I graduated from Jonesboro High School in 1996 – after being pregnant most of my senior year.

It wasn’t easy to be expecting a child as I worked hard to earn my education. Some folks doubted my ability to be a mother and a high school graduate.

Weeks after my high school graduation ceremony, I was blessed with my beautiful daughter, Lydia, now almost 30 years old.

My teen pregnancy gave me confidence to assert myself for the sake of someone other than myself. To this day, I attribute my successes in life to the lessons I learned from my parents, my teen pregnancy and the encouragement from my support system. I’m a better mother and a better educator because of the hardships I’ve experienced.

Our state has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the entire nation. Too few of those expecting mothers have that same fortune of a caring support system. We can do better because those mothers and those soon-to-be-born children deserve a bright future right here in Arkansas. Arkansas’s maternal mortality rate should not be the worst in the country.

We should strengthen our healthcare system, rather than weakening our safety nets that keep so many Arkansans afloat. Thousands of families here in Arkansas were wrongly removed from Medicaid. Many of those were kids, and some of those were my students. This fight is personal to me. We have to do better in providing affordable, accessible healthcare to all Arkansans.

If you elect me as your State Representative, I promise to make sure my votes will always support a strong family and a good healthcare system.