Still Standing After Survival: Healing, Strength, and Purpose with Tina Ricks

In this powerful and deeply courageous episode of *Unstoppable with Dr. Paulette Scott*, we sit down with Tina Ricks — Doctor of Healthcare Administration student, business professional, wife, mother, grandmother, and survivor whose life reflects the true meaning of resilience.

Becoming a mother at just 17, Tina refused to let circumstances define her future. Through determination and purpose, she went on to earn both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Business Administration and continues pursuing her doctoral studies today.

But Tina’s journey includes profound hardship as well. She survived domestic violence and a life-threatening gunshot injury — experiences that could have ended her story, but instead deepened her determination to grow, heal, and help others.

Tina also speaks openly about overcoming functional alcoholism and breaking cycles that once surrounded her environment. Today, she uses her voice to remind others that their past does not define their future.

In this episode we explore healing after trauma, rebuilding identity, breaking generational cycles, choosing purpose after survival, and what it truly means to still be standing.

This conversation reminds us that survival is not the end of the story — it is the beginning of transformation.

You are still here.
You are still growing.
You are still becoming unstoppable.

contact Tina Ricks: tinaricks1208@gmail.com

Ready to Unlock Your Purpose?

Thank you for tuning in to Unstoppable with Dr. Paulette Scott. This show is dedicated to helping faith-driven entrepreneurs and individuals navigating loss to plant seeds of resilience, cultivate purpose, and build an abundant life—from the soil up.

Don't miss the next episode:

• SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite app (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, etc.)
• 
  
• SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel for the full video episodes!

Connect with Dr. Paulette Scott

Join the Unstoppable community and continue the conversation!

• Podcast Home/Smart Link: [Insert Your Smart Link/Website Link Here]
• Instagram: [Insert Your Instagram Handle Link Here]
• LinkedIn: [Insert Your LinkedIn Profile Link Here]
• Email: [Insert Your Direct Email Address Here]

New Episodes drop every Wednesday starting October 1, 2025!

If you loved this episode, please take a moment to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your reviews help us reach more unstoppable people like you!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to week 20 with Unstoppable. You know, uh, life will try to break you. And I know this all too well because it tried to break me. After 47 years of marriage, I lost my husband, my partner, my best friend. And in that moment, everything I thought I knew about strength, breathing, and healing, it was tested. Have you ever felt like life knocked the wind out of you? Like you barely were able to take a deep breath. I know it. I was there. So welcome to Unstoppable with Dr. Paulette Scott. This podcast is here to remind you that no matter what life takes from you, you still have things so powerful brewing inside of you. Again, everybody, if you don't know who I am, I am your host, Dr. Paulette Scott, a mother, grandmother, widow, author, entrepreneur, respiratory therapist. And as life tried to test me, I decided that this space was going to be created for every person who ever had to start over. For those who had to rebuild after loss, rediscover purpose, or simply learn and to live again. Each week we're gonna dive deep into stories of faith and healing. Some entrepreneur, gardening, growth, you know, that unstoppable spirit that it takes to rise from the soil of pain and turn it into purpose. We are going to breathe again together. We will grow again together, and we will remain unstoppable. Not because life didn't break us, but because it didn't end us. So let's take a deep breath, grab your notebooks, your pens, your papers, your tablets, your recorders, and let's get through this journey one episode at a time. Our guest today, I am so honored and happy to have Tina Ricks. Tina is a doctor of health care administration student. She's a business owner, she's a wife, a mother, a podcast host, a proud grandmother of five. Tina is a woman whose life reflects resilience, courage, and transformation. Becoming a mother at just 17 years old, she refused to allow her circumstances to define her future. She went on to earn both her bachelor's and master's degree in business administration and is now, you guys, continuing her journey at the doctoral level. Tina is also a survivor. She lived through domestic violence and became a gunshot victim, an experience that reshaped her understanding of strength, healing, and purpose. She's open about overcoming functional alcoholism and choosing a path of healing, growth, and her self-worth. Today, Tina uses her voice in her journey to inspire others, to heal, to lead, and to remember that their past does not define them, but their future will guide them. Her life stands as a testimony that survival is not the end of the story, it's the beginning of becoming unstoppable. Miss Tina, I welcome you so dearly with me to Unstoppable. Thank you for being here, my love. I am so honored to have you.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Thank you for having me, Dr. Paulette. Thank you for having me. I'm excited about being here today.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

I know, right? It's like how God brings people into our lives every single time for a purpose. And at my deepest, darkest moments of reaching out, trying to continue the gardening and trying to continue to inspire people on my live TikTok to bring people in the room that I don't know they have a story too. Your story just touched me and gave me light.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

