Pamela expects to conquer at least two goals daily:

1. Take steps toward continual self-improvement
2. Shatter generational cycles

“Poverty is, I’ll say, thick within my family tree. We were born from chaos,” Pamela shared before acknowledging future plans. I want to advocate for the homeless. I want to advocate for hunger because I have those lived experiences.”

The Cincinnati native is the youngest of six children. Ironically, she has six children of her own who range in age from four to 27 years old. Pamela’s group of six is a tight-knit family. 

“I see all my kids every day, I feel very blessed and very fortunate to not only have six but to survive raising them alone.”

The proud mom is intentional about steering her children away from repeating missteps she believes she made in her own life. 

“As I learn and grow, I just teach my kids a different way of doing things. I had to figure it out on my own in my middle 40s.”

Figuring it out is something Pamela has done since she was 16 years old. Already working, her income at that time mostly helped support her family, but she longed for better opportunities. 

“If I needed a job I would just go to a temp service. So that means that the temp service would be paying me a portion of what I’m getting paid. And I did that for at least 10 years. I just felt like it was time to take care of myself,” she shared. 

In 2019, Pamela lost her job as an office assistant. The loss of income couldn’t have come at a worse time—she was in the process of purchasing her first home. 

“It was a major blow to my self-esteem. From that experience I started going to a food pantry,” she shared. 

The community food pantry helped feed her family, but it also unexpectedly fed resources to Pamela’s appetite for personal growth and development.

“The pantry had a women’s empowerment class. Coming out of being fired and then moving in the direction of taking care of myself was what I needed to do.”

She participated in a 10-week empowerment course that she admits uplifted her mentally. Pamela says she learned about UpTogether on the final day of her course. Fueled to keep forging ahead, she was excited about the UpTogether Community and the opportunity to use investments to create the life she previously envisioned for herself and her children. 

Pamela utilized some of her funds to enroll in entrepreneurship classes that will allow her to fulfill her lifelong dream of business ownership. The next step for her is a series of home inspection courses that she feels will be the keys to unlocking her family’s financial future.

“Getting my home inspection certificate will open a door not only for me to be able to make my own schedule, but the money that I can make, it’ll be double the money that I’ve ever made in my life. So, it’ll be a way out of poverty for me and my family.”

Pamela is proof that our amazing members from communities across the country are setting impressive initiatives and conquering them daily.

Watch Pamela's story in episode 6 of the UpTogether Fireside Chat: