Education is Empowerment!

I graduated in December of 2013 with my Bachelors of Science of Finance. It is my firm belief that education is the key to a happy and successful life, formal and informal. If we educate the people, we can empower the nation. This is why we will be offering tutoring and mentorship services to underserved school districts in the Dothan area in the coming months. There has been a severe disconnect in minority communities between education and success. What are our priorities?
I am a single mother of a three year old little boy, and he loves to read and create. I, and my mother, have been observing him since he was born and noting his characteristics. We know that he is gifted, but when it's time to sit down and learn, he is not very good at it. He struggles sit sit still and learn; however, I know how to teach him because I have been paying attention. As parents, it is our job to know how to teach our own children, but many of us are busy trying to feed, clothe, and shelter our children. By the end of the day, we are thankful for the learning institutions for taking on some of the burden and teaching them and making sure that they learn the basics!

This is where we fail. It is not the school's responsibility to teach our children how to be successful. The schools are designed to teach everyone the same things: math, science, history, English grammar and composition, a foreign language, and economics (if you're lucky) so that they can go out into the world and work. They do not teach ethics, morality, entrepreneurship, and individual thinking. These ideas are learned at home with mom and dad.

We can not rely on schools to teach our children everything. Educating our children needs to be our top priority! Our future is in their hands, and if these recent ice water, fire, sleep, etc challenges that I keep viewing are any indication... WE ARE DOOMED!! We need communities and families to step in and teach from the elder generations on down. There are too many hoods and not enough neighborhoods (let that sink in).

VISION

I started this year in a dark place mentally and emotionally. Life was not going where I wanted it to. I had to move in with my mom. I didn't have a bed. All of my possessions were stuffed in boxes in the den, and I was empty. One day, I sat down and thought about it. I hated where I was... HATED IT! I knew if I stayed in that mental space I would be miserable and everyone around me would be miserable too! I decided then to create a vision. I chose to create my vision around my business and my son (my personal life was not even a thought at the time) and remember why I started this company in the first place.

I had been going through a lot trying to define my businesses and my dreams over the last 18 months. I went through a spot of hell last year with my ex-fiancee and father of my child and it really ripped me a part. My business was the last piece of me to survive that relationship. I had to pull myself together the best I could to finish undergrad and raise our son, so it is necessary that this business not only survives, but that it thrives and changes lives and lives beyond me!!!

From that moment, I made my vision (a successful lasting legacy for my son, my niece, and my family) the focal point of my life. I'd be lying if I said that it just happens and everyday is full of passion and happiness, but I have a vision of where I want my life to be. My vision is expanding and growing daily. Parts of the vision are being realized in ways that I never dreamed possible, and it's all because I decided to not only change my focal point but to create my focal point.