So if you're ready, girl, put your boots on because we're about to bring it up. We're about to raise the room. Okay, okay. Thank you for being here again, Tina. Can you share with our listeners who you are today and the life experiences that shaped you into the woman you've become? Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Okay. So yes. Today I am a 48-year-old wife. I'm a businesswoman, a mom of four adult children, almost six grandchildren. Um wow, I am a habilitation coordinate director at a group home today. I stand in motivating others. I stand in that, making sure that I bring to everyone who I come encounter with something to their lives that can motivate them, especially if they're feeling stuck. So I'm still that person who likes to feed into other people. I'm just trying to gauge, you know, how much of me I give. But I'm telling you, I'm I'm loving, I try my best to help anyone that comes across my path because you never know what people are going through, right? Yes. Um, but other than that, I I am a DHA candidate. I graduated with my bachelor's in 2022. I graduated from that and went straight into the next month, my master's. And then when I grabbed my master's in 2025, just last year, I said, okay, how crazy are we gonna be? We're gonna be crazy enough to go right on back and jump right on back in there into this doctoral program. So that that's who I am. I don't believe in failure, and I don't believe that are what some people have said we are. I believe we are more in everything that we want to be.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Absolutely, absolutely. Oh man, like we just we ain't even we just getting started, y'all, and I'm already getting goosebumps listening to her, so I know this is gonna be a powerful episode that I cannot wait for millions to get their hands on to. You know, becoming a mother at 17 is life-defining experience. How did that moment shape your strength and responsibility as well as for your vision for your future?

SPEAKER_01 6:57

So I'm gonna tell you I come from a home with both parents. My parents are still together. I have one sibling, my sister, and whether she knows it or not, she'll probably know it later. I look up to her so much. Um, both parents always worked. They always worked, but of course, you come from a family where nothing is going to be perfect. You lean on your cousins who are your age, you lean on your family members, you lean on friends who you meet throughout school and the direction that you should have as a child that maybe lack because your parents are working so much. So mine's worked a lot. And as a 16-year-old who was bullied from second grade all the way up to middle school, I was bullied from second grade all the way up to middle school. Born in a hoskid, North Carolina, moved to Winton, North Carolina, they're not too far apart, but to be away from family. And so I would pick up other friends who I didn't know as well. And of course, family would my my close cousins would say, they're my sisters. They would say, you know, you need to stop talking to everybody. Everybody's not your friend. But we learned growing up that we learn later on by the mistakes that we make, you know, the choices that we make. Um we learn the effects of that later. And I know that it's a part of my story now, and now I have no regrets. But as a 16-year-old, to find out that you're having a child, my dad said, if you want to drop out of school, drop on out of school, just get a job, you're gonna take care of the child. And I'm like, okay, so of course of course, um, you know, nothing else was an option. We did not think about all we thought about back then was, and it was the 90s, all we thought about back then was being able to, yeah, you're pregnant, but you're gonna raise it, you're gonna keep it, you're not getting rid of a child, and that never was a was a choice or an option. So being 17 years old, having this child, I said, No, I'm not dropping out of school getting a job. I'm not dropping out of school to do what. So I'm I graduated. I had my son in December over Christmas break, and this is how crazy I was. I had him on December the 23rd. We were on Christmas break. I went back to school January the 3rd on time. Wow. I family helped me. My grandmother, who is no longer with us, um, she helped me. My mom helped. She's still helping. She watches my grandchildren now, two of them that live here. So doing that, going back to school, I finished college. I mean, finished high school, and that meant a lot. It never was an option. Never was, I never saw giving up as an option. I said, okay, so this is gonna be what I have to do. I have to make it. There's no other choice. And I made a lot more mistakes in between, and a lot more things came up in life, but yeah, I succumbed them. You know, not succumbed, I surpassed them all.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

And you know, when I think about you being a mom at 17, at that point, you didn't even realize your strength, did you? That moment of becoming a mom, when you looked at that child and you held that baby of yours, what was going through your mind at 17?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Oh my god, I was like, oh my gosh, look at this baby. Sitting here looking at me like, and the most beautiful, like they're they're so innocent. That's I tell young young people today, if you have a child, it is not the in all be all. And I'm gonna tell you, Dr. Paula, at the age of 21, I had four children. So I'm not sure if I shared that. I had a child at 17, 19, 20, and 21. And the entire time I was going back and forth to the community college, to online colleges, dropping in and out. My life was a mess. Never did drugs, all all I did was drink. And I'm telling you the truth, I started drinking at 14. Oh, wow. Yeah, I started drinking. Was it out of curiosity?

