Aug. 17, 2025
Empowering Single Moms: Annette's Journey of Resilience and Growth
Send us a text In this empowering episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we welcome Annette, a remarkable single mom of two who has defied the odds to create a fulfilling life for herself and her children. With degrees in humanities and business administration, Annette shares her inspiring journey of raising her kids without public assistance or child support while managing a successful career spanning three decades. She opens up about the financial challenges she faced and the lessons s...
In this empowering episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we welcome Annette, a remarkable single mom of two who has defied the odds to create a fulfilling life for herself and her children. With degrees in humanities and business administration, Annette shares her inspiring journey of raising her kids without public assistance or child support while managing a successful career spanning three decades. She opens up about the financial challenges she faced and the lessons she learned about budgeting and financial management that could benefit other single moms. Annette emphasizes the importance of a strong support system, particularly the role her mother played in her life. Listeners will gain valuable insights into work-life balance, the significance of tuition reimbursement in her education, and her dedication to mentoring other moms through her own podcast, Mom 2 Mentor. Tune in for a heartfelt conversation filled with practical advice and encouragement for all single mothers striving to achieve their dreams and nurture their families.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. If you believe you can achieve.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Today, I am joined by Annette. She is a single mom of two.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>She has degrees in humanities as well as business administration.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>She is a single mom, and she's been able to raise her kids without any public assistance or child support, as well as travel around the world and the country and the company that she works at. She's been there for three decades, and her goal is to inspire and motivate single moms. So, single moms, listen up. Annette's going to be giving some advice on how, she does it as a single mom that might can help you. So, Annette, thank you so much for joining me.
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> Annette>Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. I'm really humbled by the invitation and thank, you so much. I appreciate it.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?
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> Annette>Okay. yeah, you pretty much kind of summed it up, but I am a single mom. I am a older single mom. So that's why I'm here to pay it forward, to other moms out there that's trying to get it done. Because I've learned some things along the way as a mom that I wish I knew back then. And I have to say, you know, podcasts are a great, channel for moms and others to learn different things that wasn't available to me back when I was raising my kids.
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> Annette>So I hope that your audience or who is out there, that this is, you know, you have, these resources are available to you. You don't have to struggle in some areas anymore because with today's technology, you can go out and find the answers. Unlike 30 years ago, it wasn't available to me. So, that's why I'm here today, is to share my story. And hopefully, someone is inspired and encouraged by my journey and that they can extract, some of the things that I share with them and that they can utilize and in their own lives. And keeping in mind, it's not a one size fits all, but there are still a lot of similarities of what you may be going through that I've already gone through.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So, speaking of what you've gone through, talk about some of the challenges that you faced as a single mom.
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> Annette>My biggest struggle as a single mom was finances.
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> Annette>I, I just didn't know how to properly manage finances, you know, and again, I think other moms out there are very, you know, going through similar situations.
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> Annette>I, wish I knew back then that I should have had two accounts. One account for my wants and, and another account for my needs. I did not receive public assistance. I went in and I turned around and walked out.
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> Annette>Curtis, Because I seen my mom be a strong leader in our family, and it's six of us, and with my dad and her, it would have been eight, right? So a total of eight people. But I saw how she managed our household, and she was not on public assistance.
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> Annette>So I felt going in and getting public assistance, it would dishonor her. My mom did not drive, she walked to meet, the ladies that she rode to work with. And she did that every day. And I don't remember ever seeing her call off of work. So as a result of what I saw, with her is the reason why I said, you know what?
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> Annette>I can't do this. I'm not gonna have, someone take care of me and my kids. I'm gonna get out here and go for it. I'm an able bodied person.
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> Annette>And it was a struggle. You know, I started off making$5.75 an hour living in my mom's basement in the back room with kids. And as a result of that, you know, again, if I knew what I, if I knew back then, what I know now, what a difference that would have made. Because at that time, my financial situation wasn't as if I had my own apartment. So there was opportunity for me to save. There was opportunity, opportunity for me to better manage my money than I did versus when I moved out, got my apartment, had my car, plus the two kids.
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> Annette>You know, it was tight.
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> Annette>And thank God for my mom, as she was retiring at the time, that she was able to help with watching the kids. So that's a blessing in itself, that she was able to say, you know what, watch your kids while you go to work. And so we set up a different type of payment plan, if you will, as far as her caring for my kids.
