Inspirational Corner Featuring Allison Hamilton

 

Our latest guest on inspirational corner is Allison Hamilton.  Allison is an amazing woman who raised a lovely daughter as a single mom.  Allison was nominated by one of our readers because she inspires her to be the best mother she can be and to do whatever it takes to make sure your children have the best environment available to them.  Her daughter Melissa has now flown the nest and has a budding career in Engineering.  Follow the interview below, you’ll love Allison’s story.  

 

1.  Allison, you have been nominated as an inspirational mother. You’ve done an amazing job raising your daughter as a single mom.  Tell us how you did this. 

First, thank you.

For me the key was ensuring that my daughter had a solid foundation. What I mean is that it was very important that she was raised with an understanding of where she is from and where she can go. In order to cement this philosophy within her it started with school. I found what I thought was a perfect fit for her. It had to be a high performance school that centered on our religion. What was not taught in a school setting was taught and provided at home. Such as, the importance of love, family, culture, rules, respect and morals. In my case it was important to me that she went to be best schools starting from the beginning. The Catholic school she attending through 8th grade was one of the top 10 Catholic Schools in New Jersey. From there we moved to West Windsor NJ, which is an overpriced town but the High School ranked in the top 10 in New Jersey. My commute to work increased from 25 mins to an hour and my expenses doubled. Other folks thought I was nuts but I remember a professor telling me that the best investment you will ever make in this life is the investment in your child.  I was investing in the future for my child.

 

2.  How have you juggled motherhood, and a career?  Tell our readers about yourself and how you do it. 

I can sit here and tell you that I planned it all out and that it was not challenging but that would not be a true statement. When there are many moving parts you can only plan for so much. You get up every day knowing that there are certain things that you HAVE to get done regardless of how you feel, the weather, etc.  My day would start with making my daughter a healthy and hearty breakfast (I grew up being served a hot breakfast every morning); ensuring her lunch and snack were packed and finally getting her to school on time. Now you can stop and think about you want or need but I feel that with each role you have to be in the “here and now”.  When I’m wearing my mother’s hat, it is all about what I have to do for her; when I’m wearing my career hat, it is all about work. When I left my office for the day I left my work there. At the end of the day you just make it work; you just do it because you can.

3.  As all mothers know, it’s not always easy being a mom.   How did you keep your sanity and schedule/goals? 

Don’t overthink things you have no control over; let it go. If you feel like you are getting to that point just step back and reassess and then make a move. Make sure you find some alone time. It could be an hour before your children are up or the hour or two after you put them to bed. Spend that time on you. I love taking a long bath with scented candles, going to the gym, watching a movie or reading a book. Whatever it is that will recharge you, make sure you do it. You are no good to anyone if you are not 100%. If you have a support team lean on them. Don’t think you are superwoman because you are not.

4.  What advice do you have for our readers on motherhood and raising a well rounded child?  

Be a kid with your kid sometimes. Go to the park and get on the slides with them. Laugh and play with them. Listen to them. Praise them. Let them know it is okay if they fail because it IS okay. Be their biggest cheerleader and regardless of how small the goal is, show them that you are there 100%. Invest in them and show them you have faith in them.

5.  Tell us about your daughter and what she’s up to now as an adult.

Since my daughter, Melissa did so well in high school the top colleges were interested. In fact she was accepted into all the colleges she applied to such as Cornell, Carnegie Mellon (CMU), University of Southern California, just to name a few. She decided on CMU based on their computer program.  During her four years there, she was able to work as an intern at some of the top IT companies, including Google, QUALCOMM and Apple. In her last year she was offered a job as a System Engineer at Disney. Currently, she is considering either attending MIT or Stanford for her Masters within the next year.

6. What is your favorite quote or piece of advice and why? 

My favorite advice came from Steve Jobs commencement in 2005.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma –which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.  Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuitions. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary”.

7.  Where does your inspiration come from and when you need a big dose of it, what do you do?

My inspiration comes from my mom and when I need a big dose I pick the phone up and call her. I’m a strong believer that we, as parents, need to make sacrifices in order to give our children a fighting chance to become successful adults.  My daughter was and continues to be an inspiration to me. I was investing in the future of my child.  From a very young age, I would always tell her that I would give her the tools she needed to succeed but it is up to her to use them. I guess she listened and decided to use them J I couldn’t be more proud.

Who would have thought that this little girl from Trinidad (me) who lived in a house that had no running water, no electricity and no indoor plumbing would one day own her own home, have her Master’s degree, and be working as a Quality Manager within IT at a major insurance company?!? And with some sacrifice, my daughter now has a career in a STEM field, and she’s shown me that she not only listened to my advice from all these years, but also that Women can do anything and be in any field.