Teens run away from home because of family problems. I got into an argument with my stepfather and did the same. At the time, I was about five months pregnant. I thought physically leaving would solve my problems, but it didn’t. Instead, running and hiding only made my mother frantic as she tried to find […]
My friends came through for me in a big way during my pregnancy. I experienced firsthand the power of teen friendships at work. My 15-year-old friends came together with the little they had to throw me a baby shower. That big gesture touched me beyond words. Even more touching were the smaller gestures of support […]
By the time I got to college, I didn’t have child support or help from my parents. I realized I needed additional support so I applied for public assistance for young parents. I needed support like food stamps now called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). To my surprise my application was denied because I had […]
I understand that support for pregnant teens and young parents can be hard to come by. In my own life, I had the support of my mother who picked me up from school and took me for my doctor’s appointments. She took time off work to make sure I never missed a single doctor’s visit. […]
At this point in my story, I was pregnant at 15 years by a boy I didn’t know and whom I hadn’t consented to have sex with. My secret was out, and the guilt and shame were real. Coping with a teen pregnancy had never featured on my list of things to do before I […]
Surviving teen pregnancy had never featured in any of my plans for my life. In fact, I looked down on other girls who got pregnant. I thought they deserved what happened to them because of their promiscuous and fast ways. Yet here I was in the same boat. A pregnant teen who would soon become […]
Because I was not sexually active, neither I or my parents probably thought they needed to talk to me about how to avoid teen pregnancy. If you had told me I would join the teen pregnancy statistics at age 15. I would have called you a liar. After all, I was book-smart and knew-it-all. Yet […]
There are not many moments when you’re invited to be a part of history. Last Monday, I had the honor of speaking on the program for a major moment in University of Memphis history. As part of the University of Memphis’ initiatives to Eradicate Systemic Racism (I’m on one of the committees), new markers and […]
When I was younger, I didn’t have the best of attitudes. I was stubborn, often disrespectful, and focused on having my way. In other words, I didn’t have an attitude for success. But that all changed when I started to understand that my attitude would determine my aptitude. I had the power to steer my […]