unknown 11:26

No.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Um, people went through things, our families would go through a lot of things back and forth. We all had the same story. Me and my sisters, we had the same story, and we were able to get away and get just get it. And we would drink and we would go out, we would go to the club, we would party. This was working parents now. So I can't say that our parents didn't care, but they worked. All they did was work. All they did was work, and we basically basically were working on something to do with your time. Yes, and then when you become an adult, I mean, of course, by then you're an adult, so I was still caring for all of my kids, still caring for them. So it it was it was functional, if that makes sense. It wasn't to the destro detriment, not out there getting trouble, never been to jail, none of this, no accidents, I mean nothing, just functional. Yeah, so some that does not make sense.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Yeah, and I I guess when I think about and what resonates with you and I is that finding myself at the age of 16 being a mom. Back then in the 70s, when I had our son, I didn't even, it didn't register I was a mom. It's like this happened in my life because I was so uneducated. I didn't think, I thought I had to be in my 30s to become a mom. Never thought once that that would happen. So there was so much of a lack of knowing. But at the end of the day, I think at 16 Lanier with this child, and everybody saying, You're a mother, you're a mother, you got a child. It took me a couple years to look at my son and realize that is your baby. That's your responsibility. Although he and his father and I've been together since then, up until I lost him, it still did not register, but we knew we had a responsibility, right? Yes, and I love the fact that there was never an option with your parents for you to abort or do anything. He came in my room and said, We're not doing that. This is your child, your choice. You will raise this baby. That's right. You will raise him, and you will be a good mother to him. And I am not gonna make your bed easy. You're gonna continue school, you're gonna go to work, and you're gonna raise your child, and that's just what I did. So it's it's something to hear your story resembling mine, but by 21, you were a mom of four. Your life was full. Your life was full.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

And it was very full, it was very full. Um, I I really just it had to be the grace of God. It was nothing else but the grace of God to keep me because it could have gone so many ways, you know. Yeah, I'm I'm not saying that I was the best mom. I was very hard on my kids because I was very strict on my kids. Yes. Because I'm like, you will not, that's right, you will not do the things I've done. You you will not go to jail. People know whose children you are out there in these streets, and you will not do these things. I was very harsh on my children, and today I can say my oldest is an army veteran. Yeah. Um, my the one under him, she works for Amazon. She has two little girls of her own. I am very proud of her. Yes. Um, my third, I'm proud of all of them. My third child, I named after my dad, so his name is Willie. He is having his first child, and he has a CDL driving for Pepsi. And my fourth works for a company here locally called Inviva. She's a lab technician, and I'm extremely proud of her as well. So they are all, like I've telling them, like I've always told them, you will be, and I use the words with them, a productive citizen of this world. And they all are. So I'm proud of that.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

That is wonderful. Look at you, that is wonderful. And so, as we're going through, as I'm going through your story and you're sharing your life with us, tell us something about how you survived a situation where you found yourself in domestic violence and a life-threatening gunshot injury. How did that experience change you emotionally, mentally, and spiritually?

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Well, at that time in my life, I just felt lost anyway. Um, I don't share children with that person, thank God. And I'm still dealing with the emotional side because you can go through a PTSD. Certain things that you go through. It la that relationship lasted for two years. I had already had my youngest child. Her dad and I, of course, were not together. So I met this guy that I already knew. I went to middle school with, and my sister was married to his first cousin, and that was how he was brought back into my life. And I ended up moving to Weldon, which is Roanoke Rapids area, which is another reason that almost kept me from taking the cur the job that I'm in now, because that area has so many bad memories for me. And I'm like, okay, God, you're being funny. So now I want to say when this happened, I was driving with two children in the backseat, my two girls, which were my second and my last child. I never really kept my boys over there with me. This person, and just talking about it now, I'm gonna tell you, I have family who probably don't even know. My husband doesn't even know some of the things I endured at that time in those short two years with that person. Um but I was driving, we had just left his mom's house down a dirt path, and by the time we got to the end, he just picked this weapon up and he pointed towards my feet. So luckily it was nowhere else. It could have gone so many ways. And he pulled the trigger, and I was, and I said immediately, because when you go through something like that, you know, you because of adrenaline, I don't think I felt it immediately. But I said, you know, you did this, and then he said, No, I didn't, still cursing me out, pushing me and stuff, and I had to put the car and park. Um, and I got out and I fell, and that's when the pain came. So, yeah, it was it was really something to go through. This person ended up driving me, threatening the entire time while my two girls were in the back seat. Did I tell? I'm gonna tell you what happened. In the emergency room, the nurse had my my girls. This person was in the back there with me, and a detective came in and asked and said, We know who he is, we know how he is, we know his record. Did he do this? And I did not tell the truth. So lots of people, people in my family know that I lied. Um, he knew I was lying, the detective knew I was lying, but how dare you ask me in front of him? And I don't even know where my kids are, the whole while on this ride threatening me, my children, and my family. I was 23 at the time when that happened. And when I tell you, I ended up having to keep that bullet in my um ankle area for a whole weekend, and I did not look back. I went to one court appearance for this other incident, and they gave him 13 years, and that is how I got away. And of course, the threats came afterwards, but they did not last long, and I moved on with my life, and I was like, God, I didn't know you were gonna answer that fast, and I'm sorry that he had to do something to someone else to get me out of that situation, but the day they drove down that path and picked him up, it's time to go. Now, Dr. Paulette, something I want to tell you that is um funny about that situation is that many years later, I got a letter from this person asking me to forgive him. And at that time, I threw it away and I never looked back. There was no forgiveness in me, but now there is. Um, he does not live too far from here, and I don't know how I would react if I were to see him, but I would not speak. I do have forgiveness, and I can't, there's no way I can forget all these memories. I drive down roads where he used to drive almost a hundred in this old car and try to pop my seatbelt off while reaching to open my door to push me out. I mean, these these are roads I have to take to get to my new job. And I'm like, God, you you really got a sense of humor. You're trying to make me overcome this by putting me directly every day. I have to go through the same path to get to work, but I'm able to do it. I had no choice but to get past this. Um get past all of that. I used to have a habit of eating ice because I was severely anemic. And if I ate ice and I ate ice too loudly, he would hit me in my jaw. So even eating ice around other people after this, I would ask, Am I eating it too loud? Is it too loud? You know what I'm saying? Things like that. It severely it can it can stay with you. If I crush a piece of ice, eat a piece of ice today and I don't even eat ice anymore. That's my first thought. Wow. So yeah, you never get past all of this. You just have to find a way and you have to pray about it and move on.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

