I have with me Altar Lee who is a previous client and also been a featured speaker at our annual Champions for Youth event. Tell us what was the moment of instability that brought you to Daybreak?
The moment of instability would probably be my mental health. When it started becoming clear because I am a person who has borderline personality disorder. I am diagnosed with it. I’ve had it since I was little. Been in therapy since I was little.
But it became a big staple in my life at the age of 16 which caused a lot of turmoil in myself and in my family and other parts of my life which led to me ending up at Daybreak at the age of 16.
When you came to Daybreak, did you come in through the shelter or did you later go into transitional housing? What services benefited you most?
I came in through the shelter in the minor wing when they were combined. Then I ended up having to come back and I ended up staying till I was 21 and then I aged out of the program.
I’m still here helping with events and stuff so it’s kind of like I’m still here.
You’re definitely very much still a part of the Daybreak family and constellation of support.
Oh, I always will be.
What were some of the other programs (besides housing and shelter) that helped you find stability while you were here?
Okay, while quite a few of them were helpful and I enjoyed all of them for the most part, I think if I may just elaborate—my favorite times here in shelter were cooking with Miss Kea.
That was like my moment, cooking with her, making dinner with her, making desserts. I got to practice, I got to learn more about myself and the people around me and how to manage myself if you will.
But if I may touch on another thing, a part that I really thought was interesting that was a good part about Daybreak—at least when I was in shelter was when they would do the drug and alcohol groups because I didn’t know anything about drugs and I barely knew anything about alcohol until I became licensed.
Learning about that stuff, it was always so interesting because I never even knew that was a thing. Oh my God, that’s dangerous! It was always this interesting thing, I love learning things, so being in those groups I would always learn something new. Plus being able to talk about them after in the groups, having a chance to discuss made it all so much better. I loved it.
That sounds really helpful, and you are still working with food today, aren’t you?
I’m still in pastry arts, so yes, I am. I’m actually about to be going back into the pastry arts baking field as soon as I get my car back running. I’m working on getting a new car right now and I’m buckling down.
That’s great to have that focus. Do you think that having the time that you spent cooking in the shelter with Miss Kea was when you started to discover your love of cooking and baking?
I’ve always wanted to be a pastry chef, ever since I was little, but it was reinforced by her. Seeing her cook and seeing how happy people were, don’t get me wrong if they weren’t getting what they wanted they’d be a little agitated but that’s fine—that’s normal. But just seeing how she was able to provide for so many people on a daily basis multiple times throughout the day, I love that.
I love that energy; I love that support. I’ve always been a supportive person and being able to spend so much time with Miss Kea, she was like a role model to me. So, it’s like I was getting the best of everything and then to be trusted enough to be able to cook food for other people. I value the trust. I value the responsibility.
It made me a better person, if you will. Because responsibility, it’s like sharpening a blade almost. It’s honing, you get there over time.
For sure. So, then we have a bit of an idea of what your life is like today but give us a picture of where you are today. Are you in permanent housing?
I am in permanent housing. I am still working on school. I have one class left but I cannot do that class because it requires me to do 280 hours in a bakery, but I can’t be at a bakery that early because buses don’t run that early which is why I’m trying to get a new car.
I need a new car ASAP, but I have taken up streaming. I have taken up streaming on Twitch and YouTube and stuff like that. I do a lot of gameplay. I do a lot of nightly streams for mental health things.
This is something that I’m working on currently is figuring out how to make this work. I want to do a podcast on Twitch so that way I can start getting my name out for that as well because I still want to have my own podcast.
I still want to stream. I still want to own my own bakery. There’s a lot of things I want to do. I’m just trying to figure out how to put it all together.
I have one or the other, but I don’t want one or the other, I want all of it.
Right, you got to find that middle ground. Owning your own bakery, is that something you’ve always wanted to do since you were little and realized you wanted to be a baker?
No, I have gone through life knowing that nothing is promised. There is a chance that something could sway this way, it could go this way. You could say you want to do this, but you’ll end up over here. You’ll say you want to move to Florida but now you’re in Alaska somehow.
That’s kind of how I go about my life when it comes to pastry arts. I want to bake. I can be an at home baker. I can own my own business. Either one’s fine for me, but the big thing about me is that my main end-game goal that is higher than baking is having kids.
I want to adopt three kids. That is my biggest thing even if I have to throw away the baking part to adopt three kids, I will do that in a heartbeat. The main reason for the bakery is that I could pass that bakery on to my children. But if I can’t, that’s fine. I am okay wherever life takes me as far as baking.
I just know no matter where I’m going or where I end up, I will be baking. Whether it’s at a shop, whether I’m at home, whether it’s just doing it for friends and family, I will be baking no matter what.
That’s awesome! Whether or not you have the business, those recipes can also be passed on.
Exactly! Like those Hallmark movies where they have Mama’s recipes in the tin. You’re like you can’t have that, she loved those recipes, they are going with me. It’s going to be a fight.
Yeah, recipes are just as important. When did you decide you want to have kids as your number one goal?
Since I was little. All my goals have pretty much been set since I was little. I just have a lot of wiggle room because I’m like, if this doesn’t go that way, I’ll do this.
I’ve always been branching out like a tree. Like then if this doesn’t work, I’ll go this way, if that way gets blocked, I’ll go this way, if that gets blocked, I’ll go the other way.
Regardless, I already have a good outline of what I want, and I have a way of making it happen. It’s just making sure it’s what I want to do as far as emotionally and mentally because that’s where things get a little tricky when instead of just using logic you have got to take consideration for the mental and emotional states of how you’re going to feel about it later on.
For example, a lot of bakers that own businesses, they’re tired and they barely get to see their kids. I don’t want that. I don’t want that at all. Then they turn into a home baker so I was like, okay, fallback plan. Then I might consider why don’t I just start as a home baker and stay a home baker.
There’s going to be other factors like kids and a husband, possibly, so depending on what they’re like my plans may change as well. They might not want to move to Scotland. They might want to just go ahead and move to New Zealand or something. I don’t know.
That’s a great skill to have, though, to be flexible in that way.
Adaptive is the way to win.
Yeah, definitely. What do you want people to know about Daybreak if you could tell them one thing?
What I want people to know about Daybreak is the fact that if you come in here, you might not have that mindset of you want to get things together right in the beginning and that is okay.
I understood that when I first showed up, I knew I needed to get things together and I knew it wholeheartedly straight from beginning. I’ve met a lot of people here with different types of backgrounds, different mindsets and everything.
If you want to reach the goals that you say you want to reach, you’re going to have to come in here and break that mindset that you currently have. You’re going to have to break that mindset and you’re just going to have to be like, “You know what, I want this for myself and they’re willing to help me reach it. I just have to let them.”
That’s the biggest part—letting somebody help you.
I feel like that’s very hard for people to do, let people help them. You got to be willing to accept that help from Daybreak because they will help you and they will stand behind you and they will rock with you and they will be in your corner until there is no corner.
I just want them to know that. Come in here with that mindset of I’m going to do this for myself, knowing that you have someone at your back—you have multiple people at your back ready to help you for whatever you need.
9 times out of 10 there is not a single problem that they cannot help you with.
That’s awesome! We’ve definitely seen the lasting impact on you and the stories you shared over the years with us.
Indeed. At Daybreak you just have to recognize that there’s help. Recognize that they’re here help you.
You have to be open to the idea that there is help here. You can have it. It is okay for you to get help.
Yes, being able to accept help is something that I think a lot of us struggle with. Thank you so much for your time.
Make sure you’re all caught up on our 50 Faces 50 Voices series and stay tuned for another interview next week.