After moving to Los Angeles with less than $200 in order to teach women how to rebuild their lives in a new city, I fumbled and fell a few times while trying to become accustomed to west coast living. I'm from Miami, where the weather is always warm,...

I moved to Los Angeles from Hollywood, Fla., with less than $200.  So far I've managed to make it here for 11 months. Someone once told me, "If you can make it a year in Los Angeles, you can make it anywhere."

I'm not doing this just for myself although my...

Have you ever gone through a situation that led you to have to make a transition to a new city? Have you recently gotten a divorce? Have you just graduated college? Did you lose your home to foreclosure? Is there an opportunity waiting for you in a new city but...

The scope of American health care will change completely once President Obama's Affordable Care Act is implemented. The premise of the new law will require employers to provide health insurance for their full-time employees.

Workers who have previously been unable to afford healthcare are applauding this effort while...

A few days ago, my cell phone chimed and I saw that the President had replied to my request for a meeting with him. In my email request, I explained my idea for a jobs initiative that would ask big businesses to show their corporate social responsibility by holding a...

I think I'm out of ideas.

I've been trying to reach the president to tell him about The Rebuild Your Life Project jobs initiative -- United 9 to 5. It's a program that I developed that asks big businesses to create jobs for Americans by holding a one day...

After the tragic shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida last month, the neighborhood watchman who pulled the trigger, 28-year-old George Zimmerman, is still not in police custody. This incident has prompted marches, demonstrations, walk-outs and protests from angry people across the country who believe Zimmerman should have been...

Dear President Obama,

Greetings to you, our First Lady Michelle and ofcourse your two beautiful daughters. Thank you for daring to take on the position of the presidency during such a tumultuous time in our country's history. I believe in you and so many others do too, thank you.

If I can have your attention for just 3 minutes, I do hope to return the gift of inspiration that you gave to me and this country back in 2007.

In April of 2011 I began an amazing empowerment outreach to teach women to overcome their biggest fear- failure. This fear holds women back from going after their dreams and leaving abusive situations because they are scared that if they lose everything, they wont be able to recover. I was afraid too. I wasn't in the best shape financially, had lost both my jobs and dropped out of grad school due to stress. I was afraid I'd end up homeless.

So what did I do? Instead of fighting tooth and nail to maintain what I had, I decided to face my fear head on. I gave away everything that I owned and became homeless on purpose to overcome my own fear of failure and to understand that if I can get through this issue, I would never have to fear it again.

This is what I called The Rebuild Your Life Project.

During the 4 months I was homeless in Hollywood, Florida I:

1) Researched and reported on the skills women need to survive mentally and physically
2) Raised money for a rental assistance grant
3) Interviewed countless homeless people about their mentalities and what brought them to that point in life
4) Organized a job fair for homeless women and women in distress. Sadly, this job fair- was a failure

Not only could I not find homeless women who wanted to work, I couldn't find the 30 businesses I needed to fill my quota. Although I had pledged to remain homeless until 30 businesses signed up for my job fair, I had to give up on that portion of my project and move on to securing a job for myself and moving myself up from homelessness.

I did that. I got a job as a waitress at Denny's Restaurant and was able to offer a $650 rental assistance grant to a woman through my own tips and wages. I saved enough to leave the homeless shelter and move into a house that I now share with roommates.

In order to make up for what I couldn't do during the project, I developed a jobs initiative that asks big businesses to give back to the communities that have made them successful by offering a mass hiring day event which is ONE DAY that they will open up their doors to interview people who need work and select from these people viable candidates and offer them employment.

Denny's Restaurants was the first to say YES and on December 20, 2011, we held our first hiring day event which attracted more than 100 unemployed residents of Miami-Dade and Broward counties. These residents were interviewed on the spot by representatives from 14 corporate owned restaurants.

I would like to expand this initiative to other businesses and I would love your support. Dear Mr. President, Would you please let me know what I can do to earn your support for The Rebuild Your Life Project's Jobs Initiative- United 9 To 5.

I can't wait to hear back from you.

All My Best Wishes,

Te-Erika

Organizing the partnership between The Rebuild Your Life Project and Denny's Restaurant wasn't exactly a smooth process. I had to articulate my vision for a hiring event that would collectively offer job interviews to the South Florida community on a wide scale basis and a five member team...

I bet you'll never know what went on inside my head as I set out to teach women how to overcome failure during The Rebuild Your Life Project. Sometimes I feel like Superwoman when I set my goals. Inside my mind I have such a great idea that...

Yes, I gave away everything that I owned and became homeless on purpose to teach women that they could survive an extreme loss as I navigated through The Rebuild Your Life Project. Yes, I lived as a homeless woman in Hollywood, Florida, for four months. Yes, I interviewed and interacted...

Hi! My name is Te-Erika Patterson and I am 32 years old. I live in Hollywood, Fla., and I am a waitress at Denny's. Besides being a single mom and a karaoke lover, I am in the middle of organizing a massive effort to get big businesses in America to...