For this project I took a co-worker out to lunch in which she allowed me to ask a few questions regarding our

class discussion. Mary (Pseudonym) currently works as an attorney at one of the law firms I service for technical support. Ive known Mary for three years now and when I told her about my project she was more than willing to offer her support. Mary was born in Flint, Michigan and was raised with two brothers by her mother. Like many families in Flint, they came from a very poor background and her mother worked two jobs until Mary turned 15. I was informed that this was a turning point for her mother and herself because Mary was asked to help care for her younger brothers. Her mother kept her two jobs, and started taking night classes for nursing. I was inspired by her strength, she was able to hold down two jobs, go to school full time, and still managed to cook dinner for us every night. For many years Mary had to wake up her brothers, make them breakfast, and get them on the bus to school. Seeing how hard she worked for us, my brothers and I wouldnt take anything other than an A for any project at school. Im not sure when it started, but we all felt if she could do what she does and not complain, then doing a little homework every day and studying was nothing. At 17, Mary went up to her mother and told her she wanted to get a job to help with the bills. No, Im not going to let you slip by overburdening your life when you need to focus on school. If you keep working as hard as you do down, you will make more money in scholarships and grants to pay for your college than you ever will working at Mc. Donalds. Mary started her higher education at Michigan in Ann Arbor, and with the scholarships and Pell grant was able to finish her degree in law without having to take on heavy loans. She was been with her current implorer for over 7 years now. She felt she was lucky where she started her higher education, Sure there are racist people there, some give you dirty looks, and others would just avoid me. But I was able to find a healthy group of friends, of all races there. I never felt trapped or turned down because of my skin color. Matter of fact, I felt more discriminated against my sex than my race. I was going into a field dominated by males, in class and group projects you can watch some guys try to take over parts of the project because they didnt trust a female. She felt strong and confident, which she says came from her mother, and loved showing others she could not only do these things, but do them better than they ever could. When I asked her if she has had a problem with the glass ceiling, invisible barrier blocking the promotion of a qualified worker because of gender or minority membership,(lksdjfsldfj, 2012) She told me that she fully supports the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which she feels is important and will be important until there are equal amounts of women I political power as men. Right now we have so many men trying to make choices for us in congress, and Im sorry but if its about the female body, it should be women who make those choices, not men. The key issues Mary had that were similar to our discussing in class was a doubt thread. She wasnt just an African American, but also a woman. She had two social barriers she had to break to get where she was today. She even started off in a position of poverty at the start of her life, and now is finically stable and is helping care for her mother, while putting her youngest brother through college (Note the middle brother was able to get a full ride on a football scholarship to MSU.) Mary and I both grew up in poor families, but that was the only similar experiences we had. Mary is a great friend, and was very open during the interview, plus she got a free meal out of it and told me she didnt mind the interview, but welcomed a chance to tell her story. She felt there are so many horror stories about Flint families; its

nice to hear a good one for a change. The most significant thing that I learned about this interview is the impact a mother for father has on their child. She stated over and over that it was her mothers strength to keep a roof over their heads, food on the table, while still trying to better her life that moved her to strive for a better world.

Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Racial and ethnic groups. (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.