And that was what I was gonna ask you next is how did this how did that experience change you spiritually?

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Spiritually, I had no choice but to lean on God. Excuse me. If I had not started praying when I knew that I said that he did not do this to me, I didn't see anything else happening to me but ending up in a grave. And that's the truth. Because that's how much fear I had, and that's how much stuff I had been through with this person. If I did not start praying after that happened, when I knew I lied and I said in that moment, okay, so we got to lean back on what we were raised in, honey. It's time to know that God is still gonna look out for you. You still got this, and while you're in it, and it was not two weeks later. It was not two weeks later, and that day that I seen that police car taking that dude and he was gone, I said, God, I thank you. It's my hour. Yes. I knew it, it changed me. So throughout my life, I knew then that what my grandmama used to tell us, both my grandparents, my dad's parents, my mom's mom, what they used to tell us all the time growing up in church, you gotta lean on them. I don't care what it is in life that I'm going through, as long as I keep praying and keep sticking it out, then it's nothing that can't happen.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

And and did that experience with this relationship with this guy make it difficult for you to trust your next relationships? Did you find yourself struggling at?

SPEAKER_01 24:07

Yes, oh, most definitely. Like I said, I would ask if certain things bothered people that probably did not bother them at all. Yeah. Um, but just because of that. Because of that trauma, yeah. I would assume that things that bother him is gonna bother anybody else, you know, and it makes you question and you continue to ask these things out loud. And I've been asked, why do you keep asking me that? I I don't know. You know, I don't know. So, okay, but really I knew. I'll stop asking because I, you know, really I knew. But um, I thank God for my husband. Um I met my husband at 27. I was 27, and even still having your own ups and downs, we've been together for 21, 20 years. We've been together since 2005.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Well that beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

He has helped me raise these four kids. Now, let me tell you, I must tell you that um we co-parent my youngest daughter with her dad and her stepmom, which is her bonus mom, and we call each other our baby mamas. There are four of us. We all co-parent my youngest daughter. But when I tell you that he's done a lot, he's done a lot. He is pops to my oldest one and pops to my other son. My two boys have the same biological parent, but of course, he's never even bought a pair of shoes.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

So, yeah. So when I say when we call on God and tell him to direct our steps, won't he do it? Yes, he will. God will do it every time. You can call on them. Absolutely. And when I think about this, my next question, you know, healing often does come. It's often a continuous long physical wound recovery. Like you've been through wounds just not on the surface, not just physically, emotionally, trauma internally. What did your emotional and personal heal healing? What did your journey look like?

