Origins influence ideology.

Going to college in your hometown is a strange experience. Watching your friends move away, and slowly ceasing to return over long breaks. Attempting to balance the worlds of school and social lives. Explaining that you live alone rather than saving money by staying at home too feel a since of escape. To me Sarasota feels a bit like being in an unlocked cage with the door shut. Sure you can leave whenever you want, but it's really all you've known. My mother grew up here, my grandparents moved here when they were young, this is their paradise. The stories of how our family actually ended up here are a bit fuzzy to me, complicated by variations within the family tree. As best as I can place it my Grandmother's great grandmother moved here from India after being married to a white man. They then had a daughter that ran away to married a Native American, at somewhere around this time we have "The lost Daughters of Louisiana" as my grandmother calls them.

Today, My biggest influences are my Mother and Beyoncé. My mother is the strongest mother I know. She shows kindness to everyone around her. She may introduce me as her only child, however she is a mother to hundreds of children and young adults that she mentors in the greater sarasota community.
Beyoncé on the other hand, just always finds the words I'm looking for with her music. Any emotion I've ever felt, any message I've needed to hear. She is a constant reminder of why I need to love myself, and allow my love for myself to attract others to me.
Between my two influencers, I know that flaws and all I am greatness. I can do anything, be anyone, as long as I try and push myself to the extent of my capabilities. That is what I strive for, because at the end of the day, I only consider myself successful if I can reflect on events with more happiness than regrets.

I believe that people as a whole simply want to do and to be good. I believe in forgiving, but not forgetting. Remembering the pain caused by loved ones often makes you stronger, it can give you a push that cannot be equalled by unconditional love in a way. I believe that life is too short to regret and that time is too precious to waste. I believe that you should always treat others with kindness, even if they greet you with ugliness. I believe in dressing to express, not to impress, and in the art of fashion. Most importantly I believe in myself, and nothing, nor anyone will ever be able to change that.