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Sparkles Steele - Success Story · Look Who's Talking

• 0:00
  You are listening to Look Who's Talking.
• 0:18
  I am Cameron Minter.
• 0:20
  I am your co-host and our wonderful Head Start director, Jessica Coffie.
• 0:26
  Oh, am I wonderful today?
• 0:27
  You are wonderful today.
• 0:28
  What a wonderful day.
• 0:29
  Just today, it's probably by the end of the show, it will not be wonderful.
• 0:33
  But welcome.
• 0:34
  What's going on?
• 0:35
  Hey, y'all.
• 0:36
  Not much, Cam.
• 0:37
  You know, just sitting here with you.
• 0:38
  I feel like I haven't seen you in a while.
• 0:39
  I know, right?
• 0:40
  We got to get back in the saddle.
• 0:41
  Yeah.
• 0:42
  And once we get started, it just runs, but, you know, we've been kind of coasting here
• 0:43
  for a minute.
• 0:44
  So it's time to get back to it.
• 0:45
  So what you got?
• 0:46
  What are we talking about today?
• 0:47
  I don't know.
• 0:48
  You been watching any sports?
• 0:49
  A little bit.
• 0:50
  You know what?
• 1:00
  This is just me.
• 1:01
  COVID ruined sports for me.
• 1:03
  Why?
• 1:04
  I don't know.
• 1:05
  Ever since COVID, I can't get back into sports like I was.
• 1:09
  You know, I follow my team, but I very, you know, they could be playing.
• 1:15
  I mean, oh yeah, they playing, you know.
• 1:17
  You know what?
• 1:18
  For me, I think I watch more sports now than I did before COVID.
• 1:22
  Really?
• 1:23
  Yeah.
• 1:24
  Because I ain't going outside.
• 1:25
  Of course.
• 1:26
  I'm not leaving the house.
• 1:27
  This is, oh, this is what's on TV.
• 1:29
  We watching it.
• 1:30
  I like football though.
• 1:31
  I don't like basketball.
• 1:32
  You a basketball person, right?
• 1:33
  Yeah.
• 1:34
  Yeah.
• 1:35
  I like them both really.
• 1:36
  But I ain't been watching nothing.
• 1:37
  How about them cats?
• 1:38
  What?
• 1:39
  Dunny that Dunny already?
• 1:40
  What?
• 1:41
  What?
• 1:42
  Dunny that Dunny already?
• 1:43
  Dunny that Dunny already?
• 1:44
  Dunny that Dunny already?
• 1:45
  Dunny that Dunny already?
• 1:46
  Dunny that Dunny already?
• 1:47
  Dunny that Dunny already?
• 1:48
  I don't want to talk about that.
• 1:49
  I'm just saying.
• 1:50
  I'm just saying.
• 1:51
  But you know what?
• 1:52
  I am.
• 1:53
  I am glad that I was confused.
• 1:58
  Uh huh.
• 2:00
  If the cats were Calipari or was Calipari the cats?
• 2:06
  And I am pleased to know that the cats are the cats.
• 2:10
  Yes.
• 2:11
  Calipari or not?
• 2:13
  So that's a good thing.
• 2:14
  I think they've always been the cats for me.
• 2:15
  Well, I mean, yeah.
• 2:16
  Yeah, I mean, but when you have was it been a decade that he was
• 2:20
  you know, someone of his caliber caliber of, you know, because he
• 2:24
  did take it up a level. Yeah. But you are good to know that,
• 2:29
  you know, the cats are the cats. Yeah, it's not Cal Perry's
• 2:32
  team. So like, if you're not watching sports, what are you
• 2:36
  doing? Oh, okay. I'm glad you asked. You know, COVID. And so
• 2:42
  I'm into these series now. And I'm telling you, TV series.
• 2:47
  Yes. What are you watching? Yellowstone. I just got caught
• 2:51
  up on that. I have no idea what that is. I know. There's this
• 2:56
  one. Is that like a Netflix? No, it's actually, you know, I got
• 3:01
  I got the since I said Netflix, if y'all want to be our
• 3:04
  sponsor, please. Yeah. Yeah. How about that? I've got this one
• 3:08
  app that I can get all of them anyway. So okay. Yeah. Anyway.
