An instant assumption made about me is that I've been active in the community for years. The truth is that I have only been active for about a year now. The truth of the matter is that I just became conscious of the injustices in the world. For almost my whole life I was stuck in a bubble of ignorance and lies. 

In high school I was your average bad girl, well at least in Richmond High. I hardly ever went to class, I didn't care about knowledge or education. I was very much egocentric and believe it or not I was very mean and rude to others. Not to say that I don't have my moments but times have changed. I am a lot nicer now than I have ever been. During my rebellious days I stoled a lot, especially from big corporations such as Target and Ross. I would cut school to get high, almost every day during my senior year. I was a very bad influence.

However, I believe the change was always in me. I was just around people who influenced and enhanced my thoughts of living the fast life. It was in late 2008 when I began to watch the news. It even felt weird sitting down to watch the news but for some weird reason that I can't explain I enjoyed it a lot as well. I went from watching mainstream news to watching independent news then to documentaries. After a couple of months of what I like to call "re-brainwashing" I was determined to make a change. I began inviting myself and attending city meetings. I would volunteer when ever possible. I started to explore and meet activist within Richmond. 

A lot of people who I have met think I have always been this "over achiever" or whatever they want to call me. What they don't know is that I was not always a conscious individual. Not to say that I'm hella conscious but compare to others I am. I believe change is in all of us, it just take time and meeting the right people. I definitely met people at RYSE who helped me develop in a healthy way.