Social Passions

Although I’m very passionate about my career, I found I longed to merge my professional skills with social issues I felt a strong passion to support. I make it a priority to use my talents and resources for the greater good. My social passion interests include female hygiene education and fighting the negative worldwide stigma of menstruation, bringing awareness to the global issue of human trafficking and taking steps to eliminate this terrible act, correcting the injustices, and closing the economic, social, educational, and financial gaps for people of color.

I have had a passion for aiding with feminine hygiene education & menstrual hygiene solutions for quite some time. In August of 2017, I was fortunate to take a trip to Tanzania, Africa. With the knowledge of the lack of menstrual sanitary options, I made it my goal to hand-make as many reusable menstrual napkins as possible with the hope to deliver them to girls and women in need during my trip. I came back to the United States hungry to do more. I found Days for Girls while searching the internet for ways I could combine my skillset with the passion to improve menstrual health. I was able to volunteer in the Days for Girls local sewing group in St. Petersburg FL and assembled reusable menstrual napkins and kits.

I partnered with Joshua Tree Adoptions where they had a need for clothing for young girls in Tanzania, Africa. I was able to sew pillowcase dresses and hand-delivered the dresses to villages and orphanages around Tanzania.

After learning shoes were luxury in some communities we would visit I did some research and found Maasai tribes used plastic bottles or old tires to create sandals. I was inspired to create simple leather sandals using the leftover leather I had from a costume project. I was able to distribute them in person in a village in Tanzania, Africa.

My mother has always celebrated her Native American ancestry and donated to a residential school for Lakota children for over 20 years. I began to dig into my family history which turned into educating myself on Native American history. I was absolutely sickened by what I had found. They face many challenges and experience social, economic, cultural, and on many other fronts, and include but aren't limited to:

Impoverishment and Unemployment
Violence against Women and Children
Native Americans are Less Educated
Poor Quality Housing
Inadequate Health Care
Unable to Exercise Voting Rights
Native Language is Becoming Extinct
Limited Financial Institutions in the Native Communities
Natural Resources Exploitation

After this disheartening truth, I saw a quote “I always wondered why someone doesn’t do anything about that, then I realized I was somebody” - Lily Tomlin

I applied to work at the residential school in South Dakota dedicated to serving Native American Children. I worked serving Lakota children as a Houseparent for the 2020-2021 school year. The mission of the school is to educate Native American children and their families for life — mind, body, heart, and spirit. This mission drives the organization to educate and provide housing for over 200 Lakota (Sioux) children each year — all at no cost to their families. My job was to model a healthy family setting as my partner and I cared for the children residing in the home. We provided a safe environment and used parenting skills to help the kids grow into independent healthy individuals.