What happened with my life was that I kind of just woke up one day when I was 23 years old, almost 24, and I was like, “If I don't get my life together by the time I'm 25, I will be on social assistance forever.” I gave myself a mandate and said that if I didn't get myself put together.... What I said was, “I don't want to be on Ontario Works for the rest of my life and I don't want to live off $600 month.” I started taking YOU and its programs more seriously. I started putting myself in and putting in the effort.
I started off by not even doing social enterprise, because I was worried that I wasn't going to like it, that I was going to hate working. I decided to volunteer first. Once I volunteered and realized that I loved the café, I took the skills training. Right now, I still don't know exactly where I'm going. Yes, I'm managing a kitchen, but five years from now I don't want to still be in a kitchen. I would like to be in social work or maybe public speaking. I would love to give back to my community. My community helped me so much that it's my turn to give back and help them.