Excell Network Magazine | Spring 2021
W
ith her 30th birthday only a couple of years away, Nicole Bronson decided to step back and take a good look at her life. Thirty, in her book, was an important milestone. It was a fine time to take stock. Why not do it now? She saw that she mostly had what she had been striving for ̶ a six-figure income, savings, good credit, two cars that were paid for, fine clothes to wear, a nice home in Martinez for her daughter Mia and herself.
Issue 02
NICOLE BRONSON
It was a long way from the paycheck-to-paycheck environment she had grown up in, but a deep sense of satisfaction, or fulfillment, eluded her. “I always had this desire for a better lifestyle,” she says, “but it didn’t feel like anything.” Bronson grew up in the Fillmore and Lakeview districts of San Francisco, the mixed-race child of parents who divorced when she was eight. She realized that, materially, she was better off than her friends who lived in the projects, but she longed for the love, intimacy and sense of community she saw there. Although her mother remarried when she was 12, Bronson’s home life remained troubled. She suffered abuse and, after a fight with her mother, was kicked out of the house when she was 15. She quickly learned how to steal to get what she wanted. “The end justifies the means,” she says. “That was my mindset. That’s what it’s like in the ‘hood.” Circumstances changed as the years went by, but the mindset remained. The desire for security and status through material possessions only increased after the birth of her daughter. “I put a lot of expectations on me and my daughter,” she says. “The expectations were not always realistic.”
“I always had this desire for a better lifestyle”
By Dana Perrigan
A
Writer | Journalist | Book Author
solo un par de años para su cumpleaños número 30, Nicole Bronson decidió dar un paso atrás y echar un buen vistazo a su vida. Treinta, en su libro, era un escalón importante. Era un buen momento para evaluar. ¿Por qué no hacerlo ahora? Vio que en su mayoría tenía lo que había estado luchando: un ingreso de seis cifras, ahorros, buen crédito, dos autos pagados, ropa elegante para usar, una linda casa en Martínez para su hija Mia y para ella. Estaba muy lejos del entorno de cheque a cheque en el que había crecido, pero un profundo sentido de satisfacción o realización la eludía. "Siempre tuve este deseo de un mejor estilo de vida", dice, "pero no se sentía como nada".
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