I'm a pastry chef, educator, avid apartment gardener, and mom of five amazing humans with one Grandmuffin, and at 38 years of age, I became a surrogate mom.The first half of my life was spent surviving—enduring colorism, childhood abuse, and a devastating experience with identity theft in 1997 that left my children and me homeless for eight years. Despite these challenges, I learned how to stretch $20 to feed a family of five for two weeks at a time before I was granted government assistance. My children are all adults now, and we are all thriving. I'm pursuing a Bachelor's in Elementary Education as a Hope Chicago Parent Scholar, and working as a Chicago Public School teacher assistant. Life is to be lived, not just endured, and I'm determined to make the second half of my life one of thriving.