My name is Kylene Robsinson, but I’d rather be called KK. I was born August 29, 1991. I lived in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn until I was five.
Around that time my parents couldn’t see eye to eye so my mother, two brothers, my sister, and I moved to a women’s shelter in Jersey City, New Jersey. We stayed for a year, but then moved to another shelter.
I didn’t know what was going on, I was only a kid.
Growing up was hard for me. At twelve years old I told my mother I wanted to move out. I was working during the summers to save for school, but at thirteen my mother didn’t want me working anymore. She wanted to keep me close.
At times I felt like my mother was holding me back. I had to repeat the 3rd and 7th grade. At fourteen, just as I was transitioning into the 9th grade, I became pregnant with my daughter. My mother was disappointed; she thought I was trying to use my pregnancy as a way to get out of the house.
She wanted me to have an abortion, but I had made the decision to keep my baby. I was supposed to go back to school after my daughter was born, but because of tension at home my mother did not re-enroll me.
I felt like I had no future, no true direction, and no real support.
All my life I locked away my feelings. Crying to me was a sign of weakness. People would say that I had an attitude, and perhaps I did, but I didn’t care and gave zero craps about who didn’t like it.
The older I became the more people tried to dictate what I should do with my life, but I stayed independent. I know that being on my own has been a challenge. If I had stayed on track as a child I would not have had to struggle as much today.
I fell off my square, but I’m back on it now.
I love my daughter. She is 8 years old now and she’s not a little baby anymore; she goes to school herself. I go to school now too. I came to Youth Action YouthBuild as a referral from JobPlus.
It was the best move in my life.
I want my daughter to see that things are going to get better and everything I ever promised she will have. I will never put her through what I went through, not ever in our lifetime. I’m going to give her the life that was robbed from me.
She is going to be someone, but first I need to show her what success looks like. I’m sick of being screwed over, pushed to the side, and looked down upon. It’s annoying and I could care less about the people who try to undermine and belittle me.
I want to learn new skills and strengthen the ones I already have. I want to prove to the people who have counted me out that I was worth it all along.
And I’m going to finish what I started.