Tameka Walker

I attribute my success to my faith and the vision God has given me. I walked down on faith when I retired with 2 or 3 years left with the government because I truly believed God was calling me to start my nonprofit and provide educational programs to families. I have an excellent support system that includes my husband, my daughter, my relatives, and mentors like Joan Bean from Living Waters, Inc., who saw my vision when I was just starting out in 2022 and has been a great mentor and prayer partner. I have a lot of prayer partners around me, and I am high on my faith. When I have rough days and get frustrated about how things are not working well, my support system keeps me going and reminds me not to give up. I truly believe that God put me in a place to provide healing and support to others, and He has more in me that I can offer the world. I'm always wanting to learn and do professional development, and I haven't turned around because I know this is the vision He gave me.

The best advice I've received comes from my dad, who always told me: if you can't help them, don't talk about them. This has shaped how I approach my work and interact with people. My parents raised me well as far as loving and sharing and helping people, and that foundation has guided my entire career in human services.

First of all, it has to be your passion to help others, and if you don't have that passion, you're in the wrong place. You need to understand that people are going through so many things in life and have challenges, so if you are willing to do that work, then this may be a place for you. I get this all the time when new people are graduating - they say 'oh, I'm going to change the world,' and that's good. However, what if things don't work out as far as getting people to change? You have to be consistent with providing the resources and never give up on the idea that your goal is to help others in need. Everybody is different, and you've got to be compassionate about what you want to do in life with this work.

One of the biggest challenges in this field is getting people to change. You provide resources and extensive resources, hoping they gravitate to what you're providing so they can alleviate whatever issues are setting them back. Sometimes people have to be ready and willing to accept services, and that can be a challenge. But even though there are challenges, you never stop providing the information and being supportive to that person. You have to help people recognize that they have an issue, even though it demonstrates and reflects that they do. The opportunity I see is in prevention and education - providing educational programs to people and families before we have to remove children from their care and send them to therapy. A lot of people don't know what constitutes child abuse and neglect or what a toxic relationship looks like because they haven't been taught or educated about certain things based on their background and environment. I want to be that person who goes out into the community and provides these educational programs before crisis intervention is needed.

My values are very important to me. Commitment is at the top - commitment to others and commitment to following through with things that I've put on my task. I value people and family very much. I'm a problem solver, and I value assessing and providing resources. The value of love is central to who I am, as is valuing that people are different and we have to be able to accept that. My parents raised me well as far as loving and sharing and helping people. As my dad always says, if you can't help them, don't talk about them. When I present myself, that's what you're going to see - I am passionate about what I do. I love people regardless of what socioeconomic status you are, because we have to realize that everybody's different and everybody has things going on. There are no perfect families and no perfect people. Meeting people where they are is very important to me, and just sharing what knowledge I have or what resources I have to give to them.