“For a long time, I felt hopeless and was not happy with how things were going,” she says. “I felt like I had nobody to talk to. I kept my faith. I prayed a ton. With reflection, I’ve come to learn that your situations do not define you. They don’t make you. They shape you into who you are and give you life lessons.”
Akande’s ability to view her life with deep wisdom comes after a four-year journey that started around 2017.
After the young teen’s parents divorced, Akande hopped in a car with her mother and the duo traveled the long stretch of highway between Riverside, California, and North Texas.