April 2019
April’s SPM’s Mom of the Month is Nadine Lilley. This amazing woman has raised her three incredible children while always working to support her family.

Nadine is an inspiration to woman who think they can’t. Her unshakable faith in God, had her pick up her life and move from Massachusetts to Georgia almost three years ago.

She contemplated this move, but she knew to be able to raise herself to the next professional level in her career and establish a lifestyle she was deserved, she had to leave the familiar and step out on faith.

Nadine has been an inspiration to single mothers everywhere. She had her oldest son while attending college, but that did not hinder her determination in pursuing and receiving her Bachelor’s degree. This phenomenal woman laid the foundation for absolute success for her family, by being a shining example of as Single Professional Mother. Congratulations Nadine.

March 2019
March’s SPM Mom of the Month is Bernadette Fernandes. When I told Bernadette,she was this month’s recipient, I asked for a brief bio. She told me she would try because she finds it very difficult to talk about herself. In her own words, please meet Bernadette.

It’s hasn’t been an easy life. I’ve worked hard since I can remember. Wanting to give up, but there was something passed on from my grandmother and my aunts, and that’s my faith in God.

I’ve worked in Corporate America since I was 19,and fortunate to have worked for people who saw my potential and helped me do my best. I am the Cash Manager for a large medical group. It wasn’t easy, but I became their first Cash Manager.

Dealing with a bad divorce I had to put my best foot forward for my girls. They have always looked at me as the strongest person they know. I had to fight past pain and tears to set an example for my girls to never quit. My decision to divorce their father came when I noticed my girls striving for everything I have done. Cheer, dance and I couldn’t allow them to think how I was being treated was how any woman should be treated. I picked up my girls and left.

Even though one of them looked at me to fix this, I had to let her know that some things I could not fix.  I had to breath and fix me. I’m still under construction and being the best mother I can to raise them into queens. I’m keeping a handle on a stressful job, while putting one through college and adjusting my hours to make sure my youngest makes it to every practice and competition. They need to know I’m always going to be their biggest cheerleader.

Teaching Liturgical Dance to young people and teaching them how to choreograph and understand what they do is ministry. That has been one of my fondest achievements. I gave that up for my daughter’s Senior year, so I could focus on her. I’m not perfect. In financial distress, but somehow I get up everyday, hold my head up, and thank God that he allowed me to climb the corporate ladder and go with a mindset – I can’t quit.  My daughters have been the driving force for me to go on and to never quit. I see how amazing they are. Through every trial, I have to keep going.

This generation needs examples of women who won’t quit. My oldest daughter was in a conversation when she was in College. A few girls thought they were owed something. She told me she said to them, my mom out of a lot of candidates was one of the top two. She didn’t expect someone to hand her anything, but she let her work speak for her and now look at her. She will never know how that conversation allowed me to pick myself up and fight to become who I am. I’ve been a coach and dance instructor. I have mentored many young people, but my best accomplishment in life was raising these two girls while doing my best to be the best example I could be for them.

February 2019
Jennifer Adams Texada is the first recipient of the SPM of the Month Recognition Award. She is almost a twenty-five year veteran of single motherhood and she has done so with grace and scars. That’s right, scars. When you praise her for making it all look so easy, she is quick to tell you the raw truth of how hard it has been raising her three daughters. From the times she depended on WIC to feed her firstborn to the shushing of her youngest during her executive conference calls, because of childcare battles.

Jennifer is an E-Commerce Director and has held a myriad of executive roles in the two decades of her professional marketing career. She has raised a college graduate and has two younger daughters, one just around the corner from college and the other a wonderful bundle of elementary energy. With the sole responsibility of raising and supporting her children, Jennifer has made the tough decisions to move throughout the country to elevate her career so she could provide her children with a lifestyle she has always dreamed for them.

While the decisions to move her children have not always been easy, she is a prayerful Christian woman, who does what she needs to do for herself and her family.

Congratulations Jennifer. You are a true inspiration to all Single Professional Mothers.