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> Annette>So that was one of the benefits, as far as managing, how my kids were taken care of back then. But certainly my mom just, she was instrumental in my life and raising my kids. And certainly I paid it forward as I got in position to do better as far as, taking care of her. So I would definitely want to share with all single moms out there, if your mom is supporting you and she's not saying, give me this, give me that to watch her grandkids Please take the time out to say thank you. Do something special for her because again, she's done her part. And for her to come back and say, okay, I'm going to help raise my grandkids too. Please, mom, don't take that for granted. Please, whatever you do, don't take that for granted because it means a lot.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, not only did you not receive any public assistance, you also got your 2 degrees without any student loans. So talk about that.
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> Annette>Okay. Yeah. So, I work for a company that offers tuition reimbursement. And so, ladies, if you are looking to get your degree and you're looking for a job, one of the questions you should be asking during the interview is if they offer tuition reimbursement because they will pay for your college education.
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> Annette>How do I know? Yes, I have two degrees as a result of, that benefit of tuition reimbursement. So that's why I don't have any student loan debt.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Talk about managing your work life balance as a single mom.
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> Annette>Well, work life balance, again, it was difficult because I had my kids in every sport available.
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> Annette>And again, I relied a lot on my mom and other relatives and their grandmom, grandma to, help fill in some of those gaps. I tried to keep a regular 9 to 5 job.
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> Annette>And so there was consistency there. And I think that's a big piece of it. As far as work life balance, there has to be some consistency as far as your work hours. And then my job, again, was very flexible in some areas, which I. And that's why I've been there so long, because of that flexibility, with the support as it relates to being a mom or when I needed to take off and the kids had a certain activity they were doing and so forth, that flexibility, was there. So that's how I built in, work life balance is just having, that support, from my job and just knowing and having an established routine of what needed to happen. You know, as far as the kids going to school every day, different activities, I had to plan for that.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, you know, you've been with your company for three decades, so you've definitely achieved corporate, status. So kind of talk about that and, you know, anything you want to say about your company and about what you've been able to achieve in the last 30 years?
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> Annette>Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I have to tell you that, the company I work for, has just been awesome.
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> Annette>They have been absolutely awesome.
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> Annette>Not only was I successful in, getting my degrees, through tuition reimbursement. But I've also been around the world for free. I've also been across this country for free.
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> Annette>And that's because of the roles that I've played within the organization, that allowed me to do so. And I'm grateful for that because I would have never been able to afford to go around the world, business class, and, you know, just have all of those, benefits as it relates to just being in different roles. as you mentioned, I've been there, yeah, three decades.
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> Annette>And, as a result of that, you know, it hasn't just been one role I was in. I was in multiple roles and being able to learn different aspects of the business. So really building my skill set and that support from them and building, my skill set because, you know, I personally am not a very good interviewer. A matter of fact, that is just not my strength. However, I'm a worker. you tell me what you need and when you need it by, and I'm gonna get in there and do it.
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> Annette>And along my journey, I was able to really perform and demonstrate good, a, ah, good work ethic. And as a result of that, I've had managers come and tap me on my shoulder and say, I have a job opening soon and I'd like for you to apply for it. And I'm like, really? Me?
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> Annette>you know, and even not only that, but I've received several awards, that has allowed me to travel, on a personal level. with these awards, I received my first trip. And my first time ever flying is because I want a trip to Puerto Rico. And it was just wonderful. And my first time flying, so it was scary. But, it was the ease of, you know, not having to worry about it because they paid for everything. But with the job, I just, you know, have such great experience and support, from a lot of people that unfortunately are no longer there, for whatever reason.
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> Annette>I've had a lot of great mentors. And that's one reason why I started or changed the name to my podcast mom to Mentor, is because some of the mentors I've encountered during my career, with the company.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well, side question. Go. Go ahead and tell the listeners about that podcast and what they can expect when they listen to it and where they can listen to it.
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> Annette>All right, thank you so much. It is the mom to Mentor podcast.
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> Annette>And the podcast is designed to encourage and motivate young moms, single moms, young moms, and just parenting in general.
