I always knew I wanted to be somebody, but I didn’t always know I wanted to be ME! At the age of 23, was when I got a real dose of womanhood. 700 miles away from home living in Atlanta, Ga. With no family close by, a few associates, my weekly unemployment checks from a previous job, and food stamps, I was able to stand on my own. I got my very first apartment for $495 a month. Within four months of being in my apartment, my unemployment ran out, reality snuck in. I only had two months of savings to pay bills,then I was at a standstill. My funds were low, so I started making agreements with bill collectors to pay my bills late. I got assistance from local agencies, my mother, and my best friend.

After five months with no income, I finally had a J.O.B. For those five jobless months, I always had food, lights, water, and shelter. Believe it or not! This tenacious woman made it through the storm. My first biggest obstacle of my womanhood years that I beat. Eventually I had a baby girl, moved back home, then back to Atlanta again. Everything good, came tumbling down. I had a terrible falling out with my child’s father that drastically changed everything. Now here I am a single parent and my car stopped running for good. So I sent my daughter back to Indiana with my mother, which was one of the toughest decisions I ever had to make,was to separate from my one year old baby until I could manage to get us another car. To be so far apart from my daughter who kept me sane, was a pain that I wouldn’t wish on anybody.

A month had gone by with no luck on getting a car, I decided to stay in Atlanta and not go back to the nest, because going back to my small home town wasn’t something I wanted to do. I missed my baby and was tired of crying from not seeing or touching her. I had my family bring her back. Now in the roasting summer heat, I’m walking one and a half hours total in a day and catching the train four or five days a week, back and forth to work and daycare, with my baby. Sometimes even having to get what foods I could, up the street, at the CVS store until I could catch a ride to the grocery store. At this point I was exhausted to the max. After months of walking in the summer heat with my baby, it started to get cold and that’s when I said, “enough of this.” I fought those battles of mine long and hard, and did very well. It was time to go back to the nest and regroup.

Back in Indiana I was beyond ready for new beginnings. I received government assistance, got a part time job, eliminated the bad and the ugly outta my cipher, and held my head up. I soon realized I was always the go to person when others had issues. Why not make a career out of it? All of a sudden my purpose became visible. Life coaching it was. I was scared and excited. I researched life coaching, slept on it, then signed up for orientation at Coach Training Alliance. I enjoyed the orientation and only had two weeks to decide if I was going to pay $2600 for the course. Wait a minute! I was only getting ten hours a week at the time at Old Navy Outlet, making $8 dollars a hour. With only $3000 saved up from my taxes, if I took the course that I didn’t have much knowledge on, then there goes majority of my savings. My thoughts were scattered. I had concerns! What if I don’t like Life Coaching down the road? What if I don’t succeed as a Life Coach? Boy was I terrified! But my inner voice was saying “do it now or regret it later.” So I punched in my debit card info online, hit the submit button, and that’s when life grabbed me by the hand, and life got real. Majority of my money was depleted and not much income rolling in. There was no turning back. Through all those trials and setbacks, I am now an undefeated, certified coach, happy, and serving others. I’ve been afraid, confused, broke down, and lost, and you wonder if I can  relate to your worries and down falls. Oh yes! Please welcome Personal Achievement Coach To’Shar-ree Kelly to your life!