• 3:13
  Cross. Yeah, no. Yeah, that you want to watch. See, where
• 3:20
  you're watching things like that. I'm watching either
• 3:23
  football or like survivor reality shows. The Summit. Big
• 3:32
  Brother. I can't stand them shows. Oh my gosh. I love them.
• 3:36
  I can't stand them shows because I don't like the reality shows
• 3:39
  where people like live in the same place like the Housewives
• 3:44
  and things like that. I don't even watch those. But reality
• 3:47
  shows where they put you in the desert. Drop you in the you
• 3:52
  don't even have a match. You got a fine fish to eat. Wow.
• 3:58
  That's what I like. That's what you like. Yeah. Now, how do you
• 4:00
  think you were doing that? Oh, quick question. If you had to
• 4:06
  pick one person to be stranded on the island with not not
• 4:12
  not connected, but to survive. Who would it be?
• 4:19
  It'll probably be my daddy.
• 4:21
  Oh, yeah. Okay. Because we will survive.
• 4:27
  You know, you just broke your mom's heart. And I'm gonna
• 4:29
  I'm gonna send her to show. I couldn't survive with her living
• 4:34
  in the house. Okay. But my daddy. Yeah. Listen, he gonna
• 4:41
  he gonna build us a fire. He gonna catch us some fish. He
• 4:46
  gonna complain that I'm not helping him. But he's still
• 4:49
  gonna do it. That's that's who I need. Yeah, that's good. That's
• 4:53
  good. And I'll be like, Oh, my leg hurt. I can't I can't go out
• 4:57
  in there. Why didn't catch no fish? He'll be like, Okay, sit
• 5:00
  right there. He could teach you today. You better learn today.
• 5:07
  And you know, he he makes stuff up. He makes stuff up all the
• 5:12
  time. Like I believe him. What does that mean? Like, he makes
• 5:17
  stuff up and I believe him. And then I find out later. It's not
• 5:20
  true. So I feel like if he was out on a desert island with me
• 5:24
  or wherever we are, he gonna lie to me. I'm a believe it. And
• 5:28
  that's how we're gonna survive. Because you know the truth that
• 5:32
  you're going crazy. Right? Because guess what? So when I
• 5:36
  was younger, he told me if you sleep on a lot of pillows, you're
• 5:39
  gonna have a hunchback, right? So I like from then I stopped
• 5:44
  sleeping with pillows. So you know, I don't sleep with pillows
• 5:46
  for real. And I think I went home as an adult. Oh, my god.
• 5:53
  And I said something he was like, Well, here's some here's
• 5:56
  some pillows. I said I don't sleep with pillows. He said,
• 5:59
  Why not? I said, Because you told me I would have a hunchback.
• 6:05
  And he said, You believe me? Yes, I believe everything you
• 6:09
  say. Everything. He's my daddy cannot tell me a lie. Even if
• 6:14
  he lied. He cannot tell me a lie.
• 6:17
  Well, your feelings hurt when you find out about Saint Nick.
• 6:20
  Oh, no, I knew like, when I got, listen, I remember when I stopped
• 6:28
  believing. When I got this bike that I wanted. I said, Thank
• 6:33
  you, Mama and Daddy. I said, Come on now we know the truth.
• 6:42
  Did you say what you want? We know the truth. What you want
• 6:44
  that snuck in and get the gifts and stuff? Oh, no, I did not
• 6:48
  sneak. Because you know what? My parents, there were wrapped
• 6:52
  gifts under the tree that they bought. And then there were
• 6:55
  certain items that will be in the den. Because Santa Claus
• 6:59
  came through the vents. We didn't have no fireplace. So my
• 7:03
  daddy told me that Santa Claus came through the air vents. And
• 7:08
  he put our stuff in that front room. Once I saw that bike. I
• 7:15
  said, Thank you, Mother and Father. Wow. Santa Claus didn't
• 7:19
  bring that bike through the vent. There's no way he could
• 7:24
  have brought that bike through the vent. But but you believe
• 7:27
  he could go through the vent. Okay. Yeah. What? I said, Dad,
• 7:32
  you mean, he don't come through the front door. And my daddy
• 7:36
  said, I ain't giving another man a key to my door. I said,
• 7:41
  I said, baby, the truth. You don't have to tell me. That's
• 7:47
  good. It's time for a Coffie break. Time for a Coffiee break.
