Lala's Story
Lala recently graduated from our Spring cohort. She found Wildflyer through her case manager, who connected her with our Program Manager, MacKenzie. She remembers that once she got hired, she first learned that Iced Caramel Macchiatos here differ from what they are at Starbucks. She says now it's okay, and it actually tastes good, and that overall, she's learned what good coffee tastes like versus bad coffee. A lot of this knowledge came from our "Seed to Cup" workshops taught by our partners at Dogwood Coffee.
Perhaps more critical skills learned were managing the register and interacting with customers, learning to "treat everyone with the same respect that [she] would want to be treated with," and mastering the art of managing facial expressions and keeping cool when customer interactions weren't going well. She also shares that the life skills taught really helped her. She learned how our Budgeting 101 workshop helped her budget her finances better. She laughed as she shared that they "helped a lot because [she] was terrible." The Mental Health at Work Workshops also helped, giving her strategies on managing stress, anxiety, and depression and having plans and backup plans on what to do when she's struggling. She reports she still uses the tools learned to be successful in her new job today.
And Lala is successful. She graduated from our program and found a job she loves as a daycare teacher assistant. She credits the customer service skills she gained from Wildflyer from training and working with customers as helping her have the skills needed to work with the parents of her students, whom she refers to as her new "customers." She also bought a car and is stably housed for the first time in a long time. Lastly, Lala grew the confidence and self-respect needed to take the initiative and discontinue a relationship with a service provider not serving her well. Lala is truly thriving in independence. In fact, Lala will join us in Seattle this November to speak at a Runaway and Homeless Youth Conference on her experience at Wildflyer. She has found herself and her voice.
Looking back, Lala reflects on how dark and rough her life was before Wildflyer. She remembers feeling alone and not really knowing what to do. She couldn't keep a job, had no stable housing, and was in and out of shelters and sleeping on friends' couches. She didn't feel safe or secure. She refers to Wildflyer as the light at the end of the tunnel for her.
“It made me feel safe, it made me feel okay to ask for help and if comfortable with resources and actually working and learning the skills of how to keep a job and the skills that I learned in Wildflyer I can take not only just in coffee shops, but other jobs too, which is daycare or PCA. So, that’s really cool. And I got a house, so I love it, me and my dog.”
Life for her now is more doable. She knows how to manage her stress and likes knowing she can return to Wildflyer, a place she refers to as a family and her second home, and remain connected. She loves having a roof over her head and not worrying about where she will sleep or eat. She also loves her new job. Knowing her bubbly personality, we are confident the new job is a great fit, and she is just as loved there as she is at Wildflyer.
Lala left us with the following thoughts on what experiencing homelessness is really like.
“Something I would like people to know about youth homelessness is that it's hard and it wears and tears just like a job would. And if you have anything from spare change in your car to old clothes you're going to just simply throw away, just give it to them because anything can help during that time”.