SPEAKER_01 26:16

My healing did not come truthfully. I and no one has ever asked me this. When can I pinpoint that I could really tell that I had healed myself emotionally? I'm gonna say emotionally and even mentally, because mentally, it's all of everything that I've gone through stifles you um was 2018. So 2018, I was working as a custodian at the middle school that I graduated from, and the principal there was just horrible to people, and I can say that now. You know, some people just don't have good leadership skills. And the last day that she had, no, that was I started there in 2018. I quit smoking Newports and I quit drinking beer at the same time. So I worked there for two almost three years. But what happened was the man came to sign us up open enrollment for insurance. I don't like, okay, so I've been smoking these Newports for 20 years. Coughing, chronic bronchitis, asthma, like really sinus infections over and over. And I said, I want to pay what they're paying for their insurance. And it sounds like a crazy thing to express how my I noticed my healing, but he said, You have to quit smoking. And I said, Okay, I can do that because I'm paying $60 more than they are. I can do that. So he signed me up for this program with CVS quit smoking program, and I got on Chantics. I took Chantics for three days and I started praying. My taste went away completely. I stopped taking the chantics, I never picked up another newport. And the beer that I was drinking, because I'd been, I told you, drinking since like 14, but I was I would drink liquor beer. Beer and my taste completely went away for beer. So the same time I quit the Newport, I quit drinking beer. That was December 15, 2018. That's when my healing actually started. Um, because mentally it does something to you. Yeah, you gotta feel everything that you ain't been feeling. Truthfully. That's true. You gotta feel everything that you have not been feeling emotionally, um, because it's a mask. Uh, and then you have to go through that. Now, I did not stop drinking, I started drinking wine, white wine, moscato, um, or red moscata. Yeah, I started drinking wine, so I still can say my healing started here, but it didn't end there. So 2020, I ended up leaving that um job and started our business from a plan I had written down for five years. My sister said, I'm tired of you crying every time, you know, a job, someone doesn't know how to treat you on a job. Why don't you where's your business plan? And I went and I dug it out. I literally dug it out. I had this business plan written for five years because I'm like, one day we're gonna do this. And my husband was a crane operator at um a local steel plant. So what happened then was we started that business in March of 2020. COVID hit and was declared. And I'm like, now what? We came up with another plan, steam cleaning saved us, and we did that business for two more years. 2022, here I am. Um, because 2020 I decided to go back to school. 2022, I got that first degree. I was still drinking wine, mind you. So I still had some things that were still being masked. And I'm like, okay, in church and everything. My husband plays the keyboard in church, so we were going to church faithfully, and I'm like, okay, we we got this, we we got this. And last year, this past year, well, I started teaching in 2022. I started teaching at the high school I graduated from, did that for the first year, CTE courses, and then the second half of the next year I was in Virginia teaching and discovered that wasn't for me. So, but I ended up last year in November. I stopped drinking, well, 2024, I stopped drinking the wine, and I bought a bottle, two bottles of wine last year, I think in May, and I could not stand the taste, so I pulled those out, and I have not drunk anything, any alcohol since. So my healing started in 2018. Completely healed, I can say I am now. I do have memories of the time of the things that I went through, but they don't affect me as bad. In fact, there's a river in Weldon, North Carolina, beautiful bridge that you cross over and you look and you can see like little small waterfalls. Um, I was able to stop there by myself. Um last month, I stopped there by myself, and I know I posted it, you know, on TikTok, and I'm like, when you can finally stop somewhere without fear, I go to the stores in Roanoke Rapids, I take myself out to lunch. The little things that people take for granted, I wouldn't do in that area. And now I go to Walmart over there and everything, and I'm like, okay, God, you I thought you were being funny, but I think this test was for me. And so yeah, my healing started then. Yeah, it started back in 2018, and I thank God where I am now, spiritually and emotionally. My husband does um still go to church every Sunday. I'm not gonna sit up here and say that I attend with him at this moment because I think I stopped. I went January, but I still have a relationship with God. That's that's the one thing that people don't they don't see it, they don't think you do. But because they don't see you there. Yeah, but I still have a relationship with God, I still pray, I still talk to God. So, yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

And I'm a firm believer that church is in you, church is in the church. Church is in you when we go to the building is to worship with others, but we worship and serve Him in our own set place, no matter where it's at, that you don't have to be inside a building, right? And so to be judged like that is just you know your relationship and he knows his relationship with you. Yes, and I love that. So you've been open about overcoming functional alcoholism. What helped you recognize the need? Like, where were you at at that point where like I need to overcome?

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Needed to okay, so where I was when I recognized that I needed to overcome functional alcoholism, I'm gonna tell you something, it's powerful. I in 2018 at that school, um, I was at work, and there's also an older lady that I clinged with, and you can smell beer through your pores.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

Okay? You can smell it beer.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

People don't know it, do they?

SPEAKER_01 33:54

They don't know it. So when you drink that much, and you you can't smell it because it's you, you know, you're the one that's sitting drinking it, but you can't smell it. But I actually had a um say so the lady that I work with, she she drank beer a lot too. She's much older. She had a lot of health problems, and I'm and I love her so much. So I'm not gonna say anything about that. And I will just look and compare. And I was much younger. Then I had a relative that I called my aunt. She's really an older cousin, and she literally told me one day, you better get yourself together because you're starting to smell like beer. And you know I can smell it through you, right? And I'm like, oh no, I'm not about to be walking around here looking cute, smelling like beer. And that was it. It was the same time that I asked the man for chanted. So it's like, I mean, asked the man to put me in that quit smoking program. So it's like God was just lining things up. And I'm gonna tell you truthfully, I'm gonna tell you something. Me and my husband have had hours issues, and I think my alcohol, my drinking cause a lot of those. But I got a praying husband. He's always been a praying, a praying man. So his faith is always, and I I have told people, his faith has always been greater than mine. You know, I've had that of a mustard seed, his has always been surpassed that. So he's probably been doing a whole lot of praying behind those doors. Some nights I wake up, he's not in the bed, and the next day I hear him telling someone, yeah, man, I can't sleep. I go down there and I read my Bible and I pray. I talk to God, and so it means a lot. You never know who's praying for you in the background when you're going through situations.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

Amen. That's so true. Wow, this is so powerful. Uh, for everyone here, I gotta take a moment just to say if this is you, if this message is resonating with you or someone you know, please know you're not the only one. We all go through trauma and changes and trials and tribulations. But having the love of God and having faith in what He promises can pull us through a lot, even when we in our darkest times. Girlfriend, I gotta ask you, you've continued, you continue pursuing your education through some times you were going through your personal and your personal growth despite everything you face. How did your education help you reveal your confidence and identity?

