Joyce Snow

When Joyce Snow was a young girl, she dreamed of becoming a nurse. But life took a brutally different turn. As a child, she was raped by a relative and later in life, gang raped by eight boys. When Joyce became an adult, she married an abusive man, and finally left him after 14 years. “He told me I was nothing and that nobody cared about me. With every blow from his fist, I believed it more and more. With every bad name he called me, the wound grew deeper,” says Joyce, 43, who resides at a domestic violence center in Columbia, Maryland.

The trauma of those events pushed her into a life of despair, drugs and prostitution. She eventually ended up in a homeless shelter, where she decided she deserved a new life. Joyce signed herself into a rehabilitation facility and was beginning to turn her life around. Then, she experienced the trauma of a home invasion and was beaten and raped, with a gun placed in her mouth. Her ex-husband, learning of the incident, supported her during the trauma. Joyce returned to him, but not long into the reunion, he began to beat her again.

Joyce escaped to another shelter, leaving everything behind, including her 18-year-old son who now lives with his grandmother. Clean from drugs for five years now, Joyce still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Despite these obstacles, Joyce has never let go of that dream she held inside as a young girl—to become a licensed practical nurse and eventually a registered nurse, working in geriatrics. She has fulfilled part of that dream by working for 15 years as a certified nursing assistant and patient care associate. Today she works part-time at an assisted living and Alzheimer’s care facility, where she demonstrates genuine care for the residents.

“The nursing field is my life and my future. The nursing field is me,” Joyce says. “But I thought my life was at a point where another opportunity for me to finish college would never arise again. Fortunately, with a lot of therapy and the compassion of the advocates at the safe house, I’ve come to realize the strength and beauty I possess. Bad choices and self pity no longer define me.”

Joyce, who was nominated for the Women’s Opportunity Award by SI/Howard County, is using her cash grant toward completion of her degree in licensed practical nursing at Howard Community College in Maryland. She also received $1,250 at the club level and $5,000 from SIA as the South Atlantic Region recipient. Being chosen a recipient is changing her life for the better she says. “My richness comes from helping others and knowing I’ve made a difference in someone’s life. I want to thank Soroptimist for making my dreams possible. I now have the opportunity to obtain my licensed practical nursing degree without enduring damaging financial stress.”