My all about me story... where to begin? Well, let's see, my name is Connie. We grew up poor as I'm sure many did. My mother worked three jobs around raising four children. In my opinion, my mother did a great job considering the weight of the world she had on her shoulders then. We were latchkey kids. For those of you not familiar with the term it's probably due to the fact that this practice is frowned upon these days. It could lead to legal trouble or child services knocking on your door. Yep, we were sent off to school with the house key strung around our necks. On the days we were foolish enough to forget your key it was EXTREMELY easy to break into our small two bedroom apartment with a simple butter knife. One of our neighbors were always happy to lend. No need to worry about any of them using the butter knife themselves to get in... there was nothing to steal.

We had a tiny little black and white TV (and we were lucky to have that) we all gathered around. You know the scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy gets to Oz and the movie switches to color? I never knew that happened! I was a young adult when I saw that for the first time and it was magical.

My mother made $9000 a year which, at that time, was the cut off for any state aid. We wore hand me downs of hand me downs of hand me downs. McDonalds was a RARE treat. We didn't have enough money for that kind of luxury.

Funny, even though times were tough, we were happy, really really happy. We didn't see ourselves as poor. We were rich with love. Our family was very close and caring.

One time we had our clothes stolen at a laundry mat. My siblings and I were SHOCKED. My mother’s response was, "well apparently they needed the clothes even more than us." That was a very memorable reaction for me. She didn't get sad, or angry, or curse or cry. At least not in front of us. She just spoke with kindness, teaching us to give and forgive in the process.

I always vowed that I would get out of poverty and never ever let it darken my door again. I believe my sisters had the same train of thought. My sisters and I all took jobs when we were around 14 and we have worked incredibly hard ever since. There was no money for college as I'm sure you can imagine. My older sister and I worked hard and applied. It was a community college but we paid for all our fees, books and tuition ourselves. I'm still proud of us for that achievement.

I also made a promise that I wanted to be in a place in my life where I would, in turn, help others with their plight.

Today we are what most consider successful. One of my sisters is VP of a large company in New York and makes over $200,000 a year. My other sister lives in her gorgeous home with her gorgeous family and achieved her dream of having a beautiful swimming pool in her back yard. I think my brother is the only one who missed out on the "succeed or die trying gene".

And me, well I've come full circle. By the time I was 30 I was making $136,000 and drove a Mercedes SUV. I ran a computer software company and had the big corner office. Not bad for a girl who came from having nothing.

Over the years I've experienced my fair share of successes and failures. Even after going through a time in my life that I fondly like to refer to as a series of unfortunate events I still continue to succeed. I no longer drive the SUV and I no longer run someone elses company. I started my own successful consulting business about five years ago. Today you'll find me living on the east coast right near da' beach mon. I have a beautiful son and a great life.

Along the way I've experienced over and over again about me and the power of giving. One of the first things I did when I started to make a little money, I think it was around $24,000 at the time, I sponsored a three year old boy named Walter in Honduras. I've watched him grow over the years and it is yet another example to me that giving makes you happier.

So you will find that this is just one more way I choose to give back. Enjoy your visit here, stick around, share your story, mentor someone in need. And, above all else, be happy.