• 7:59
  Okay, so for today's coffee break, what I want to say is,
• 8:02
  every day may not be good. But there is something good in every
• 8:07
  day. You know, sometimes we encounter days where we feel
• 8:12
  like everything is going. But try to pick out something that
• 8:17
  is good about that day. Yeah, I get it. You know, it's like
• 8:21
  that communication tip, you know, when before you say the
• 8:26
  negative, say two things positive type of thing. And it
• 8:30
  makes you think, you know, like, because you really ready to get
• 8:33
  to this negative, but let me think about something
• 8:37
  positive. It's easy to go to the negative. It is because that's
• 8:41
  the one that's impacting. Yeah. Because sometimes I just have to
• 8:44
  be like, I have breath in my body. I have function of my
• 8:48
  limbs. I'm in my right mind. Come on, you try to preach.
• 8:53
  Look at you try to preach. Because because you know what,
• 8:56
  sometimes the hard days feel like, yeah, almost like you you
• 9:01
  feel suffocated. Absolutely. And that's, that's a that's a
• 9:06
  sign, you know, we can't allow things to impact our lives like
• 9:11
  that, especially here's the thing that gives me especially
• 9:14
  like with people, right? You let people impact your life like
• 9:18
  that, but they don't even think about what you're thinking
• 9:21
  about. You so mad about it, but it ain't even on a mind at all.
• 9:27
  And they'd be like, you live in rent. I'm living rent free in
• 9:30
  your mind. But I need to think about you losing sleep. Come on.
• 9:34
  Yeah. All right. Yep. Something positive.
• 9:37
  Honey, let me say something positive.
• 9:41
  Well, let's talk about this positive show we're gonna have.
• 9:44
  All right. Well, let me introduce you all to a wonderful
• 9:50
  guest. Like, I don't even know how long I've been knowing her
• 9:53
  for quite some time now through Community Action. We have Miss
• 9:58
  Sparkle Steel. Welcome to the show.
• 10:01
  Hello. How are you? We are excited. She is an employee at
• 10:07
  Community Action. But we want to talk about her journey today
• 10:11
  because she did not start off as an employee. Wow. I've known
• 10:17
  Sparkle for quite some time as well through Community Action.
• 10:21
  But today I get to get a little inside glitz. You know, you
• 10:26
  don't never know what people go through until they let you try
• 10:29
  out issues. So we get in your business today.
• 10:32
  That's okay. Y'all can be in my business.
• 10:34
  Okay. So, Sparkles, I can go and say when I first met you, but
• 10:40
  I want you to tell us about how you got introduced to
• 10:44
  Community Action and what that looked like.
• 10:48
  Okay. So first I got introduced to Community Action because I
• 10:51
  heard about Community Action offering a CDA class. I'm
• 10:55
  originally from Cleveland, Ohio. So I moved here to Lexington,
• 10:58
  Kentucky, and it was just me and my four-year-old son. Well, he
• 11:01
  was three at the time. And so once I heard about it, I was
• 11:04
  like, hmm, a CDA. What is that? And I was like, I don't want to
• 11:08
  work for no daycare. That's what I assumed it was. I applied. And
• 11:15
  they told me like, well, we have childcare for you. So just apply.
• 11:19
  And I completed the courses. And then...
• 11:23
  At the time, was he going anywhere?
• 11:24
  No. They actually, Community Action at the time actually
• 11:27
  offered childcare for me to complete my CDA. So I had
• 11:31
  childcare and I completed the course so I can obtain my
• 11:34
  credential.
• 11:35
  Oh, good.
• 11:36
  I got a chance to obtain my credential. And after I obtained
• 11:39
  it, I was actually offered employment through Community
• 11:42
  Action.
• 11:43
  Wow.
• 11:43
  Look at that.
• 11:44
  Yeah. So I came in as a volunteer.
• 11:47
  So when I first met Sparkles, she was in the CDA class. And I
• 11:54
  was going over something health, some topic of health. And I said,
• 12:01
  who is this? Because she was like,
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  Oh, how y'all doing? What's your name? Hey, Miss Jessica.
