By Virginia Black, First Church Congregant and Editor at Journal & Courier
Symone McDonald has wanted to be a businesswoman since she was in fourth or fifth grade.
Now, at 32, the Chicago native is closer to realizing that childhood dream.
She was struggling as a single mother of two girls, working two jobs and still not able to afford necessities like rent while in Chicago, she says now. In 2020, a friend in Lafayette told her she’d find more opportunities here.
She has still struggled, but she and her girls are also thriving.
Symone has just started studying cosmetology on scholarship at Silky Sources School three days a week, and she’s taking accelerated business classes at MatchBOX Coworking Studio.
Ultimately, she wants to open a mobile hair, nails and skin care business.
“There are very limited resources, especially being in the African-American community, when it comes to hair, skin and nails,” she said. She hopes she can be not only more accessible, but also more affordable.
She, 6-year-old Shiloh and 13-year-old Sariah found First United Methodist Church this summer through Freedom School.
Shiloh and Sariah heard about Freedom School at Paramount, the charter school they attend
within walking distance of their apartment.
“They loved it,” Symone says of the girls and Freedom School. Their reading and math skills improved over those weeks.
“I saw a change with my oldest, especially. She’s not much of a singer or dancer,” Symone says. “But at the end when they were doing a performance, she was actually performing and enjoying herself.”
Her small family feels comfortable here.
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