Since I was a young girl, I have seen many things. My father lost his life at the age of 31 due to congestive heart failure, my mother struggled with her weight, my brothers whom are identical twins battled type 1 diabetes. I've seen my extended family members go on fad diets, and fast for non-religious purposes. Even with myself, I've struggled with my own health issues. Issues that tend to effect a proportionate amount of fellow black Americans. I've noticed the main issues weren't just from money or the lack thereof. The issues seemed to stim from nutrition, and I hope to change that with my degree and becoming a registered dietitian I come from a black household down in New Orleans. My father worked, but one thing I knew about him is that he never finished high school. See, my mother never finished college and she hated working, but preferred education. I believe her morals have passed on to me, and so has my father's work ethic; so has the struggles within the community such as malnutrition, chronic diseases, obesity, food insecurities, and so much more. These issues have caused me, my family and many others to lose their grip on their health, lose their lives, and lose the people they love and cherish. We lose the people who mean the most to us when we can't put their nutrition and their health as a priority. My goal is to educate our communities on the importance of nutrition, and not only tell them, but show them. I want to teach them how to eat healthier foods. I want to educate my community on how to make healthy foods as convenient and tasty as possible. I want to show them how these foods can prevent their risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancers, stroke, hypertension, and diabetes. I believe my community deserves as much health as they do wealth. Because, health is indeed wealth. Already, I'm earning my associates and moving towards my bachelors this fall 2026. I don't just learn for myself, I do this to expand the knowledge within my community. I yearn for the improvement of nutrition for the black community and really, all communities and groups. One topic I hope to magnify more within our population is fiber, as colorectal cancer tends to increasingly effect black americans more than any other race in the U.S., according to the ACS Medical Content and News Staff from Cancer.org, "African Americans are about 20% more likely to get colorectal cancer and about 40% more likely to die from it than most other groups." So, it is imperative that more of the community get familiar with gut health and how to nurture it with nutritious fiber-rich foods. I believe it would be my place to do be the educator, as I am a nutrition and dietetics major and I hope to better the community with my degree in becoming a registered dietitian.

I was a young girl who adored my father before his passing. As I remember, it was a school break, and my brothers and I went to New Orleans to visit my dad's side of the family post-divorce. I asked my grandpa if I could go see my father, and after coupled argument he had with my step-grandmother, he said yes. When my brothers and I went into what I thought was a hospital; there I saw was my father, big, bald, and in a wheelchair. He wore a hospital gown, and didn't really walk. His condition was poor to the point he became unable to move as much. However, I was still excited to see my dad. I ran up to him and gave him a hug, and he hugged back with the warmth of life he had left. At the age of 8, on an autumn evening I was getting off the bus, and I remember a big smile on my face before I entered the door of my family home. My mother was sitting with her phone to her ear, and she had a frown on her face. She looked up to me, and walked close by. 8 year old me was bewildered as I couldn't measure what she was about to say to me next. "You father died," she uttered before tears streamed down her eyes, my two younger brothers came close behind me, and they too were at a lost for words. None of us knew the words to say. My mother sobbed, and I remember crying along. It felt like a part of me was taken away. Then, came his funeral. My father's body laid in a casket, I saw my mom hold his hand, and when it was my turn, I tried to hold his hand. It was cold, and heavy. There was no life left inside of him. One minute he was there and the next he was gone. "Congestive heart failure," were the words that I had heard in that time, "congestive heart failure is why your daddy died," my mother and grandmother said. That's when I took my time to do research. I was of age 9 and I wanted to know the why's of heart failure, and could this effect me? What could be done to prevent, and treat such a disease? I've found out nutrition and lifestyle has a major impact on the prevention, therapeutic, and even the cause of some diseases. Genetics can also play a major factor, so when I found out about the genetics portion, my young and inquisitive mind asked questions to my family. I wanted to get an understanding of my genetics, and what I was predisposed of. Eventually, later in my teens there was two of my family friends who passed away due to cancer. This motivated me further to pursue research in the treatment and development of cancer and other chronic diseases such as heart disease. Mainly, in how nutrition plays a role in chronic disease management. I am eager to play a role in prevention of chronic diseases. I would like to aide in preventing chronic diseases by exposing healthier food choices to low-income and minority communities, as these communities are at most risk of developing chronic diseases due to lack of education. I would also like to educate minority and low-income communities about the effects of their diets. For disease management, I would like to be a clinical dietitian, educate patients on nutrition, and hopefully save lives.