Most people who know me understand that I live my life pretty much as a open book. I am highly opinionated about most things and generally view the keeping of secrets as a trained behavior for controlling the ways that people see you in the world.
So, here’s the deal: I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I often joke that I rep several ‘hoods, which is in many ways true. However, the most significant parts of progressing into the woman I am today took place in the Baldwin Village area, aka “The Jungles.” I should probably switch the quotes on those, lol. Fortunately, we lived on the east side of Hillcrest – for those of you who know the area – which was slightly safer than the section going west towards LaBrea. In any case, it was and is a community that typifies what it means to grow up in the ghetto and very few other places in the area posses the same level of earned notoriety.
I am one of my mother’s three daughters (we each have our own separate set of additional siblings). I am not your typical middle-child, but I guarantee you I suffer from some sort of a syndrome about my birth order. I would describe myself as a cynical introvert, who is also an out spoken over achiever, with a keen sense of self and a helper by nature. In other words, I’m complicated! And much to my own dismay, I am unmarried with no children (sighing deeply as I type this).
For those of you who care about my credentials, I have 2 BA’s, an MS, and an Ed.D. (note earlier indication of over achievement). I lead a moderately sized non-profit agency and several smaller ones, I am active with various community groups, and have recently begun producing research. Despite these things, I am far from reaching my goal of financial independence but very much capable of getting there in the near future. Well, at least that’s the plan. You can learn more about the stuff that I do by going the My Different Worlds page on this site.
I am a caregiver to one, an advisor to many, and a helper to most.
And by the way, my name is Sharmakrenia. It’s pronounced Shar-muh-kree-nuh. The i is silent…
