Ladies Take Your M. A. N. Back

LASHANNA ALFRED AUTHOR, WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT SPEAKER

I remember it as if it was yesterday October 1999 I was 3 weeks pregnant trying to get away from an abu-

sive relationship, and on my way to participate in illegal activities. Trying to get away from a hopeless cycle of domestic abuse, I made a decision to go to a different country where I would be trafficking drugs back to based on the lifestyle that I was used to. With my mother being murdered when I was just a young girl and my father being murdered a few years after I soon found myself in an environment where drug traffick-

ing, sex trafficking, and domestic violence were the norm. And even though I didn't want to become a product of my environment I quickly found myself America. At the time it didn't seem out of the ordinary Up in a web that would be difficult to get out of. Two struggling with a mindset that would have me Tangled children later, pregnant and incarcerated in a different

country I quickly realized that something was going to have to change. I would either see myself as a victim because of all the tragedies that I had endured as a child or, I would have to make up in my mind that my past was not going to determine my future. I went through a rebirthing process. My rebirthing process started with me making up in my mind that I was not going to allow myself to be a victim. I told myself that my prison experience was not going to be in vain. I literally had to stop blaming evemade up in my mind that I was going to take responsifrom here on out, I was going to write the script. In order to make it through being separated for my children and other family members that I loved, I had to literally put them out of my mind. Putting them out of my mind was not to ignore the fact that they were an intricate part of my life, but it was to help me survive the storm that I, had placed myself in.

I remember almost having a nervous breakdown whenever I would think about my children. I had to

turn hopelessness into hope and fear into fearlessness. I went through a phase of being upset because I felt as if society expected Sweetwater to come from a bitter well. How was I supposed to make, a call of the socially accepted decisions when everyone around me made

ryone else for the decisions that I have made in life. I product of my environment. The hand that I was dealt bility for my life and that I was no longer going to allow have the power to change the script and win with the others to be the author of my book. Every chapter hand that I was dealt. socially unaccepted decisions. I was bound to be a in life was destined for failure until I realized that I

my baby June 12th of 2000 while in an entirely differAfter being released in May of 2002, I went to school and obtained my bachelor's degree in social work and went on to obtain my masters of social work. I began working with individuals who were addicted to substances and had lost their children to the children services agencies. A few years later, I started counseling what I call the “workingwounded,”these are individuals who have obtained jobs and education yet they have a hard time dealing with past trauma. I published my first book “Behind Bars, A Chance to Change” to help people understand that we can be behind bars in our mind long before we find ourselves physically Behind Bars, or in a relationship that places us behind bars. Then I began to do women's empowerment seminars from my book "Ladies Take Your M. A. N. Back." A book is designed to empower women to take back everything life stole from them, their self-confidence, their dreams, and their self-

care. After that, I published my third book entitled

“The Power of Perception,” which helps individuals understand the relationship between our thinking and our behavior. Through all my life experiences I can tell you that every accomplishment and every positive change began in my mind. In order to get out mind first. In order to get out of dead-end jobs, I had I had been in a hole for 3 months prior to delivering to get it out of my mind first. Before I could make ent country. I began to see a glimpse of Hope. My first. So when you are ready to begin the rebirthing mindset shifted and my perception about my life process remember it starts with your mind. Ladies changed. I was determined to live a life that would take Your M.A.N. back! help others from following in my negative footsteps. LaShanna Alfred, I believe in you

of abusive relationships, I had to get it out of my major accomplishments I had to see it in my mind