My first year of college didn't go as planned. I struggled with not knowing who I was or what I wanted to do, all leading me to become distracted and looking for love and comfort with someone else instead of myself. At the age 19, I became a mother of two.

I became pregnant at age 15 and gave birth to my first child at age 16. It was a beautiful baby boy. After becoming pregnant I was place in an unwed mother’s home with a plan to have my child adopted but when it was time to sign the papers, I just could not do it. As I became older, I realized that I did not think enough about the needs or the future of my child.

I was very fortunate to have a strong support system from family and friends, so that helped me in a lot of ways, but it also made me grow up quickly and realize that I had another life to take care and I had to do whatever was necessary for my daughter.