Our community is comprised of entrepreneurs and artists and creatives – folks who have chosen incredibly difficult professional paths that often don’t offer any safety nets or guarantees.  Nonetheless, we regularly hear that being a parent is a far greater challenge and so we asked some of these folks to open up to us about the things they’ve done as parents that they feel will have a meaningful and positive impact on their child.

Rubin and Tara Brooks | Food Truck Owners and Operators

We not only moved to Texas from Illinois but started our own business to provide a better future for them. We stand by our children and their ideas no matter how crazy it seems. We tell our kids often follow your dreams,find what makes you happy and most of all don’t be afraid to make a mistake because you learn from your mistakes and it makes you better. We have and will always uplift ours because hearing it at home first is just confirmation when a stranger does it. Read more>>

Jessica Brown | Event Planner & Designer

I am a mother of 4 children ranging in ages from 7 to 22 and the most important thing that I have done that has made greatest impact on them is finishing college. I had children young and have been through a lot in my life, but my kids have watched me work hard and manifest my goals and dreams. I found myself unemployed during the recession in 2008 and realized that I needed my degree so I went back to school. I worked full time, went to school at night and Saturday’s and graduated with my bachelor’s degree in 2014. I immediately started my graduate program and graduated with my MBA in 2016 as a single mother of four children. It was hard, there were a lot of late nights and early mornings but I did it, and my kids watched me work hard until I completed what I started. Read more>>

Tuyen Kamo | Fort Worth Mom of 6 & Lifestyle Blogger

Validate their feelings and emotions. I was born in Vietnam, and growing up in a traditional Vietnamese household I was not allowed to express my emotions. My parents came from extreme poverty and war, so their thinking was, “if I feed you, clothe you, put a roof over your head, and take you to school that should be enough”. It wasn’t. I vividly remember having such “strong” emotions of anger or excitement and being called stupid or labeled a “bad kid” by my parents and their church friends. I told myself I would stop the cycle of abuse when I became a mother. I am more cognizant of how my kids feel or the emotions they exhibit. Read more>>