Don't let the GLITZ and GLAM fool you. Life was not always pretty.
I was embarrassed to talk about this until one day I realized keeping this to myself is serving no one (including me).
- My failures.
- My falls.
- My flops.
Just like the 500,000+ foster kids that get shuffled through the foster care system each year I faced the same issues and lived with a brigade of challenges.
- Abandoned
- Hurt
- Angry
- Alone
- Abused
- Neglected
- Psychologically Scarred
I know what it's like to be labeled a problem child.
I know what it's like to be the underdog.
I know what it's like to be teased, ridiculed and treated like a liability, because you didn't have a traditional upbringing.
The life of a #ParentlessChild
The drama started when I was kidnapped at 2 years old by my father and handed off to his then girlfriend in the Iberville projects in New Orleans. She raised me until I was 12 years old, at which time she had a stroke and died.
Just in case you're wondering, my father was in/out my life like New York Fashion Week (pun intended).
She was the ONLY support system I had. Emma, was her name. She loved me unconditionally. I never knew she wasn't my REAL mother. The day I watched her body shake and her scream that she was having a stroke, one of the scariest moments in my life. I knew intrinsically the second act was going to be filled with even more drama.
I was reunited with my biological Mother, let's just say we had a tumultuous relationship. She had a lot of anger and guilt surrounding my disappearance and her abusive relationship with my father.
I landed in the foster care system at 15 years old and the state of California handed me my walking papers at 17 ½ years old. I know firsthand what it’s like to be Homeless, Jobless, Car-less, Parent-less, AND Cash-Less. I have experienced every financial hardship you can possibly imagine.
“Youth in foster care often do not get the help they need with high school completion, employment, accessing health care, continued educational opportunities, housing and transitional living arrangements. Studies of youth who have left foster care have shown they are more likely than those in the general population to not finish high school, be unemployed, and be dependent on public assistance. Many find themselves in prison, homeless, or parents at an early age.”
When society labels you a statistic, you have a choice~you can play victim, or stand victoriously in your power.
I can vividly remember the day my foster parent told me it was time to go. I didn’t know it at the time but I was “aged out of the system”.
The first thing that crossed my mind. I'm afraid it wasn't college.
Where am I going to live? How am I going to take care of myself? I had to figure out how I was going to PAY MY BILLS, naturally the day I was able to PAY MY OWN BILLS and be financially independent and self-sufficient. It was (and still is) a BEAUTIFUL DAY IN MY LIFE!
The most powerful statement a woman can make… #IPayMyOwnBills (It's not just words on a T-Shirt there's meaning behind the message)
Something magical happens when you stop waiting for a man or anyone else for that matter to give you what you want.
I don’t accept the “you can’t, you’ll never…” that others with limited viewpoints would like to assign as my reality, and neither should you.
I created Empowerment COUTURE, because I believe my purpose in life is to transform the foster care system and financially empower foster girls and EVERY female that walks this gorgeous green earth.
"Pretty Face With A Purpose"
It's a BIG mission, AND it feels pretty glam good. I wake up every day knowing that I've been put on this earth for a specific reason. I'm the solution to a BIG problem.
The days of taking up space without a purpose are OVER.
This is my life's work!
Love & Glamour,
Ungenita