• 12:09
  I said, Ooh, honey. I know my personality, but she got me
• 12:13
  B times 10.
• 12:14
  Right, right.
• 12:16
  But no, that is the... Sparkles is the prime example of why we
• 12:21
  do what we do. That was something that we wanted to
• 12:25
  implement, engaging our families. And I mean, Sparkles
• 12:32
  took that and ran with it.
• 12:33
  She took it and ran with it.
• 12:35
  That's because it opened up different opportunities. When I
• 12:38
  first came in, I didn't have nothing. And to see the growth
• 12:41
  that could come along with just getting your CDA, it wasn't
• 12:45
  just a CDA. I became a teacher and it opened up other doors
• 12:49
  for me.
• 12:49
  Yeah. So talk about, you know, just what avenues that opened up
• 12:55
  for you.
• 12:56
  After I became a teacher, I started seeing different
• 12:58
  positions in the company that I really wanted to work with. Like
• 13:02
  I didn't just want to be a teacher, I wanted more because
• 13:04
  they offer so much more. So they had a position for a pathway
• 13:08
  specialist. I already worked with the families and the
• 13:11
  teachers, but I wanted to do something different. So I applied
• 13:15
  and I started being a pathway specialist. And I did that for
• 13:18
  about a year or two, but they had more opportunities. Even
• 13:22
  working with my families. I got a chance to obtain my credential
• 13:26
  for a family strength based credential. So that opened up my
• 13:31
  horizons even more.
• 13:33
  So in each aspect, you're not only going to another level, but
• 13:39
  you're also learning in that level that is taking you to
• 13:43
  another level.
• 13:44
  And learning about myself also, it brought so much growth,
• 13:48
  confidence, because I was trapped at one thing not knowing
• 13:52
  the door was being opened for me to pursue other goals that I
• 13:56
  can go. So along with me just having to help and just standing
• 14:01
  for myself, I just got a chance to do it. And so I was excited
• 14:06
  because it opened up the door, like, oh, I get my CDA. So now
• 14:09
  I obtained my CDA. And now I'm in the pathway specialist where
• 14:13
  I can get my strength based credential. That was new to me
• 14:17
  because I hadn't been to school. I've been graduated for so
• 14:20
  long. I didn't even think about having another credential behind
• 14:24
  my name or how far it could get me. So just having that it was
• 14:28
  just like, wow, and it actually happened that credential actually
• 14:32
  got me to the point where I'm at now to where I want to work with
• 14:34
  families inside of the social work field. So it really opened
• 14:38
  up my horizons in a bigger way.
• 14:40
  So tell us how some of that was something that you applied to
• 14:44
  your own children.
• 14:46
  It was hard. It was really hard. One of the first things I always
• 14:52
  bring up is we teach the kids about emotions, having emotions.
• 14:57
  And I wasn't used to that because when I was brought up,
• 15:00
  we got told, stay in the kids' place. You don't have no
• 15:02
  feelings. You don't have nothing. It was one day I did
• 15:05
  something that my son said, you hurt my feelings. And I looked
• 15:08
  at him like, huh? He said, I don't like that. And I was like,
• 15:12
  where did you get that from?
• 15:14
  Where's that coming from?
• 15:15
  He said, school. And I went back to school and I said, y'all
• 15:18
  teaching my son to talk back to me and I don't like it. And she
• 15:21
  said, oh, we're teaching him to have feelings. That's how they
• 15:24
  cope with emotions.
• 15:25
  And expressing that.
• 15:26
  Yes. He's able to tell you how he feels whether he's happy or
• 15:29
  sad. And I was like, okay. So it actually taught me how I can
• 15:36
  teach my son and understand that he do have emotions and
• 15:39
  feelings also.
• 15:40
  But also that it's okay for you to express your emotions and
• 15:44
  feelings as well.
• 15:44
  To him as well.
• 15:45
  Yeah.
• 15:46
  Okay, Sparks. Look, I'm gonna change your name. Look, Sparks,
• 15:51
  we're gonna take a quick commercial break. We are doing
• 15:55
  the show called...
• 15:57
  Look who's talking.
• 15:59
  Who's talking. We'll be right back after the break.
