We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Barbara Richardson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Barbara below.
Barbara, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I get my work ethic from the way I was raised. I grew up in a hardworking family where my parents did everything they could to provide for us. We didn’t always have a lot of extra, and there were times we lived paycheck to paycheck, but we never went without the things that truly mattered—food, a safe home, and a family that supported each other. My parents taught us early on the difference between needs and wants, and that everyone had to pitch in and help.
Those lessons stayed with me as I got older. When I was 29, I became a single mother with two children. I knew that if I wanted to build a better future for them, I needed to go back to school and earn a degree. Before I started, I actually sat down with my kids—who were only 8 and 13 at the time—and asked them if they would support me going to college, because I knew it would take sacrifice from all of us.
During that time, I worked full time as a receptionist at O’Donoghue Dermatology, worked part time at a restaurant, cleaned houses on the
