Ebony Dye

A lot came from my daughter. She made me look at things differently, like how can I improve so she knows it's the right way to go? My parents didn't go to college - my mom went but didn't finish, and they finished high school, but it wasn't pressured to us to go to college. As time went on in life, everybody was looking at your college degree, what experience you have, and also who you know. I felt like it was a must that I get my associate's degree to see if I wanted to pursue school or not. Then I decided to get my bachelor's degree because they look at that, and financially, it would help me out in the long run. But it wasn't just financial - it was also about my daughter. When she gets out of high school, what is she gonna do? I want her to be able to feel comfortable going to college without me pushing her to go. I want her to say, no, I'm going to college on my own, and be excited just as I was. My parents pushed me for my career, but I thought school was also important.

Just because one door closes, that doesn't mean others won't open. This advice has been so personal to me because when I was 18, 19, I got into a little bit of trouble and caught a felony. That caused a lot of doors to close on me - no school would accept me because I had a background, no job would accept me because of my background. I was starting to lose hope and faith in a lot of stuff. But after years, I realized it wasn't the end of the world. That made me open my eyes and pursue more - completing my high school diploma, getting my associate's degree, getting my bachelor's degree, and planning to get my master's. I just want people to know that people do have backgrounds, and things happen that may be out of our control, but don't give up hope because there's always someone looking for somebody. When one door closes, many more will open - that's like one of my statements. Don't give up. There's always hope, even if you may not see it at that moment. It will come. The light will shine.

Honestly, don't judge a book by its cover, and don't treat anybody like you're better than them, because we all can be in the same predicament. Being in a shelter is not easy, and I think about this because I have staff currently who are not understanding of people's shelter life scenarios. You don't know what they've been through, you don't know where they came from, you don't even know if they were taught how to clean or taught how to cook. You don't know, so you shouldn't judge. You should go into everybody with a positive attitude - hey, how you doing? Be welcoming, because they won't open up if you're not welcoming.

The challenges are that sometimes you can be over-empathetic. I say that because you have empathy and you put yourself in other people's shoes, but then when you start overly assessing the situation, it can affect you mentally and emotionally, and then you can't handle your job effectively for the client. On the opportunity side, I always wanted to do something that can help people, but also something that's long-term. Even after computers and AI, they still would need somebody in Human Services. Even when it comes to therapists, I don't know if I would want to talk to a computer, an AI therapist, trying to understand where I'm coming from when they're just reading off what's being programmed to them. There's no connection. Human service is a big connection, and I feel helping others is really my main goal - for them to see themselves being in a better light than what they are currently or previously were in.

Honestly, accountability and morals. A lot of family values. Definitely morals.