SPEAKER_01 36:43

My education helping me reveal my confidence and identity, who I am. Well, oh my goodness, let me tell you. Every, so I have had, I think, three jobs, three different careers in the past four years. Every time I step up, I pray first. I do not leave a career without asking God, is this what? And I'm telling you, only one of those when I got into, I was like, Yeah, this was this was my decision here. This was mine, this was not God. But I just told someone yesterday that each and every time I now believe that God aligned my degrees with that next job.

SPEAKER_00 37:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Because my salary has not decreased at all in about six years, it's only been going up, and I'm gaining more and more skills from that. Being able to put on my resume these degrees that I've earned, mind you, I just told someone last week, um, I don't forgot who it was. Was I don't know if it was you on your live, I'm not sure, but I said, yes, um I get these degrees that I I got or something like that. And at the end, the person said, Let's be truthful, you earned them. I've never spoken that out loud, but yes, I have earned them, you know. So for I for me to be able to position myself, and I have to position myself, I have to know now that I earned these degrees, and when I go to get a new change of career, mind you, I need to sit still at some time. God has not gotten me there yet, just yet. Um, and I'm gonna tell you something about that in a second. But when I step into an interview room or when I step into a setting where other professionals are, I have to let them see my worth because I am worth what I'm asking for. If I was offered a position earlier this past year before I came here, and this is a state job at a prison, being the warden's assistant, and the most you can give me is 40. I think it was 45,000. No, ma'am, I'm not going back. That would be pushing me back 11,000, 12,000 per year. I don't want to leave where I am at the moment, and then God aligned me the next week with the position I'm in now where I'm the director of two of a two-facility group home. And everyone who works for this company has longevity besides some of the DSPs who are you know the the floor, the floor staff. So then lots of them have longevity. We have very few who are newer, but if you don't know your own worth, nobody is gonna know your worth. You you have to be able to tell people, you know, I earned this, and yes, I am I'm worth, I'm worth that. So what I was about, Lord, don't let me lose this thought because it was something that I was about to say and I'd forgot it. Yeah, you said you were gonna go back. Yes, I did, didn't I? But um, but yes, I do honestly believe that God has been aligning these steps, and I just remembered it. So I feel like so. Everywhere that I go, everywhere that I go, I can go back to. I've never been terminated from a place, I've never disrespected people, no matter how they treated me. I've always been the one to leave hurt, I've always been the one to leave crying, I've always been the one to say, why are they treating me this way? But one thing that I want to say, because I know people are gonna see this. You know, lots of people, I pray, see this.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

There is a light or something over me in my life, and no matter how I'm being treated, I continue to treat my co-workers with respect. I continue to treat people, give people, brighten their days. I said earlier, you don't know what people are going through. You don't know what people have going on, so you have to be that light for people. If you are gonna hurt people, then you don't need to be there. But sometimes it's us who has to move because God has something else, someone else that we need to meet. That is why I'm saying I don't know when I'll be still in a career. I think God has me on a path, and there are people that I have got to affect while I'm here. That's that's I love that.

SPEAKER_02 41:40

I love that because you just that for me, as you were saying that, I'm thinking, hmm. Is she living her purpose? Absolutely. Is he using her? Absolutely. We never know why God does what he does, the desires he put on our hearts to do what we do, the places he put us in. And right now, you're over to facilities where you have the lives of many you can influence, right? And they see you, get to know you. What a blessing to have someone in leadership to look up to as well for the women and women that work under you that may need that. Or just the care, the people you guys give care to who get to see that you're leading by example.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

You have to get that example.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

Absolutely. What uh you know, with faith, purpose, and inner strength, it often grows during our hardest seasons in our lives. What do you think helped you reconnect with the purpose that you are meant to serve? Because you know, we go through things and sometimes we don't know for a lifetime really what our purpose is. I don't know if you've identified yours, but sometimes I think that's it. And then sometimes I think maybe not as it, you know, Lord, you put these on my heart to either move, maneuver us, or moving us around. But no matter how often he changes, what makes you reconnect for that point in time of purpose he wants you to serve? With the flip-flops, right? Because for me, okay, I'm in school for this, now I'm doing that. You got me writing a book, you got me in the garden, you got me as an RT. I have to reconnect every time that hat changes. Now you have me as a widow. And as a widow, I'm finding my way to reconnect with what he wants me to serve now. How do you how do you do that? How do you how are you able to stay humble and continue to connect?