• 16:17
  This past year has highlighted the strength of Community Action
• 16:20
  Council. Every day, our staff works together to help families
• 16:24
  recover from this crisis. We're educating children at home and
• 16:28
  in person, helping parents who lost their jobs, and helping
• 16:31
  households avoid eviction. Our work at Community Action Council
• 16:35
  has never been more important than it is right now. So why
• 16:38
  not join us? We have employment opportunities requiring a range
• 16:41
  of skills from entry level to advanced. Apply online at
• 16:45
  commaction.org.
• 16:49
  Community Action Council's Head Start programs are now enrolling
• 16:51
  for the 24-25 school year in 15 counties, including Lexington.
• 16:56
  Head Start offers high quality early childhood education for
• 16:59
  qualifying families with children between the ages of six
• 17:02
  weeks and five years old. Spaces are limited and filling up
• 17:05
  quickly. So to help ensure your child receives the Head Start
• 17:08
  advantage this year, start your application today by calling
• 17:11
  859-233-4600 or go online at commaction.org. That's commaction.org.
• 17:41
  You are listening to Look Who's Talking and we're sitting here
• 17:52
  today with Sparkle Steels. Sparkle! Yes, and we are talking
• 17:57
  about her journey. We all up in her business today because we
• 18:03
  want to know like Sparkle's has had a community action
• 18:07
  evolution where we've seen, you know, where she started and
• 18:13
  where she is now. And it's just amazing to know that, you know,
• 18:19
  community action and the Head Start program has impacted her
• 18:22
  life and her children's life. So we're just kind of again,
• 18:26
  getting in her business. So Sparkle, you've talked about
• 18:32
  your, I guess we want to say your come up because, you know,
• 18:36
  you started off with being a volunteer, then being in our CDA
• 18:43
  program, then getting hired, then even moving from different
• 18:48
  positions. What is your family saying during this time? That's
• 18:52
  a good question. So I would not be where I'm at today if it
• 18:56
  wasn't for my family. I have a lot of support. Actually, my
• 19:01
  mom kept my daughter for me for COVID. When COVID shut
• 19:05
  everything down, my mom really wanted me to go back to school
• 19:08
  to get a degree. And at the time I had two kids and I was like,
• 19:12
  it's hard. I work a full-time job. I have a son full-time
• 19:15
  that's in sports. I just couldn't make it possible. And
• 19:19
  she said, do me one favor. I keep her. Just go to school. Get
• 19:22
  your degree. I went, got my degree, went back and I got my
• 19:27
  daughter back. Anything I need, my family would be right there
• 19:32
  to support me because they understand where I'm trying to
• 19:35
  get to and I'm trying to get there. Yeah. So what I want to
• 19:42
  like say if there is someone who comes to you or even listening
• 19:47
  right now and may feel like they were in a predicament that
• 19:52
  you were in where, okay, I have kids. I have a full-time job. I
• 19:58
  would like to go back to school. I don't know if it's
• 20:00
  possible. What kind of encouragement would you give
• 20:03
  that person? It's definitely possible. For me, it took prayer.
• 20:08
  I have to say that I have my days. I have plenty of days.
• 20:13
  It's stressful because I have to plan out my kids, my job,
• 20:17
  schooling, and still make sure that my mental is on point. I
• 20:22
  pray and I know that I see the end go. I know that I'm trying
• 20:25
  to get somewhere and I also know we have ups and downs and
• 20:29
  have your support team ready. Be truthful with yourself.
• 20:33
  Understand everything is not going to go how you want it to
• 20:36
  go and just like your affirmation you said earlier,
• 20:40
  some things might be negative but look at the bright side of
• 20:43
  it. Take that bad and turn it into a good. It wasn't easy but
• 20:47
  I knew I wanted to get it done and I knew who I was doing it
• 20:50
  for and it was not just for me. It was for my kids and for my
• 20:53
  family. I can show them don't never give up is what I can say.
• 20:57
  Keep pushing. You learn your biggest lessons through your
• 21:00
  trials not your wins. When you are going through something,
• 21:06
  that's when character is built. That's when resilience is built.
• 21:10
  That's when you understand who you really are. It had to be broken.
• 21:15
  I think during this trial, it opened me up to
• 21:20
  making me want more. Something that I did not want.
• 21:23
  I was hungry for it. I'm in my hunger stage.
