“Live Your Dream” Winner's Story 2022
My name is Ty. I am a recent winner of Soroptimist Int'l of Music City's "Live Your Dream” Award. This monetary award will help me realize my dream career. Here is my story...
As a female, we are told that we are to confine ourselves to certain roles in life. We are told to sit back, keep quiet, get married, and have children. Most often we are not taught what we think, believe, or aspire to achieve matters. After losing my mother at an early age and growing up in an abusive household, I ended up in an abusive relationship as an adult...but that taught me something. I always knew I was different. I wanted to change the world and how I viewed the darkness that surrounded it. Women are more than just what we are “told” we need to be. We have minds that create the unimaginable, bodies that bring forth life, and hearts that spread love to every corner of the room.
I always knew that I wanted to help people whether physically, mentally, or even spiritually. I was a parent at the age of 17, mother of two by the time I was 20, and married at 21. Throughout my marriage I was physically and verbally abused, which I thought was normal because that's how I grew up. One day I knew enough was enough. I packed up me and my kids and never looked back. Years later, I became pregnant with a third child from a man whose father was an opioid drug abuser and manipulator. Between my personal life and a job that was asking too much of me, I broke. I couldn't take the emotional roller coaster and attempted suicide.
I thank GOD everyday that it was a failed attempt. When I finally gave in to my spirituality, I realized I could not move forward in my life without GOD's grace to lead my way. My dream is to be a commercial airline pilot. In this male-dominated field, less than 1% of pilots are female and even less are minority women. I want girls and women all over the world to know that they can do anything they put their minds to, no matter what their background or struggles they've endured. It is those struggles that help fuel our aspirations and ambitions to push forward each day.
-Tyanne
SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL
OF MUSIC CITY NASHVILLE