The moment I realized I wanted to become a mother is one of my most vivid memories. 

I had just graduated from UCLA and had invited my little sister to stay with me for a week after graduation. I knew that her living situation with our own biological mother was unstable. She was 14 years old and about to enter high school in one of the poorer areas outside of Reno, Nevada. I thought that if I could get her excited about college and the class jump it could provide, if I could show her what it looks like to not live in poverty, then maybe I could plant a seed of hope to help her navigate the turbulent future she had in front of her.