"Twenty five years ago my husband was stabbed and killed. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then two years ago my fiance died from diabetes. And then Frank came into my life. He came to help me at my house and now we are married. He keeps me happy, keeps me smiling and brings me to the beach everyday and we collect shells." - Marilyn Adams lives in Los Angeles.
Kasey Adams
"Why live my life in fear? I was physically and verbally assaulted by a man while I was in the women's restroom. I figured if it could happen there, in a small Southern town, it could happen anywhere. It was a wake up call. I decided I needed to change my life and I moved to New York City. " - Kasey Adams is a photographer and lighting assistant.
Regina Garcia
"I was 17 pregnant and single. I didn't tell my family because I was scared. They thought I was getting fat and kept putting me on diets. When I was 9 months pregnant I started having pains and I called my friend. I snuck out of the house and my friend took me to the hospital. She went back to my house to tell my mother I was pregnant and in the hospital and my mother passed out. I was going to give the baby up for adoption but my Mother said we should keep him and raise him. When he was 20 he was shot in the back by a kid who had to kill someone to get initiated into a gang." - Regina Garcia is part of the New Jersey Chapter of Mothers In Charge
Ty-Isha Harris
"I was passed over for a job because I was a woman. The hiring manager told me that he thought an African American woman couldn't be intelligent enough. He said that women aren't analytical or intellectual and that they tend to be unreasonable. That women tend to be too emotional to make difficult choices. The hiring manager was African American and he hired a man. Then a few months later he called me back because the man he hired failed miserably. He offered me the job and I turned it down." - Ty-Isha Harris is a clinical manager for a dental practice and is the New Jersey Chapter President of Mothers In Charge.
Nana Fosu-Randall
"I was in Liberia right after the war, working for the United Nations, and I saw this girl who had no hands. The girl was maybe 13 years old and she was sitting in a chair with a baby in her lap. I couldn't believe it - I had been working for the United Nations for many decades and had seen the aftermath of war in Lebanon, Kuwait, Iraq and Israel but this was different. Maybe because Liberia is very close to Ghana, where I am from, seeing that girl changed my world. I wondered how is she going to care for herself, how can she ever clean herself with no hands. When I returned to the United States I knew I had to address the turmoil in Africa and I started my organization, Voices of African Mothers in order to address poverty and hunger and to educate women." - Nana Fuso-Randall is the founder and President of Voices of African Mothers.