Here is my personal experience I want to share with you.

I was born Deaf to my hearing parents and I attended School for the Deaf all my life. (I use the capital "D" because it is the cultural identity not the "d" as the medical definition) I was a good student. My parents encouraged me a lot and had faith in my abilities to succeed. I am very grateful to my parents, grandparents and my teachers who always believed in me, in my potentials and in my success.

After graduating from High School in Kiev, Ukraine, my family decided to immigrate to the United States (that was almost 17 years ago) to have a better life opportunities for me and my younger brother. I was only 18 years old (prior immigrating to the United States we had to live in Austria for 1 month then in Italy for 4 months) with no English skills. I knew that America is the land of opportunities and I knew that it was MY CHOICE to take advantage of such opportunities! It was UP TO ME to act!

In a very short time I picked up English and American Sign Language skills (American Sign Language and Russian Sign Language are two different languages with their own set of grammatical rules) I enrolled into California State University at Northridge where over 300 Deaf student attended that University and that's where I met with my first Deaf English Professor, Dr. Barbara Boyd who inspired me and I decided to pursue my BA degree in English Literature.

Then, shortly after I got transferred to Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts where I also had the tremendous personal and professional growth. I was only 22 years old at that time and not yet American Citizen, I worked as Thomas M. Menino's, Mayor of Boston, Liaison to the Deaf Community, representing 10,000 Deaf and hard of hearing population in City of Boston. It was my greatest honor to work with him for 5 years. During that time I also ran for Miss Deaf Massachusetts and won 2-year title and also got my US Citizenship. I also had opportunities to get involved in promoting for the better quality of the American Sign Language Interpreter services in medical, legal and educational settings and taught American Sign Language at various Universities in Boston including Harvard University, Northeastern University, Boston University and other Educational institutions.

Even though I did not finish my BA degree at that time, I moved back to New York City and became a single mom and gave birth to my Sheyndel Anna. She is the most precious person in my life. She reminds me of the importance of being a woman, a mother, a professional and have a courageous and beautiful heart. I decided to go back to school and complete my BA degree in Business Administration focusing on Marketing as I was running The Deaf Performing Arts Production Business, so I needed additional business skills.

Shortly after, I decided to focus on health care issues and provide health care services to the Deaf people who needed an access to the health care services without any communication problems. (It happens because of the shortage of the American Sign Language Interpreters and not all of Deaf people are fluent in English to be able to freely read the medical related information and to be able to communicate with their health care professionals) I decided to go back to school and get my dual MBA Degree in Health care Management and Accounting/Finance.

I also wanted to help Deaf people to become financially independent as Deaf people also face with the employment opportunities (many employers are reluctant in hiring Deaf professionals due to the fear that they will not be able to accommodate them and provide additional support-budget wise) thus I also decided to focus my energy on encouraging Deaf women in exploring home-based business and become financially independent.

I want to support and inspire women, not just Deaf people and encourage them to look beyond their "disability" . I have the ABILITY not the disability so have you. You just need to focus on what the Universe offers you and it's YOUR CHOICE to move forward, to move up to the next level, to inspire others, to be a better and stronger you! Your daughters, sisters, mother, women friends will always look up to you!

You MUST have the courage to move forward despite of any obstacles. You MUST believe in yourself and believe that you can DO ANYTHING your heart desires!

BE COURAGEOUS and you WILL SUCCEED!