“The most influential person in my life is my mom. She is only twenty years older than me, so we are able to relate easier to each other. In that sense, her and I are more like best friends than mother and daughter. We are able to tell each other our secrets and trust that they will never be shared, even when we are angry at each other. Because I am the oldest, she is also able to trust me more with stories from her past and what it was like to be my age. She is really understanding of when I want to go out with my friends because she feels like she had to sacrifice her teenage years to take care of her family and she sees how hard I work for ours, so she doesn’t want to deprive me of any memories I can make at this age. Overall, I just admire how she is able to balance having a job and being a mom. She has multiple jobs throughout the day, every single day. Even when she is not working, she is taking care of everyone she meets and I feel like she is dedicating time I will never be able to give back completely. I like how every day she find a new way to improve herself and I think that is the most inspiring thing about her.”