THRIVING Melanin Family Magazine May 2017: A Mother's Love | Page 26

Lakesha’s Love for Her Children Saved Her Life
LaKesha is not your average 40 year old single mother; for starters she’s only a couple of months away from being an
empty nester. I know how is that possible at 40? Well, she started at 14! LaKesha has traveled the journey of being a
teen mom not once but twice to be a young single mother of 3 and has come out on the other side. Her message to the
world “Hope and Healing”, those two things are the key to your overcoming, beating the odds and truly THRIVING! Take a
look into LaKesha’s life by reading her story and by watching our interview at https://youtu.be/lxkpsxU7ar8.
Ms. Pink: What is your co-parenting status?
LaKesha Marie: Each of my children has their own father.
We don’t co-parent at all. My youngest father is the only
one who might have been a co-parent, but he is in jail. I
do have an amazing co-parenting village mainly with my
brother. My brother is the one who has stepped in and
stepped up to be the father figure
my son needed. My brother’s
child’s mother would also be my
true co-parent because she has
stepped up as well. My kids and
I were separated for a while and
they both stepped up and stepped
in and were their parents for that
period and beyond.
Ms. Pink: That’s amazing that
you recognize your village
as your co-parents. We need
to truly see that it takes a
village and when one person
of the village isn’t there other
members of the village can
step up and be that figure
that’s needed. We all have issues and need help so
we all need to work together and build the village.
LaKesha Marie: We really do ALL have issues that we need
to work out and come together to help one another. I was just
thinking the other day what my message would be for this
interview and it is “Hope and Healing”. To become a mother
at 14 and make myself a promise that one day I will go back
and get my diploma. And then at 29 to be able to actually
accomplish that,
is only because
of the Hope that I
held onto. Life has
a way of taking
away our hope and
keeping us from
healing. Faith is
the substance of
things hoped for
and the evidence
of things not seen.
So it’s a faith
journey, the only
way I can be here
today, the only way
I can come out of
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THRIVE MAGAZINE
having a baby at 14 and then another at 15 and now being
a coach helping others is because of faith but holding onto
the hope and getting the healing.
Ms. Pink: What was the moment like when you were 14
and had to come home and tell them “I’m pregnant!”
LaKesha Marie: I’m from Watts,
CA. So I went to the Watts Health
Center and took a test but it took
3 days for the results. I was in the
middle of taking a math test and
knew I needed to call and find out,
so I did and they confirmed it; I
was pregnant. When I got home
from school my mom asked me if
I was pregnant. I didn’t know at
the time that the clinic had called
the house and she already knew.
I immediately said NO, and if I
was I wouldn’t tell you because
you said if I came home pregnant
you would p