By Favian Gonzales
My mom Jasmine Harvey was born on a cool spring morning of April 15th, 1987 in San Jose. She was born into a pretty abusive house, mainly my mom’s dad putting his hands on my grandma. So with them fighting throughout most of her life she felt she had to grow up very fast and really just be there for her mom and pretty much be her therapist throughout her life.
Then she moved to San Francisco when she was about 8 years old with her mom. When she came down here she was focused on getting to some money even at such a young age. She would walk dogs, baby sit, wash cars. When she got older she started Myeep, a program that helped her get a job in a senior center when she was about 15.
Around 18 is when she had me and it was a struggle at first for her to raise me from being homeless for a bit when I was a baby to family just not getting along. As she got older she liked taking care and helping people so she became an EMT and a phlebotomist and a medical assistant. When I was about 7 years old I got sucked into CPS for about 2 years and my mom never gave up on getting me back into her house and I'm very happy about that.
Some quotes she has said to me and I like are,
“What you give is what you get”
“Health is wealth”
“Don't start nothing won't be nothing”
“Always love yourself” and
“Believe it and you’ll achieve it.”