Letters to our Daughters: In 12th grade I started dating a known drug dealer

Dear Beautiful Queens, I am writing this letter to you in hopes to empower, encourage, motivate and inspire you through a piece of my story. As a young girl I lived a pretty good life. I was very spoiled by my mom, not wanting for anything. I knew my dad but he was not active in my life. Growing up spoiled may sound like a great thing but in all actuality it crippled me and pushed me into a lifestyle that would later be very detrimental for me. See me being spoiled by my mom meant I had the latest everything and anything I asked for she got it for me and as I got older and started to enter into adulthood I looked for guys who would be able to maintain the lifestyle that I was accustomed too. In my 12th grade year of school I started dating a known drug dealer that I thought could provide what I needed materially and he could but what came along with that was Physical, mental and verbal abuse. I was introduced to the world of drugs learning how to do things that I have never ever seen before in my life. I was introduced to weapons that I have never been around. What I thought I wanted turned into one of my worst nightmares that lasted for almost 8 long years. As pretty as I thought I was my self esteem was very low. Although I was loved by my mom I was lacking self love and self worth and I was missing a void from my father. I actually thought being abused and told I love you by my abuser after the abuse was love. Years after the abuse I still was struggling with knowing my self worth. I was still choosing the same kind of guys instead of taking time for myself and allowing God to choose the perfect guy for me. I say all this to say ladies you are beautifully wonderfully and marvelously made in the image of God. You are perfect just the way you are. You are worthy of nothing but the best. Hold your heads up high and know that you deserve all things good. For years I continued to search for love in all the wrong places and learned how to 100% master the skill of covering up my pain with make-up and the latest clothes. I wore this mask for many many years. Once I begin to do a self evaluation and realize who I was, my self esteem began to rise and I am very proud to say that today I am unstoppable. I know that I am beautiful queen that deserves the best. I know my self worth and I know who I am in God. Because of what God allowed me to go through and overcome I am now the proud owner of The HOPE (Helping Other People Escape) Foundation, Inc which is an organization that helps victims and survivors of Domestic Violence. I am also the CEO of Sista's Unite Empowerment, Inc which is a organization that is going all over this world Empowering, Motivating, Encouraging and Equipping women to survive any obstacles they may be facing. So queens, I challenge you on this day to know your worth and know that you are beautiful and deserve all things good. Stay encouraged and know there is nothing out here that you can't achieve if you set you mind to it. Keep reaching for the stars and I will see you at the TOP!!! Love Always,

Sharnetta

Learn more about Sharnetta

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ABOUT Letters to our Daughters

Letters to Our Daughters is a B2F Girls! campaign that aspires to empower girls with the courage to overcome obstacles and follow their dreams as they learn from women who have overcome many challenges and have positioned themselves to live a fierce life. We hope that the stories will be healing and empowering for both the writer and the reader.

ABOUT B2F Girls!

B2F Girls! is on a mission to equip girls nationally with healthy self-esteem so that they can be the best version of themselves. When this happens, everyone benefits. B2F Girls! offers a robust certification program and training intensive, complete with resources, implementation guides and support for women who have a calling to mentor girls. We also produce national female empowerment events.

OUR HISTORY

B2F Girls! initially started as an organization called Tween Style Power that offered free local workshops for girls ages 10-17 that addressed the areas of self-worth, body image and leadership. After our first successful year of implementation, we began to notice we were receiving an influx of women from various parts of the country asking how they could implement a similar program for the girls in their communities. It was then that we recognized a gap that required a systematic and accessible way of providing the training we were already offering. This made way for the launch of B2F Girls!