At the time, my father was unemployed and my mother was the teen-mom stereotype. They were already burdened with a daughter before me...

My mom had five children to two different men, and I was the second. We were all girls and close in age...

I grew up on a large council estate with high-rise flats as far as the eye could see. It was full of crime, poverty, and drug addicts...

It’s not wrong to believe that life is unfair and difficult. But the thing is, that’s how it is for everyone...

Together, they built a family. I had an unusual childhood as my siblings and I were the only mixed-race children in the town...

Being the fourth of fourteen children, there was little love or food to go around in our household, and from an early age, I wanted out...

Through all these years, I’ve gathered wisdom from a deep well of experiences and had opportunities to chase my dreams again and again...

My parents were both renowned doctors of the city, and despite their demanding profession, they always seemed to make time...

My parents were both originally from the northern region of Vietnam but fled south to escape communist rule...

If you didn’t know, The Troubles refer to a nasty civil dispute that spanned over 30 years between the British and Irish...

My family was considered small because it was common in our country for families to have more than four children...

...I always said the same thing—I wanted to go to the zoo. Once there, I would head straight for the tiger enclosure...

I knew my peers, for we had been playing football in the streets since we could walk. Just as any normal kid would, I settled...

I mean things started out pretty normal I guess, but at the age of three, my mom committed suicide due to drugs and alcohol...

My parents had a marriage of love. I say this because my dad hails from India where he first had an arranged marriage to a girl he barely...

They say that life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you. In my life—in chasing my dreams, in fighting to provide...

Growing up, I always felt that I was a bit different. I was fascinated by other girls—their outfits, their beauty, their spirit...

Coming from a conservative town, no one cared to learn why I didn’t have a dad. They just judged my siblings and me for it...

As a kid, I was very quiet and shy, living in my dream world and imagining how it would be to live with the whales under the water...

Like every Indian parent, my father valued a well-rounded education and saw it as the key to a better life. He only expected the best...