SPEAKER_01 43:40

Well, number one, I I have no choice but to stay humble. Um, that's what God wants us to do. Nothing that I do, nothing, nothing that I do, nothing that I have, and I and I'm still we we don't have all the things that we want at this moment. But if you can't handle If you can't handle the things and be humble in it that you have now, how are you gonna do when God does bless you? Um, how I end up reconnecting and grounding myself in all the different things that have occurred with me and the things that I'm doing now, things that I want to do, I have got to bring it back to where did you come from? Where did you come from? Some people get all the way up here, but they treat people so bad and they forget. I don't know if they were just handed something, maybe they have never been through. Those are the ones that you need to teach. You know, the ones that have been handed. Sometimes they need to be the ones that you speak to. Because even now I find myself speaking to people who are higher up than I am, who had it so easy in life, and they're always astounded like by they're like, I just want to be around you. Well, no, you don't now I don't necessarily want to stay around people like that. I just want to get my message to you so that you'll see where I came from and why I do what I do. I don't do this for me. I have my children that I want to make sure that they understand. We only get one life. And I gotta leave something here. I told my my um I think I told my daughter, and I know I told a co-worker, when I leave here, I want people to say that was that girl. Like you, you got you have to have known her or you ain't never meet her before. Has she ever talked to you? I need people to know these things. We are not promised another day. So, do I want to leave something here where people are gonna say, well, her attitude was bad. Yes, she had those degrees, but her attitude was just nasty. I'm not that person. Not that person. You have got to stay humble. I don't care how far you go. And guess what? Once this doctorate comes, I am going back to get me a master's in social work. I need to be I'm gonna get me a master's in social work. I'm all over the place, so I don't really know what my calling is. Sometimes I do. I've had people to tell me what it is, and I still am like, God, what do you have me here for? Like, what am I doing?

SPEAKER_02 46:31

What is your your doctorate? Is in administration, healthcare administration is that? Administration. That's beautiful, and then you're gonna go back for a master's again. And there's that's what I tell people. Like, uh, I think my kids used to tease me and told me I was a what is that a professional student. Lifetime learning. Let me let me be let me be that. Let me be that. We're gonna continue to add on. I love that. That's such an inspiration to know that you're gonna continue on what you know will benefit not just you but others as you work for God in your rest of your season, right? So let me ask you this. What would you say to somebody right now listening who feels defined by their past, by their trauma, or just by the mistakes that they've made in their life?

SPEAKER_01 47:28

Okay, let me speak directly to that person. If you are defined by your past, by trauma, trauma and things that you've gone through, you need to understand that it is not the end-all be-all. As long as you still have that grit, you're still ready to have that hustle about you. There's nothing out here you can't do. For people who might not have even made it to a high school degree, diploma, go back and get it. It's easier now than it's ever been. And push through. Write down your goals, what is it that you really wanted in life, and start checking off those boxes and find something to do it for. Find someone to do it for. What is your purpose? When I went through all the things that I went through, and mind you, I have considered time and time again about unalivened myself growing up because of things that I've gone through. You gotta pray. If you do not pray, you're gonna stay stuck. If you do not believe, everyone doesn't have the same religion. Find something and just talk to God because I'm gonna tell you that whatever what you don't want to do is stay laying down, is stay in that bed, is stay in that job that you know you're sick of and it's not leading to anywhere. Is you don't you don't want to stay stagnant. You want to keep moving, you want to keep going, you want to motivate yourself when no one else is doing it. Everyone is not gonna have your back. You gotta have your own. We get one life here. We want to leave a legacy of positivity, of being a successful um uh person in this in this world. Not just successful, and being a positive person in this world, whatever it is that you do. You got it. You gotta keep doing. When I graduated, I put on my cap, hashtag just keep pushing. I put hashtag kept on pushing. And when I get this DHA degree, I'm gonna put another something, keeping on pushing, maybe. I don't know, but yeah, you gotta keep doing it. If you don't go through this storm, when you get later on in life, when you make it, later on in life, when you make it, when you change, when you've healed, you are gonna be so happy, and you're gonna look back and you're gonna see that that was all just what you had to go through. It's a part of your story, it's your testimony. Share it with people.

SPEAKER_02 50:17

That's all I can say. I love it, I love it, I love it. So, as we're getting near the end of this podcast, my last question for you is is when you hear the word unstoppable, what does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 50:33

Unstoppable to me means that even when it's looking bleak, you're gonna pick yourself up and you're gonna keep going. Unstoppable to me is just steady moving, man. You got to you gotta do it, just keep on going. It's everything that I just said. You have to be unstoppable. When people say what you're not gonna do, what you're not gonna be, like they did me, give them something to look at.

SPEAKER_02 51:02

Amen. Amen. Because uh because Miss Tina has proven she is unstoppable. Because no matter what your journey has been in your life, look at you now. Yes, Miss Doctor on the rise on the way here. I love that. I love it. I cannot wait to celebrate you with your success coming up. Thank you. Thank you. You have been a pleasure. Uh I'm just overwhelmed with so much. So you have a podcast, right? You started a podcast, you're rebuilding that back up, and you want to share with us about your podcast, or if someone wants you to come and speak, or you want to share with us about reaching out to you.

