If you're struggling in life, chances are I've been there. From humble beginnings in a lower middle-class family, tenacity was always part of me. But that doesn't mean that I was without struggle or poor life choices.

A mom at 19, I began adulthood with knowing that I had to succeed to provide my kids with the best I could. I looked for every opportunity to improve my skillset and eventually entered a life in ministry. Then at 28, my entire life turned upside down at the hands of my ex-husband (father of my kids). I lost it all. My marriage, my employment, my home, everything.

I was forced to start over, from scratch, with two young children. I ended up leveraging the skills I had to secure a job good enough to provide a 3-bedroom apartment and went back to school online at night. Over the course of the following 7 years, I climbed the corporate ladder, improving my income by 400%, all while struggling through failed relationships and bringing my father to live with me when he lost his job due to cancer.

Through every battle and struggle, I found a way forward, a way up, and a way out. There was nothing I was going through that was going to hold me down and prevent me from my dreams. And you shouldn't let anything keep you back either.