• 21:27
  Once you see that you can complete what you're going after
• 21:31
  and you give yourself that confidence because that's the big thing.
• 21:34
  Self-confidence is where you have to have it. Nobody's going to pour inside of you
• 21:38
  but yourself and I had to figure that out.
• 21:41
  Once I figured out this is all you. Pick yourself up and come on.
• 21:46
  You got to do this. I'm just excited to get there because I'm
• 21:49
  really really hungry for it. All my actions is going
• 21:52
  leading to that. I might bite a little bit because I really want it.
• 21:55
  I'm here. I can see it. I can taste it. It's a reward.
• 21:59
  Oh wow.
• 22:05
  Were there any folks who influenced you on your journey?
• 22:10
  What are some of the positive things they said to you?
• 22:13
  One person I have to point this person out because
• 22:17
  during my journey through school not only just working
• 22:20
  would be Keisha Richardson. I came into this position not knowing
• 22:26
  nothing. Not just trying to get myself together
• 22:31
  and she said no you're gonna get here let me tell you something. I'm gonna support you.
• 22:33
  You're gonna be here. You're gonna get here.
• 22:34
  And I did it and it shocked me. Just a phone call. Hey I'm here.
• 22:39
  Even my family, my friends, just people just saying
• 22:42
  I'm here if you need me. Being stressful. People understanding
• 22:47
  I get that you work. I get that you're going through your day to day.
• 22:51
  They understand where my mind frame is at during this time.
• 22:54
  My family and friends and my co-workers are the people who I talk to every day
• 23:00
  that remind me of where I'm going and why I'm doing it.
• 23:03
  Especially my kids. So everybody pulled in but my main
• 23:06
  support to get where I'm at she pushed me. I never had a supervisor
• 23:11
  push me to the point to where I had to realize my own greatness
• 23:16
  with inside of me. So she poured inside of me even when I didn't feel like it.
• 23:21
  Even when I didn't see it she reminded me and sometimes you need that little bit
• 23:26
  of reminder because you forget who you are and it's like oh
• 23:31
  well thank you. I needed that and so it pushed me.
• 23:34
  It pushed me and my kids. And you know you wouldn't be able to be
• 23:39
  pushed like that if you weren't transparent with those people
• 23:42
  about where you were. You know on the bad days I'm sure you
• 23:47
  you communicated look today's not the day.
• 23:50
  You know it's hard. It's hard because people want you to be in this good light
• 23:55
  and you are. I'm doing such a great thing in my life. My journey
• 23:59
  and it comes with the bad come with it. So it's like I have to
• 24:02
  critique it because I have grown. So I have to show my skills and take what
• 24:06
  I learned and apply that of where I'm at today. So your journey
• 24:10
  didn't end there though. Let's get back to it. What else has
• 24:14
  happened with you? After I received my credential for strength
• 24:19
  base I became the family advocate. I love to recruit. I love
• 24:24
  talking to people. Honey she loves talking to people.
• 24:29
  I'm just like put me out there. I'm ready. Bring them all in. Send me to people.
• 24:33
  Like let me go do the job because I'm a people person. I'll talk to
• 24:37
  anybody. Just give it to me and I know how to sell our program. I know exactly
• 24:41
  what we are looking for. I know the criteria. So
• 24:44
  what better person who know that? Send me on out there.
• 24:47
  And so after I did that for a while I still was hungry.
• 24:50
  It wasn't enough for me. I seen my team go through a change and I seen them
• 24:56
  down and just because I was a part of a team
• 24:59
  it affected me and I asked for more. Put it all on me and I knew at the time
• 25:05
  was already no. Because I was still trying to go
• 25:09
  through school and finish. Still get my child. Still work and still have
• 25:12
  everything lined up. But I seen somewhere and my team to
• 25:16
  where we failed and it affected everybody and that whole
• 25:20
  agency and I just it didn't sit well with me. I couldn't be a part of slack.
• 25:24
  I don't come from slackers or slacking. We are a program of excellence and I had to
• 25:28
  show that and I wanted to show my part of where I grown at. I wanted to
• 25:33
  show them look at me. Let me show you where I have grown from.
• 25:36
  Where I came from. Let me show you who I am now and you
• 25:39
  appreciate this person even more because I'm gonna give you even more
• 25:42
  because what I got.
