We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Delesia Robinson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Delesia, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
Confidence and self-esteem is something I work on, on a daily basis. Being a burn survivor comes with emotional and physical scars that last a lifetime. When I was younger, I spent lots of time “primping” in the bathroom mirror of our tiny 2 bedroom home. So much so that my parents voiced concern. I would take the time to make sure my hair was just so, and my overall clothing and appearance was, “good or ok” before I left home. So during my annual trip to the pediatrician my mom mentioned it to my pediatrician Dr. Creed Ward. My mom said something to the effect, that I was “conceited or obsessed with my appearance. Dr. Ward took my small brown face in his hands, examined my skin, imperfections, perfections, scars and all, and proclaimed! “Mrs. Knight, your daughter is beautiful and her behavior is perfectly fine, It’s called self awareness.” I got such great affirmation and confidence when the doctor said this. It is something I will never forget!
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My story starts as a little black girl growing up in East Cleveland, living a charmed life, with my parents and 2 siblings. My mom would walk us to school every morning. My Kindergartens teacher was Mrs. Bear at Prospect Elementary. My very first best friend was a little white girl named Diane who lived across the street from us. We both were in Mrs. Bears class. We hunted for caterpillars, feed the squirrels, and played tag and hop scotch with other kids on the block. Diane’s grandma, Miss Mary had a backyard full of beautiful flowers and would bake the neighborhood children cookies. My mother tended to the home, and my dad a Korean War Veteran worked very hard everyday as a construction worker. We had a Royal Castle Burger on Euclid and Taylor, Donut and Ice cream shops, family owned corner stores. I woke up one day and somehow without me noticing, it was all gone, somethings had changed. All the people and resources and “community” had all vanished. I now know this is called, “White flight.” Instead of us living together in unity, it seems to always ends up as “us and them,” which to me is truly heartbreaking. Fast forward… With a 3.8 GPA and after experiencing cultural biases and racism at Metropolitan General Hospital School of Nursing on Cleveland’s West side I transferred to our local Cuyahoga Community College. With Pell grants etc and the support of my parents I obtained a degree in nursing.
My first job out of nursing school was in an inner city hospital St. Lukes Medical Center as a Medical-Surgical Nurse. I met my husband wonderful husband while riding bus number 50 up to University Circle Rapid station. I was headed to the hospital and he was headed to Builder’s Square. We married in 1990 and had two beautiful daughters, Mona kaye and Carmen Lynn.
The story of our 501c3 non profit originated in 2012, When our youngest daughter was attending a Sociology class at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike Ohio. On this particular day they had a guest speaker. The women, shared her story of once living in her car, being homeless, and living in shelters. She asked the students if they ever donated, would they please consider donating sanitary pads, tampons and feminine hygiene products to the shelters. Not only was it an intimate and taboo thing to ask for, many donors opted to give food, clothing etc. or the staff would grab the nicer products for themselves. Carmen came home, and shared the story with me. I was totally moved by this ladies story and felt compelled to ” do something.” That night I fell asleep with this woman’s plight on my mind. The next morning, I woke up, called both our daughters to our bedroom. I had come up with a concept the acronym was “PADS” Pride Among Daughters and Sisters. I asked them would they be willing to support my efforts as I could not do it alone. They loved the idea, we had a “family meeting” With my sister Malinda, brother Lenwood Jr. and parents. My sister Malinda was all in!
My parents both now in there 80’s have supported and attended almost every event. My dad Lenwood Sr. now navigates Dementia, and my mom Narbell, continues to care for him in that tiny 2 bedroom home where I grew up, in East Cleveland, Ohio.
Our Mission: Pride Among Daughters and Sisters dba PADS is a 501c providing sanitary pads, tampons, and feminine hygiene products to underserved girls and women to promote pride, dignity and confidence. We love to meet individual girls and women where they are. I like to see, “the whites of their eyes, see the smiles, here their stories whenever possible. We also donate to shelters, schools, Job corp. Drug rehabilitation programs, the unhoused and girls who age out of foster care, seniors(incontinence products) and LGBQT programs etc.
Daily 800 million women and girls have a period, out that 800 million, 500 million (1 in 5) struggle to afford costly feminine hygiene products, prohibiting their inclusion in basic activities of living such as school, gym, sports, employment, job interviews etc.
The United Nations has a goal to end all forms of poverty by the year 2030, and PADS would like to be a part of that agenda as it relates to period poverty. Having these basic hygiene items should not be a privilege but an equitable human right and matter of dignity. In 11/2019 Ohio eliminated the Pink Tax.
Cost and access equates to privilege.
Having access to these items is something some of us take for granted.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
For me personally being a Christian, and having the desire to always serve others and treat others they way I would like to be treated. I have the propensity for empathy and an emotional intelligence to adapt and fit into spaces even when no one else in the room looks like me. I always find some commonality with the people I meet. A quality I have is listening to others, and hearing their stories. Advice for me I would say sometimes, “Be still” and let God lead your steps. I love the old scripture, “As one face reflects the water, so ones ones life reflects the heart.
Be open to ideas, sharing concepts and networking. There is enough need in our communities for us all to make an impact. Use the local community resources, such as SCORE, (NLDP)Neighborhood Leadership development Program, PNC Fairfax connections, Neighborhood connections. etc.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I would like to partner with grant writers, with a proven record of success. For us this is one of our challenges. Grant writers can send communications to our contact page on our website. www.prideamongdaughters.org
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.prideamongdaughters.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pads_cleveland/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prideamongdaughters.org/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delesia-robinson-77a86291/
- Other: Childrens Story addressing Homelessness By Delesia Robinson https://www.amazon.com/Homeless-Al-Little-Boys-Story/dp/1512749265
