Today we’d like to introduce you to Simene’ Walden.
Simene’, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I spent a lot of time alone as a child. I was not the only child, but being raised by my mother and growing up with my older brothers, my mother worked multiple jobs to make sure we had everything we needed. As a result of the rejection and abandonment I felt, I became a very fearful yet bitter little girl. Word curses had been spoken over me and I was living out all of them. By the end of my 8th-grade year, I had been sexually violated and I lived with that secret until I was 35. I hid behind blame and shame for years because I felt like no one ever stood up for me and I never stood up for myself. All of that led me to become a heavy marijuania and black and mild smoker. By the time I reached my early 20’s, I was mean and mad all the time with everybody, especially with God. I would drink and smoke to sedate my pain. If that did not help, I would find my escape in food or sexual activity. It was bad; really bad.
As a young woman who was now living on her own, all of my decisions were decided through a very dark, broken, and rejected lense. When I finally got tired of being in a perpetual cycle of dysfunction and dishonor, I decided I wanted a change. I reached out to the mothers in church who threw me a lifeline. I would then find other mentors and accountability partners to walk with me through my processes. I bumped my head many times but I did not quit. I started reading the bible, praying more, and talking to God for myself. I moved across my home state of North Carolina several times until I finally landed in a wilderness place in College Park, Maryland, in 2015.
It was in Maryland that my life changed. It went from bad to worse but it also went from worse to well in Jesus’ Name. As a public school teacher of 15 years, it took God, allowing me to see myself in the children I was teaching to wake me up and remind me to do more and be more. This now and the next generation is depending on us to make it better.
There were many nights I went home with the free and reduced breakfast that students left on our sharing table and ate for my dinner. Financially it was hard. Emotionally it was the worst, but spiritually I was getting stronger. It was when I started seeing how I could help others with my own story and experiences. I started writing and writing and writing. Writing was a part of my deliverance. Writing was therapy for me many times. Writing changed my life. My mouth became the pen of a ready writer and I have not looked back since.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
This road not taken has had a few bumps, break downs, flat tires, and accidents on it, but it was the road I needed to travel. Along this road, I was handed abandonment issues, second-hand fear, guilt, shame, perversion, lack, and self-doubt. I had trust issues that kept me from really opening up to those God sent me for a very long time. It stagnated my growth, deliverance, and blessings. Keeping secrets was something I learned at a very young age and it walked with me into womanhood. It was not until I reached my thirties that I had to divorce and cancel that assignment off of my life. All of this has taught me that tenacity, wit, skill, gifts, and talents can never be your source of come back. Your resilience to never quit and never give up will win for you each time. Those things just make your testimony that more interesting. The road less traveled by was the road that has led me to success, victory, peace, and joy.
Please tell us about The Student Teacher.
I deliver dynamic, heart-wrenching, and thought-provoking workshops, presentations, and professional developments. I train, teach, and mentor other educators on the importance of equity as it relates to the heart of a teacher. I am the co-founder of The Student Teacher LLC, which helps new and novice authors craft and publish their stories without losing their voice and compromising their faith. I am most proud of my company because we have been a vehicle and platform for men and women to share their stories of pain for the first time ever to receive the necessary healing and next steps of their freedom from secrets. Our company transcribes books into Braille and just recently, we added a Sign Language Interpreter to our virtual events. Our company is not for everybody but it is inclusive of those who have disabilities and are ready to tell their stories unapologetically.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I would have started over, I would have started writing and publishing a lot sooner. I would not have wasted so much time being idle and watching others because I felt like I was not qualified. If God has called you, He has qualified you and justified you.
Pricing:
- 60 Day Self Publishing Course $160.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.simenewalden.com
- Email: simene@simenewalden.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/simenewalden
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simenewalden
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimeneWalden
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simenewalden/
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/thestudenteacher
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