“Terry,” who is now forty-six, has led an interesting life to say the least. She was born in Minnetonka as the second youngest of seven siblings. Her oldest siblings were girls and were much older than she was, so she was always hanging out with her older and younger brothers. The family moved back and forth from Minnetonka and Minneapolis when she was growing up. Her parents also fought a lot and eventually split up, so she always stayed close with her brothers. They were into loud bikes, fast cars and so was Terry.
Terry has had to deal with dyslexia all her life and unfortunately, in the seventies, when she was in school there wasn't anything available to help children with learning disabilities. Because of her frustrations with school, she dropped out in seventh grade and never returned. She got a job at thirteen at a gas station and soon began dealing drugs. Money was tight at that time in her life and she had no supervision so she was a free bird.
Terry says that when you're uneducated you "go with what you know," and that's exactly what she did. She became very successful as a young dealer and gained a lot of respect from, surprisingly, the males. Sometime in all the craziness of street life, she got together with a jock; a bet at first, that turned into a pregnancy, turned into a bad relationship, and then turned into another pregnancy . . . . Terry became a single mother raising a son and baby daughter.
Later, the inevitable happened: she was caught and put in prison. Terry was determined to get out of there as soon as she could. She went through a Marine style boot camp and got her GED to lessen her sentence. (These were the first two official documented accomplishments she had received in her life).
Today Terry is married to the love of her life, Carly. She works a full time job driving trucks and doing construction, which she really enjoys. She is still into motorcycles and has even custom built several herself, and has appeared on Harley Davidson collector cards. Her daughter recently had a baby and Terry loves being a grandma for the first time. Terry is a hardworking, strong woman with a hard shell but a soft heart. She has a good head on her shoulders and has proved she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to.
| Videos | Transcripts |
|---|---|
| Childhood(WMV) | Childhood |
| Teenage Years(WMV) | Teenage Years |
| First Job(WMV) | First Job |
| Dating(WMV) | Dating |
| “You go with what you know”(WMV) | “You go with what you know” |
| Women in Prison(WMV) | Women in Prison |
| Discrimination(WMV) | Discrimination |
| Accomplishments(WMV) | Accomplishments |
| Wisdom(WMV) | Wisdom |
Note: Videos play best in Windows Media Player version 9 or newer.
Group Members Ashley Conrad, Maureen McCullagh, Kelly Minnick, Laura Pinilla
