That phrase may bring a lot of different things to your mind: being choked, a cop’s knee on someone’s neck or back, panic, anxiety, or fear. There are a lot of things in life that can take our breath away. For me, it was fighting an internal battle of identity. I was struggling to breathe physically, mentally, socially, financially, and spiritually because I didn’t know the answer to the question, “Who am I?" It is hard to breathe when you don’t know who you are. When people look at me, they see light black skin with some white features and some Polynesian mannerisms. Who am I? I was born to a white mother and a black father. Who am I? At a young age I was heavily influenced by gang culture, sexually liberated, and hustled in the streets of Seattle. But who am I? “Identity Cry-sis” tells the story of the traumatic turned triumphant. It is the story of my journey to discover who I am, who I want to be, and who I am meant to be. This is the story of how a single mother of four navigated life’s twists and turns to find certainty in a world that seemed to only offer confusion. I hope you’ll join me in traveling through my past and present to find hope for the future; hope for both you and I.