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Personal Statement
Throughout my professional career, many people have asked me the same question, “What motivates you?” My answer always begins in the same way, “When I was growing up, I never truly experienced childhood, or what most people would consider a ‘normal’ teenage life.” Through a series of compounded decisions by my family, at six years old, I started taking care of my younger brother and mother when it became apparent that she was mentally unstable and could not lead our family. I continued to care for my brother day and night in our small one bedroom house while my mother worked countless jobs around the clock. To make ends meet, I would reach out to the parents of my friends. My mother’s erratic behavior with money and men continually left me stranded and confused, but I knew that I had to step up and take charge for my brother’s well being. Having this extreme responsibility placed on me at such an early age led me to rapid maturity, it ultimately shaped me into the driven, focused, and compassionate person that I am today.
There was a time in my brother’s life that I would never forget. He always longed for a relationship with his father and he still does today. His father never came around to visit him, talk to him, or show any level of support. For instance, at one of my brother’s high school football games, his father was there only to watch the play of his nephew. I knew my brother saw his father during the game and wanted nothing more than to impress him. He played like a beast. It was the perfect set up for his father to rush to him to tell him how amazing or proud he was of him. After the game was over and everyone was walking to hug the players, I slowed down to give his father an opportunity to run to him first. Unfortunately, he ran right pass my brother and my brother’s heart fell to the ground and I had to embrace him with the biggest hug to hide his tears. It still breaks my heart. I promised him that day that he would forever have my support and I would help him throughout life.
Amid caring for my brother and counterbalancing my mother’s choices, I graduated from high school and got admitted at Temple College. While I was a freshman at Temple College, I found out that my mother had run away and left my brother at home by himself without electricity and adequate food for three months. I had experienced several frightening situations with her before, but this was the worst I could have imagined and marked one of the biggest milestones in my life. After years of struggling in a broken home that continued to deteriorate, I persevered to break the cycle. I rebalanced my schedule to allow for part-time work so I could provide as much as possible for my brother. I knew there were hope, opportunity, and joy to be unearthed by working tirelessly to get there.
In 2003, I transferred to the University of Texas in Tyler with hopes of a fresh start, but was faced, again, with providing for the needs of my family. Although I had to make adjustments in my schedule to work part-time jobs, I held strongly to my commitments as a student, a teammate, and a volunteer leader within the Fellowship of Christian Athletes group. This dedication was rewarded in 2006 when I graduated and secured an employment in a telecommunications sales company. This opportunity gave me the fixed means to build a better life for my brother and myself. Over the last seven years, I have progressed through multiple career titles: entry level sales to Vice President and have been the recipient of numerous awards, such as, number one sales representative in the company, top 3 sales representative ever year, to mention a few. Nevertheless, I found myself searching for something with greater depth and meaning in the same way that I stood looking at my brother alone in an empty house wishing for a better future until I have come to a place in my life where I look in the mirror and recognize that I have a bigger calling. I have realized that the opportunity to have immense passion for work, aside from helping others, is a far greater success than the size of my income.
I have learned to appreciate my past because it spurred a relentless drive and fervor that led me to excel in sports, academics, and professional career. An equally powerful force and compassion back the distinguishing zeal in me. After taking on the nurturer role with my family, I developed a natural instinct for building empathic relationships and dealing with others sympathetically. When it comes to personal injury and family law, I foresee the compassion that is allowing me to connect with and invest in those that I represent. I have seen life through the eyes of a helpless abandoned boy, a lonely and tired teenage girl, and a powerful sales representative who wants more. Each of these lives has given me the unique position to build strong relationships based on trust, duty to serve as the voice of others, and struggle for justice. I am compassionate. I am always described as optimistic person with an infectious smile. With a big group of loyal friends, they will also be my support system and part of my success in life.
In parting, I would like to share another story. My late grandfather was my first love and friend. He was a man of few words. When he looked at me, I knew his love was true. He was an accomplished track runner. His grandchildren would ask him to tell us his winning stories time and again. I tried to do everything I could think of to show my love for him while he was still here on earth. About two weeks before he passed away, he asked my husband, “Have you been to any good track meets lately?” It dawned on me that I never took him to a track meet: I mean, I took him to eat, sat with him outside under the shade tree (his favorite activity) for hours, and threw parties to celebrate anything I could about him. However, how could I have not thought of taking him to a track meet? It was too late because, at this point, two weeks from leaving this earth, he was not physically capable. I burst into tears and fell to my knees telling him I was sorry because I never took him to watch something he loved. He laughed at me as he often did when I cried or told him I love him countless times. He said, “You just make sure if there is something you want to do, you do it. Whatever it takes, you do it.”
I have always wanted to accomplish things I am truly passionate in succeeding “[w]hatever it takes, [I will] do it.”
Thank you for your time reading my personal statement!
