Born in the Bronx, Brigetta Barrett was a fighter from the start. The NYC housing projects were a difficult place to grow up. With few role models, Brigetta felt very alone. Life at home was tough, too. Food was scarce, her older sister often beat her. Brigetta's mom, generally an effusive personality, would disappear behind a locked bedroom door for days at a time. At the tender age of six, Brigetta was placed in foster care. To this day she can recall being torn from her mother's arms screaming and crying. It took a year, but one day mom came to collect her and her sister. But Brigetta's joy was short-lived. Stopping at an aunt's on the way home, Brigetta can distinctly recall running to find her mother only to learn she had disappeared without so much as a good-bye. The sense of abandonment overwhelmed her. After that, Brigetta's life became one of bouncing from relative to relative, sometimes with mom, sometimes not. Many nights she cried herself to sleep, alone and afraid. But she was resilient, brave and determined to survive, so she found a way.