Rosannette Kirby

I attribute my success to my children. I have three children of my own, and I felt that God gave me a gift because they're doing amazing. I was able to raise three kids on my own as a single parent, and I think, why hold on to it? Why not reach out to the community and help younger kids that need assistance? Being able to give them the platform to do what they want to do. I'm from the Caribbean, and it was different growing up there because there was a saying that little girls are to be seen and not to be heard, so you really didn't have a voice growing up. Everything was actually inside of me and stifling me. As I became older and moved to the USA, I realized you can do this, you can help people, you can speak, you have a voice. I figured, why not use it and also give my children a platform and change the table, change the circle? It's not fair - one of the reasons why I push to have a youth council is we always say the children are the future, but if we're not going to mold them and coach them, how are they going to know how to run the future with all what we're going through today?

Never give up. I'm from the Caribbean, and it's different. When you want to do something but you're not having the opportunity, you always have to succeed through perseverance. You gotta continue to persevere, no matter what the challenges are. Never giving up.

What's your passion? You have to really want to do it, and you have to be able to be coachable. Is it your passion? Think about, is there something you really want to do? Do you want to serve? Because that's basically what we're doing, is serving. And you have to be passionate about it. You can't just say, well, I'm going to serve and figure it's just an opportunity or be in the public eye. It doesn't work like that. I'll walk into a room, my name is Rosannette Kirby. I would not say that I'm a council member, because to me, that's not what I'm about. So make sure you're passionate about something and continue to serve as a human being. Be able to give back.

i would say it’s a challenge, I would say what keeps me up at nights. Is the lack of financial funding and resources to expedite more programs within the communities we serve.

Just being honest is important to me for my character - being honest and straightforward. Being able to be honest with children and young people who want guidance. It's very important to me that I be honest with them and be straightforward. Sometimes it could be harsh, but you have to do one-on-one and teach everyone. You can't treat everyone the same because people are different. What might work for one this way may not work for the other one that way, so you have to think holistically but also think individually how you're going to approach each person. Everyone has a different perspective.