SPEAKER_01 51:46

And okay. So my podcast, um, you can find me on Facebook, TikTok. Um, my podcast is on Apple, it's on Podbean, it's on um Spotify. It is purpose in the process. And I've given myself this name because that's that's exactly what I am. I'm trying to fulfill purpose, uh a purpose. I'm I'm trying to give people purpose. And there is a process. So, purpose in the process, girl, on TikTok. I've even written a book, My Grandma Can, and that goes back to my oldest son who has gone through a divorce and we're separated right now from his children, praying that God works that out through the courts so that they'll be back in our lives. So that is about that. It's gonna be a series right now. There's only one book, and that's on Amazon. I'm gonna show you that book. This is just a copy of it. It might be blurred, I'm not sure. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:49

Your screen just went a little blurred. Yeah, your screen went a little blurred. Try it again. Um, because I'll I'll take it.

SPEAKER_01 53:01

I think I have it set on something.

SPEAKER_02 53:04

Okay, go ahead. Do me a favor, try and wipe your camera and then show it again because I'm gonna cut that part out. We're gonna go back to it. Oh, yeah. No, it's not your camera. That's weird. It went blurred.

SPEAKER_01 53:16

No, I have a blurred thing on. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, I have a blurred thing on this. But um, but yes, my grandma can is on Amazon. It's only $10, but I need to go back up there. I need to go on and start writing the rest of it. But yes, um, my podcast, I need to get back on it since I have started as a habilitation director. I have not recorded anything since December. So, but please follow. I will put more content up there and hopefully be able to. I am I really enjoyed you today, Dr. Paulette. I really have. Um, maybe one day we can do a part two.

SPEAKER_02 53:55

I would love to, I would love to soon, like not like a part two and three, because we gotta get you on once that doctorate is done as well. I'm so excited. I've enjoyed you too. This has been amazing. And listen, I can tell you, everyone, to my listeners and viewers out there, I have gone on her YouTube channel and she has inspired me. It's just she just doesn't understand the I mean, catching her TikTok videos, her YouTube, I smile because she's so powerful and she just her heart is genuine. So definitely start following her, get out there, follow her. And now let me ask you, Tina, to reach you. If someone wanted to reach out to you, um, can we put our email or do you because you don't have a website to reach, right? How can we make sure that's a good thing?

SPEAKER_01 54:46

I don't have a website.

SPEAKER_02 54:47

Okay, so how can we reach you?

SPEAKER_01 54:50

My email is Tina Ricks, my name1208 at gmail.com. And that would probably be the only way unless you DM me on TikTok um purpose in the process on TikTok. And I do have a YouTube purpose in the process as well. Don't get confused though. When when people go to my YouTube, I used to be T-Shante accessories, I kept the same YouTube. I'm an entrepreneur, so I've been into I've dabbled in paparazzi accessories, um, Mary Kay, I've also done pharmacy. So I've done a lot of things. I've I've even had um a the machine, the cricket machine, and I used to make products and things for people. So um you'll see that, and then you'll see my videos transition and the podcast will start showing up up there as well.

SPEAKER_02 55:43

Well, let's just your heart of entrepreneurial heart. That's what that is. So, you know, we continue to absolutely, and I love that. And so the other thing is everyone listening and viewing, I will make sure her link appears at the bottom of the screen. If you look here, you'll see it. And also, I will have a link underneath the video uh so that you guys can reach out to her via email. So, Miss Tina, this part in the show, I usually ask my guests to have a prayer moment with our uh viewers and listeners, and that prayer is all wherever you want it to go. Could we have the honor of you having a prayer? Leading it up.

SPEAKER_01 56:28

Yes, you want me to you want me to lead it?

SPEAKER_02 56:30

Do you want me to do that?

SPEAKER_01 56:32

Oh my goodness, I have to see it a prayer in a minute.

SPEAKER_02 56:35

That's okay. It's just whatever comes from your heart, God hears us. Okay, all right, thank you, Father God.

SPEAKER_01 56:44

I just want to come to you and I just want to say thank you for this amazing platform. And Dr. Paulette Scott, I want to say whatever she's going through, I want you to just protect her. Keep your angels encamped around her, Lord God. Keep your angels encamped around our home, our families, Lord God. God, I just want to ask that whatever our viewers are going through, God, that you touch and that you heal, Lord God, that you allow them to step into their greatest moment, God. God, I just want to say thank you for everything that you're doing in our lives, God. For nothing without you is going to stand, God. We know this, God. So we're gonna make it a point, God, to keep you at the forefront of our lives. And Father God, I just wanted to say thank you once again in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 57:31

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father, for showing up. You showed up for us today. And ladies and gentlemen, with that saying, Yeah, I just, oh my Lord. Thank you, Jesus. That is powerful. And everyone, thank you so much for joining us on this week's podcast. If this message has touched your heart today, please share this episode with someone who may need it. You never know who may truly be blessed by the message or struggling or going through anything. So please share this so that they can hear this message. And make sure you all, if you're not subscribed, don't forget to subscribe and hit that thumbs up button. Yes. I look forward to seeing you all in the coming week, next week. Thank you again. Thank you for following. We thank you all for being here. Stay blessed and stay prayed up on purpose. Have a good evening.