Posts
"Obtaining a degree of any kind is not an easy or simple task, and
for Jonnell Richard, she wouldn’t have crossed the stage on Dec. 15 if her
sister had not “saved her life.”
"Growing up, Diamond Blackwood and Richard dealt with years of
physical and emotional abuse that left visible and long-lasting psychological
scars that could’ve derailed anyone’s journey, but one sister’s courage and the
other’s sacrifice helped Richard defeat the odds."
"In 2021, the sisters garnered the attention of the creator of the
Humans of New York blog. The website and its corresponding social media pages
capture images of New Yorkers and couple the photographs with short stories
about their lives."
"Brandon Stanton, who manages the website, would approach people on
the street and ask them to take their photographs for a feature, but after the
spread of COVID-19 in 2020, he asked his over 17 million followers to submit
their stories. He said Blackwood and Richard stood out among the 25,000
submissions because of “the devotion and sacrifice that Diamond made to help
raise her sister.”
"Stanton mentioned Richard’s desire to attend nursing school, and a few followers stepped forward, offering to mentor her." And they did!
"Richard graduated from Utica University with a 3.7 GPA."
Read more at:
https://atlantablackstar.com/2024/01/08/nursing-student-defeats-the-odds/
Cheers!
Donna
