Who will walk the runway during New York Fashion Week and win $20,000? You decide.
Lorraine Galloway
About Lorraine Galloway
It looks like I'm falling. I'm holding myself up. Story of my life. I'm Lorraine Galloway, host of The Resilient Mother Podcast, divorced mom of three, stronger after every knockdown. Next: the runway. I rise so mothers watching rise too.
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What makes you the Next Runway Star?
I have rebuilt my life several times over. The adversity I have faced would have taken some people out, and I am still standing with God beside me. Everything I build now aims at one thing. Keep shining and be a witness of God's love. Note I am a multi-talented person. Currently, I help women get stronger, more resilient, and confident as a certified personal trainer and life coach.I am six months from a master's degree in Elementary Education, specializing in literacy, chosen so my career keeps me available to my kids. What makes me the next Runway Star is who is watching. Mothers who believe their season of survival disqualified them from being seen. They need proof that a woman with a hard history can walk into a room, take up that much space, and not apologize for it. I would not wish what I have lived through on anyone. But I would rather have my heart broken open than be ignorant to another person's pain. I know how to hold a room. I have spent years holding one together.
What would this once in a lifetime experience mean to you and why?
My children are watching. They have been through every hard season right alongside me. Walking that runway would show them, in a way no speech ever could, that the trials did not define us. That dreams do not have an expiration date. That what is meant for you will find you no matter the obstacles others try to place in your way. I would also be carrying the woman I used to be. For most of my life, being seen as my full self was not safe unless performing on a stage, so I got very good at shrinking to fit a given role in my daily life. I no longer tolerate that. Standing on a stage and using my voice quiets every abuser and every doubter who decided I could not build a thriving life for my children on my own. I believe God kept me here to tell people it is never too late to dream. This would be me saying it with my whole body rising like a fierce phoenix. Never give up. Never let anyone dim your light. I want my kids to watch me live that, not just hear me say it.
What are you most proud of about yourself or what have you overcome and why?
The other night at bedtime we were saying our affirmations and my son said, I am a lovable boy. He has also started saying, "Mommy I happy" randomly in the day. It thrills me every single time. That is what I am most proud of. Not a title. That. I survived childhood sexual abuse. I was raped in college. I had abusive partners who left me raising their children alone. I live with Chronic PTSD. I was taught the world was not safe and that I was not lovable. Undoing that inside myself was hard. Making sure it never reaches my children is the accomplishment of my life. The pattern stopped in my family line. My children will never face the abuse I did nor will they settle in life. My son knows he is lovable. My daughters know who they are. Nobody protected the little girl I was. No one honored the authentic version of me. Though some tried to break me down. God was not done with me. I continue to be refined like gold. I continue to rise. I will not stop until I am soaring high.
What would you do with the $20,000 cash prize?
For the past few years I have been fighting a massive identity theft. It blocked me from gainful employment even with my bachelor's degree and demolished my attempts at an online business. I have been working W2 jobs to clear my name and finishing my master's degree to stabilize us and rebuild again. So every dollar already has a name. Tuition, to finish my degree in six months. College funds for my kids, so they start adult life from a different floor than I did. Funds for a reliable vehicle as mine is getting up there in years and real footing to secure a new home of our own in time. A portion goes to a local women's crisis center. I know what that door means to a woman walking through it on the worst night of her life, and I want it to stay open for the next one. I am not looking to be rescued. I am looking to be self-reliant. This money does not buy a lifestyle in a household like mine. It closes the last gaps between me and true independence, and it passes something forward.
Content from Lorraine Galloway
Rise is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit that helps sexual assault survivors across the country and around the world. They’ve created the most successful legislative reform movement in U.S. history: 120 laws passed, 1 UN Resolution and 112 million people’s lives impacted by their efforts.
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