A strong female role model.
Today, so many people take things for granted. For example, being able to attend school or having heat in their house (especially during these tragic storms across the country affecting so many people). My mom is a very hard working woman, but people only see that she’s the president of PlumpJack, that lives in the Bay Area with a big backyard and modern day appliances. Most people don’t know or even ask her how she got to where she is today. Well here is a little of her story: my mom’s mom, my grandma Tessa, married young and had two children, my uncle Gavin and my mom, Hilary. Grandma Tessa and my grandpa divorced early on and my grandma worked four jobs so her kids could have a nice home and good education. Her jobs consisted of working at a department store called IMagnin, as a secretary for a friend who needed extra office help, as a waitress in San Rafael, and finally on Sunday, she studied to become a real estate agent, all while taking care of her family.
My mom and uncle grew up knowing not to ask for silly things like the newest toy or video game. Right when they turned fifteen, they got jobs. My mom worked at the Lark Movie Theatre so she could pay for things herself and help out, and her brother worked doing construction most summers. My grandma Tessa taught my mom and uncle to work hard and to not take things for granted. After attending Georgetown University my mom moved to Milan, Italy and eventually New York and worked in the fashion industry where ten hour days, often 6 days a week, were the norm. Later she moved close to home and started to work for my uncle at PlumpJack. When she started working at PlumpJack there were four businesses and she was the marketing director. Now, twenty six years later my mom is the co-president/partner of PlumpJack (she has been for 13 years) and has helped the company grow to fourteen businesses and four hundred employees.
Everything that my mom does today is to help provide for our family, whether it is when she travels to Tahoe, Napa, or New York for meetings or even has to work late. My mom has taught me to be persistent, hard working and to not take anything for granted. My mom also spends countless hours helping the community. She is passionate about the Holy Family Day Home, and their work helping break the cycle of poverty, and the PlumpJack Foundation, and my parents’ annual fundraiser to support cancer research and education. Not only that, but she has proven to me that it is possible for there to be a more equal society for everyone. Because of my mom’s hard work and the example she has set, my sister and I see equity and possibility. We have been given opportunities to do and experience many things, even more than she was offered as a child. For example, we have the Iphones and when we were younger, the latest toys (we donate these toys to kids in need). We will be forever grateful for the opportunities she has given us so far. My mom has taught me to be the outgoing, caring and grateful person I am today. I hope that one day I will be a strong, kind, courageous and independent woman like my mom. I believe that I am on my way!