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> Annette>And you can find this podcast anywhere you can, anywhere you listen to podcasts. And again, it's the mom to mentor. And basically, I, I'm, it's all about encouraging moms. you know, from my own life experiences, as I opened up, this conversation, I talked about, I wish I knew things back then that I know now. And so I'm presenting different techniques and themes. I like different, one point, one segment of, the podcast, you know, I was extracting words from the letter E and saying, okay, this is a word you can use, and this is how you can incorporate that into your parenting skills.
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> Annette>I did the letter I again.
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> Annette>Pulling words or extracting words from the letter I and saying, hey, this is, a word you would want to consider, when you're parenting your children or when you encounter situations with your kids.
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> Annette>My current theme is I'm planting a virtual character garden.
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> Annette>And what that means is I'm pulling out different word choices, and I'm talking about how to plant that see seed in your kid or your child and how to cultivate that. So a, few of the character seeds I've planted so far is respect, honesty, compassion, confidence, and apologize or apology. And why that's important, because we shouldn't hold schools or institutions accountable for our children. You know, there should be a partnership with them as far as teaching them because our children are with us lifelong, and so we have to get in the habit of teaching. And one thing that I've learned is when I was raising my kids, I was doing more correcting than educating.
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> Annette>And as a result of that, you know, m, my kids will come back and say, hey, mom, I was afraid of you, when we were growing up. And that's because I was doing more correcting versus directing and educating them about what it means to display different behaviors. So if I would have educated more, and I hope these moms are listening, if we educate more, then guess what? We're not going to have to do a lot of correcting on the back end. Because now we're taking a step forward. We're now taking that step of, you know, not correcting lying. Right.
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> Annette>But teaching what it means to be honest and honesty and why that's important because. And then how to cultivate that? Well, we cultivate it because we're demonstrating that behavior. They should see you being honest. Right. And so these are things, again, I wish I knew back then, that I know now. So again, if you out listening, I also have a YouTube channel. It's called mom to mentor. I have a Facebook page called mom to Mentor. I also have a group that I just started on Facebook, and I'm also getting ready to redo, my website. So I'm not going to call that out right now, but you can find me anywhere, on any podcast channel that's available.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>We'll talk about any upcoming projects that you're working on that you haven't mentioned that listeners need to know about.
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> Annette>Okay, so again, I'm in the process of revising my website, so that it becomes a little more interactive, so that you're just not listening to me. But there will be, some things out there that you can do to help with your parenting skills. So I encourage you to stay tuned, to these upcoming changes.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Close us out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on or any final thoughts you have for the listeners.
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> Annette>All right, well, thank you again. one other thing I just want to share, with your listeners. You know, I started this podcast three and a half years ago.
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> Annette>I've completed a total of 126 episodes, believe it or not. and as of today, I have over 15,000 downloads.
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> Annette>Ah, again, I have my YouTube channel out there that I, would encourage you to go out to listen to. I have clips out there. I have full episodes out there. But long story short, the podcast is designed to encourage young moms when it comes to parenting and realizing the hard truth that you are going to have some difficult days. Ask me how I know. Ask me how I know.
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> Annette>But this podcast is designed to motivate, encourage, and educate you on those areas and specifically on those hard days. And how do you handle those hard days?
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> Annette>Yeah, because that they're. They're coming.
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> Annette>They're coming. And also any other tips you need related to parenting. And, you know, you define success. Don't let society define success for you. You define success, what it means to be successful. One of the things that I've learned as far as my definition of success is just being content.
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> Annette>Because, you know, my podcast is not about money. It's not about recognition, but it's about encouragement and motivation.
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> Annette>And so, you know, eventually, Curtis, now that you bring this up and invited me to your podcast, I'm hoping, to start having folks come online as well and tell their story and be more specific about how they've encouraged their children, how they're teaching their children. And so that way we can continue to pay that forward. We can continue to link with one another and encourage each other and that this is not about competition, but it's about just being unified as parents and being on one accord to make sure our children, are successful and succeed in life.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely, ladies and gentlemen. So go check out Annette's podcast and when she gets a website up and running, check that out. Check out that YouTube channel. Check out the Facebook group follow rate review Share this episode to as many single moms as possible. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform and visit www.craveball337.com for more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Annette, thank you for all that you do and thank you for joining me.
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> Annette>Thank you. Thank you so much. You have a great day.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, visit www.craveballuh337.com until next time, keep Living the dream.
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