can. I have been in healthcare for 10 years now. I started out volunteering in hospitals and nursing homes while in highschool here in the USA. I got my CNA and my Phlebotomist license. I'm Currently working as an ER Tech and ICU Tech in the hospital. I planned on becoming a Nurse at Labourer College. Then hopefully, will go on and get my Doctorate as Nurse ANESTHESIA or a Nurse Practitioner. I'm the first in my family to attend college which I'm very excited to do. I hope you know that I'm a hard worker and a determine individual. Your hard earned money won't go to waste if you decided to help with accomplishing my goals by funding my education. I dream of one day helping with combating mental health and substance abuse also with my nursing education. I personally never had addiction issues. But my Foster parents did. So it impacted me in a lot of ways that made me decided that I was gonna go into healthcare. I was 14 and literally rasing my other foster siblings. For our Foster parents would be either too high or to drunk to feed us and cared for us. I had to literally run away from home. After I left home, I was homeless off course. I was able to find shelter again. I finished high school and decided that I was gonna go into healthcare. After I got into healthcare, that's when I realized that my foster parents were suffering from substance abuse problem (addiction). It all Started to make senses why they would physically hit us, physically hit each others and that our house was always CHAOTIC! I decided to work in mental health for a while to get more understanding on substance about and its deadly outcome. I started noticing more and more people with substance abuse problem. That's when I new healthcare was for me and that I didn't want to do anything else. For I want to help others who are suffering from this disease of addiction and their children that this disease has also impacted. I'm currently working in mental health and rehabilitation centers and finishing up my degree to become a registered nurse. For I believe through all the education and the support, I will have the tools to better served people who are lacking the care that they need. Especially when it comes to mental health. I have participated in fund supporting and making mental health a priority and it's awareness. For substance abuse and domestic violence not only affects the people who are using or being violent. It affects everyone else and everything around them. And I'm grateful to have a career where I would be able to further advocate for the awareness of it. I want to be a part of the change and to remove the stigma around mental health a d substance abuse. These are things people would rather pushed underneath the rug than to talk about. And I want to help create a safe place where people know they can go for help and not feel judged. Every little bit helps. Thank you and God bless

How have you personally been impacted by domestic violence and/or substance abuse? How do you plan to use your higher education to assist in improving the care, coordination, and communication that will ultimately change the outcomes for African American women impacted by this issue? I personally never had addiction issues. But my Foster parents did. So it impacted in a lot of ways that made me decided that I was gonna go into healthcare. I was 14 and literally racing my other foster siblings. For our Foster parents would be either too high or to drunk to feed us and cared for us. I had to literally run away from home. After I left home, I was homeless off course. I was able to find shelter again. I finished high school and decided that I was gonna go into healthcare. After I got into healthcare, that's when I realized that my foster parents were suffering from substance abuse problem (addiction). It all Started to make senses why they would physically hit us, physically hit each others and that our house was always CHAOTIC! I decided to work in mental health for a while to get more understanding on substance about and its deadly outcome. I started noticing more and more people with substance abuse problem. That's when I new healthcare was for me and that I didn't want to do anything else. For I want to help others who are suffering from this disease of addiction and their children that this disease has also impacted. I'm currently working in mental health and rehabilitation centers and finishing up my degree to become a registered nurse. For I believe through all the education and the support, I will have the tools to better served people who are lacking the care that they need. Especially when it comes to mental health. I have participated in fund supporting and making mental health a priority and it's awareness. For substance abuse and domestic violence not only affects the people who are using or being violent. It affects everyone else and everything around them. And I'm grateful to have a career where I would be able to further advocate for the awareness of it. I want to be a part of the change and to remove the stigma around mental health a d substance abuse. These are things people would rather pushed underneath the rug than to talk about. And I want to help create a safe place where people know they can go for help and not feel judged.

Tell us which female leader has brought you the most inspiration and how you hope to become a leader through your career. Rosa Parks has inspired me. Reading about her taught me how to stand up for others and for myself in leadership. To lead by humility and grace. And to help our world becomes a better place through our examples. She was a lady with few words but spoke very powerful messages. She believed she could over come any thing. And she did. I want to be like her. I want my children to see that no matter what their mother goes through. That I handled it with grace and humility. That I never gave up on the things that meant the most to me. Even though it might be hard. I want to learn this world one day knowing that I did my best as a mother to my children and woman. Leadership is not about telling people what to do. But about leading in a way that they can follow. I want to be that leader that cares. That leader that doesn't back down all because things got hard. I want to be the leader that stands by what she says and meant it. I want to be that leader that says it can be done. You just got to try again and again and again. I'm currently in a career that I would love to become a leader in some day. And I'm doing everything to earned it. I want other young women to also look at me and say; "she did it despised all of the set backs, so I can do it too!" I want to inspired them to be bigger and better like Rosa Parks did her actions and her words. I feel like having the go getter attitude and being grateful for where you're at as a leader is an amazing character to have. For people will actually want to look up to you. I want to be a doing of my words. I love the idea of making a difference in a peaceful and humble way. And Rosa Parks had all that in her as a female. That's why I look up to her and her courageousness. A lady who lead in truths, grace, humility and integrity! So thankful for women like her. And hope to leave a good impact on the world like she did.