I am honored to be a black woman first and foremost. I have inherited the resiliency and resourcefulness of my ancestors. My DNA has been challenged by their trauma and my own.  Nevertheless, I am a brave wife, a loving mother to a powerful little boy and an extraordinary little girl, a proud sister and a beloved friend. I am a beneficiary of sibling reunification after 23 years. I am an advocate. I am a woman of principles and I speak my truth and the truths of the most vulnerable with conviction. I am humbled by my experiences and ignited by possibility and refined by my victories. I am so much more than a former foster youth but I am also all of these things because of it.