Hello, my name is DebbieK. I have a 5-year-old son named Benjamin who is about to start Kindergarten in a few weeks. I am a new home owner and have been in a serious relationship for 16 months. For the last 15 years or more I have worked as a healthcare professional, and currently sell Avon. I plan to go to cosmetology school this year to gain more experience in fashion/beauty industry, and to also help enrich networking opportunities. Before we bought our house, I was a single mother for 4 years, worked in home health care, and earned a AA in Human Services. With a strong personal interest in human behavior I have considered pursuing a career in social work, as a spin-off from my work experience in health care. I chose healthcare as my first line of work since I left home as a means to support myself vs. being economically dependent on my parents for the rest of my life.

My first love was music. As a result of a pattern of circumstances that I allowed to dominate my life, I let it go and settled for a good occupation, but not the kind of work that fulfilled my creative passion. I had opportunities to pursue whatever I wanted but instead I allowed my family to make decisions for me instead of challenging me to think for myself. Even though my parents meant well and wanted what was best for me, I was still discouraged from doing the things that made me happy.

I was raised in a Christian, conservative family whose criteria for choosing a profession was something you had to be naturally "good at" as in "monkey see - monkey do" - not necessarily what you loved doing. There remained a conflict of interests between choices I ended up making down the line and my parents' expectations of me. I never meant to rebel against them. I have accepted our differences.

Just thought I'd share a funny story. I was the only family member who loved pop-cultured music, a thing my parents were always dead against. When I was a child I would sneek out my dad's radio into in my bedroom. If they caught me listening to rock music or even soft pop ballades, they barged in on me unannounced and intimidated me into turning off that radio or turning it to a Classical music station. They were against the social/sexual revolution of the 60's and 70's and home schooled us while we were growing up because they disapproved of the public schools.

I left home when I was 27 and my first job was working for an elderly neighbor up the street as a temporary live-in companion which helped me save enough money to move into my first apartment while I was finishing up a Master's of Arts in Music. After I graduated, I worked in health care while I taught piano, flute and voice to private students one on one for extra money. I became burned out with private teaching and auditioned for performing opportunities for which I was rejected, became discouraged from negative influences of family and eventually just let go of music.

I pursued other options while main income came from a long work history of health related jobs. I went back to school and took classes in psychology, leading to completion of Associates in Human Services degree, with intermittent breaks between semesters while having my son.

Mean while, in 2003 I started selling Avon on the side and decided I really enjoyed the social outlets that helped me gain interpersonal and professional skills. While selling Avon has been more or less a side job while being a full-time parent, working my day job and going back to school, I searched for ways to channel my time and energy into more selling to where I could increase my sales and clientelle. While going thru alot of transistions from single status, to single parent, meeting my SO, buying a house, there's been alot going on that potentially challenges one's ability to focus on a specialized occupation.

In 2004 I found out I had ADD while I was taking Child Psychology, by recognizing the symptoms of it in myself. I took Ridalin on and off until I found out I was pregnant with Benjamin, then quit. I have learned to manage my symptoms without medication since Benjamin was born. I am still finding it my biggest challenge to cope with ADD. At the same time I am determined to overcome it with the help and support of my partner who loves me for who I am and supports my decisions, big or small, that will serve my best interests and lead me on the road to wealth, health and happiness.