“Never stop. Keep going. I think a lot of folks make excuses or use them as stumbling blocks and then just stop. I think if you just never stop, you’ll meet all your goals. We moved from D.C. Just my mom, me and a frozen turkey. It was just us here, and then Mom married my father. He adopted me and then we went from there. Folks never thought Mom or me would amount to anything. Here we are. She overcame obstacles that no one thought she would. She had me when she was 18, dropped out of school. Now she’s a vice president at the bank. She’s successful. I’m a lead nurse practitioner at the hospital. We just kind of exceeded expectations.” – Tanya Ragsdale of Cullman with her stepdaughter, Evie, 8.

Ragsdale said her mom is one of her biggest influences because she persevered despite what naysayers told her.

“She took the stones they threw at her and began building herself a foundation.”

Tanya Ragsdale is a nurse practitioner and her stepdaughter Evie wants to be a doctor. (Tamika Moore / People of Alabama)

Evie says she wants to be a doctor when she grows up.

“I want to help people.”

These are the faces and stories of people from all walks of life who call Alabama home. People of Alabama is a Red Clay Media and Alabama NewsCenter partnership.