Who is the most influential person in my life?
There have been many powerful and praiseworthy influences throughout my life, but, irrefutably, my mother is the most successful and creative woman that I have ever met and has inspired me the most. My mother returned to school (after having left school initially to support my father’s education), receiving her 4-year college degree in a total of less than two calendar years. She did this with two children; I was 2 years old when she graduated and my brother was 6. Named her college valedictorian, as well as commencement speaker, I looked on with amazement as my mother received six standing ovations from over 15,000 graduates and their guests. She had spoken on diversity. Having returned to Hunter College, the only college she could afford, she was asked to speak at commencement. She was also warned to remember “who she would be speaking to.” The professor directing her speech topic was implying that the other students were not in my mother’s class, academically or socially. Rising abo
