Audio File
Transcript
My name is Nicolette Covington. I was actually born in Brooklyn, NY, moved to Pittsburgh about 2009 to go to grad school at Pitt, and my relationship to the Hill is that I’ve worked at the Hill District for many years, and I also have a daughter that dances at HDAT. The neighborhood that I grew up in was kind of diverse. I spent a lot of time in Brooklyn and the inner cities. And then after that I would say I moved to parts of New Jersey, which is more of a suburban area. So I would say that I had a mix of experiences. My childhood growing up, I think similar to most people, we had our struggles. So I lived with my mom, my stepfather, and my two sisters. We’re each 10 years apart. I would say my childhood had its ups and downs like most people. My family, they’re from Jamaica. So my mom and my dad were born and raised there and then moved to New York when they were in about their 20s. So I would say that Jamaica is very much like the communities in Pittsburgh. When you’re in the country, there are people from Kingston. There are people who are outside of that from Montego Bay, and they very much rep what they call is their parish, and they’re very strongly tied to their parish. But to outsiders, especially if you’re talking to an American, they all like love one another in Jamaica as 1, so to any other country, we’re one, but within the actual country, it’s separated out by their different parishes. I have a passion for working with children and adolescents who’ve experienced difficult background trauma specifically, and I had worked for an agency that was out here, and it was providing trauma therapy to young children and adolescents. So that was what brought me out here. Prior to that, I was doing a lot of in home work, and I had several clients that lived in the Hill District and I supported them as well, and then most recently my daughter. She dances for HDAT, Hill District Dance Academy and Theater, and she absolutely loves it, and it’s a hike for us, but because she’s so passionate about it, it’s a sacrifice we’re willing to make. Some of my first impressions of the Hill District… I mean, I’ll- I’ll be honest, I felt there was a poor community. It had just, again, a lot of businesses and places that were not inhabited, and so it’s just- I really wanted to figure out, like what happened here and what was it like before it got to this point. Changes that I’d like to see in the Hill? I would just say more thriving businesses, a grocery store, and not so much of a separation. I would say that you can definitely see the difference between Upper Hill and Lower Hill, and it really should feel like one full community as opposed to, you know, as you’re driving, you can just see the differences. So a strong woman to me was definitely my grandmother. Growing up, she was definitely a role model. She worked really hard. She did everything that she could to take care of her kids. So there were six of them that she had. My mom was one of them, and she even took in another child that was not her own. My. Grandfather was not always the kindest man, and so he was unfaithful, had another child, and she raised her as her own. My grandmother is amazing. So I used to work for one of the organizations that was located here. They’re not here anymore at this time, but I found that there were a lot of women that needed support with raising their children or therapeutic support, and we grew to be like a family. So it was a very positive experience that I had here working in the Hill. As females, I feel that we have to be more supportive of one another. I find that we already have enough struggles with not getting paid the same amount as men, not getting the same opportunities that men receive. And so when there are opportunities that women are given and provided, it’s really important. For us to lift one another up instead of to tear one another down and be upset or disheartened that it wasn’t you that received that opportunity. I also think it’s really important for us to speak up and advocate for what we need. One of the things that I realized in the work that I did: there are so many women that I spoke to and job opportunities that never negotiated for higher pay. Whatever pay they were offered, they said “OK,” and accepted the first offer. Never accept the first offer because someone will pay you more and pay you what you’re worth. If you are nervous about possibly failing, who cares? From failure comes growth, and that’s how you can improve and learn to be better. And so really, just don’t let anyone or anything hold you back from what you truly dream and want to believe in.