Meet Kyrstal, who is more than a participant, but a leader amongst her peers. Kyrstal has overcome addiction, homelessness, and incarceration. Today, she is a proud SOAR ambassador and developed a program to empower women in the program.
“A second chance for me means that I am finally able to take matters into my own hands and continue to perfect my skills…”
The full Story
Krystal Perea overcame homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction and incarceration. Growing up with absent parents in a broken home, “paved a path of destruction” for her. She linked up with the wrong crowd and began selling and abusing drugs. She tried to get herself together by enrolling into CCP, which ended up being a mistake at the time because she was unable to focus and continue her education due to being homeless.
She displayed the resilience of a young woman looking to get her life back on track by focusing on being and staying sober, looking for solid support networks and by assessing careers. She enrolled in Power Corps and and developed relationships with mentors that are still involved in her life today and continues to serve as a support system and motivating factor(s) in her life to keep her on track to her successes in life.
She has become a SOAR participant and an Ambassador within the program. She serves as a very intricate spokesperson for the program and the participants alike. She has created and implemented an ongoing workshop for the young women in the program entitled; Salon Talks. Her value and worthiness to the program as a whole has been monumental to say the least.
“A second chance for me means that I am finally able to take matters into my own hands and continue to perfect my skills and master the crafts I am learning along the way. My overall goal is to use this opportunity to attain m y Associates Degree and become a Case Manager or an advocate for an organization that provides support to adverse youth and young adults. To quote Carl Bard; “Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” This is what I live my life by because I feel that this is the journey I am taking currently and will continue to throughout the rest of my life.