• 25:48
  So all right we still ain't there. We still ain't there.
• 25:53
  Where else did we go? After that I then became
• 25:59
  a family community specialist and that's on a compliance team.
• 26:03
  And that's what I wanted.
• 26:09
  That's where I best fit at but the funny part is I still ain't done.
• 26:13
  I'm still hungry for more and it's funny because I was like I don't
• 26:18
  want to do this and I don't want to be no manager and I don't want this and we
• 26:21
  say all of these things before we really get into play and when
• 26:25
  you really sit back and look at it you didn't do half of the stuff that you
• 26:28
  think that you came to. You didn't display that you didn't did it and so
• 26:32
  now I'm at the top. I ain't there yet but I'm almost there
• 26:36
  and so I want more. My next my next move is to become
• 26:39
  a manager. I'm going to show my manager skills. I'm going to show my leadership
• 26:43
  skills. I want to show people where I came from
• 26:46
  because it's not easy and this is our statement. You took a
• 26:51
  person off the street because that's really where I came from
• 26:54
  and groomed me not only educational physical emotionally.
• 26:58
  I became this woman that I never ever thought that I can be and it came with
• 27:03
  the help of everybody putting it in whether it was good or bad it all played
• 27:07
  a part of my journey. So you said mama took baby girl so you
• 27:12
  could get to school. Did you accomplish that too? Yes I graduated.
• 27:16
  Shut up. Who wouldn't agree? Human Services and now I'm about to graduate in August
• 27:22
  with my bachelor's of social work. Come on. And then I
• 27:25
  enrolled back in school so I can get my master's in education.
• 27:30
  Wow. Come on now. Honey in the show. Look. Look. I know. We done.
• 27:34
  Because advocate is advocacy is something that I'm big on and it really
• 27:41
  going through the courses of that community action has offered me not only
• 27:45
  to work but to give my extra learning it helped me put me in a position of where
• 27:49
  I want to go in life and so now I know I want to advocate for children. I love it.
• 27:53
  And so that's where I'm geared towards so I'm excited because I get that
• 27:56
  opportunity to work in the field that I want to go to
• 27:59
  and then I'm going to. Wow Sparkles. What a testimony. I mean
• 28:06
  that's just really impressive that you're driven.
• 28:13
  Your your your mind your goals set and your your mind is set on your goals and
• 28:20
  I applaud you. I wish I needed I'm gonna change my
• 28:24
  things. I'm gonna put some applause in. We can have some applause but yeah I mean I applaud the
• 28:31
  the effort and you know just like you said
• 28:34
  there are good days there are bad days. Don't
• 28:38
  don't look at Sparkles journey and just think it was all roses.
• 28:42
  Yeah because you know we'll have to get another half hour to talk about that.
• 28:46
  Right right. But yeah you know applaud you know and and keep
• 28:51
  keep keep striving. Yeah you got to believe in yourself
• 28:54
  and you have other people believing in you because that's why I got to once I
• 28:57
  seen people believing in me it gave me more.
• 29:01
  Yeah once I seen that I could show them I could do this and they start putting
• 29:04
  their trust in me I wanted it even more. Because they can't believe in you more
• 29:09
  than you believe in yourself. That's true and you only give them what
• 29:12
  you show them so if I show my best this is what you're gonna do.
• 29:15
  Yeah. Wow well end the show. I told you I didn't have nothing else.
• 29:21
  I ain't got nothing else on that. She ended the show.
• 29:24
  Okay. Oh Sparkles it is a joy to have you on the show.
• 29:30
  Thank you. What is your position right now? I'm a family community specialist.
• 29:35
  All right so you need to get in and talk with Sparkles just uh I
• 29:42
  can't how can we reach you? My office is inside of
• 29:46
  Korea so you can get the office number.
• 29:51
  We're gonna give you that 859-233-4600.
• 29:58
  That's for Sparkles. Sparkles will talk to you. She gonna talk to you right?
• 30:03
  Yes call me. All right well that's the show.
• 30:08
  Thank you to Sparkles for being on the show. All right. What you got JC? Nothing.
• 30:13
  All right. Bye y'all. You've been listening to
• 30:16
  Look Who's Talkin.