05/08/2026
Today I officially received my diploma from my fashion design program, and I don’t think I realized how emotional this moment would feel until it actually happened. The last few years of my life have honestly felt like watching everything fall apart while somehow rebuilding myself at the exact same time.
I think one of the biggest reasons I wanted to share this is because I know there are people out there who feel stuck in abusive relationships, ashamed of their past, afraid they’ve ruined their future, or convinced it’s “too late” for them to rebuild their life. I used to feel that way too.
I never finished high school. I struggled with addiction when I was younger, eventually got sober, but never went back to finish school traditionally. For a long time, I carried a lot of shame around that. Eventually, I worked really hard to become a healthcare worker, but when COVID happened, I hit a breaking point mentally and emotionally. The healthcare system was severely understaffed, underfunded, and unsupported, and watching residents suffer and die because of those conditions genuinely devastated me. I ended up taking a medical leave because I simply couldn’t cope anymore.
Ironically, one of the things that changed my life afterward was buying a sewing machine in 2021 and starting my fashion design page, TKN Fashion. What began as a creative outlet slowly became a new direction for my life, and eventually led me into fashion school.
At the same time, behind the scenes, I was also in a 7.5 year abusive relationship that involved cheating, manipulation, financial abuse, and slowly losing my sense of self. My ex was the one who left me, and honestly, I was completely shattered because I was still trying so hard to save something that deep down I already knew was over. Around the same time, I found out my tuition money was gone while I was already in my second year of my program.
Suddenly, I had no savings, no stable income, abandoned pets to care for, and no idea how I was supposed to survive on my own while emotionally falling apart. I had to take whatever work I could get, working exhausting hours at a minimum wage job just to keep myself afloat while trying to stay in school, pay off debt to qualify for OSAP again, and rebuild my life from scratch. There were periods where I genuinely struggled to afford groceries, and my school even helped me with grocery cards while I fought to stay in my program.
I also had to move because my ex refused to sign over the lease to our apartment, so while grieving the relationship, I was simultaneously trying to rebuild an entire life on my own. Some people around me were incredibly supportive, while others treated my breakdown like entertainment. There were days I walked around completely hollowed out, exhausted, heartbroken, and wondering how much more I could realistically handle.
But somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, I started rebuilding myself too.
I leaned heavily into spirituality, meditation, healing, confidence building, and challenging myself to do things that scared me instead of shrinking myself down. Slowly, I started learning how to love myself again. And little by little, my life started changing.
I finished my fashion design program. I moved into my own place. I became financially independent. I completed my first runway show. I traveled to Paris and the United States for the first time in my life. I found work in the fashion industry shortly after graduating. And now, after everything I’ve survived, I officially received my diploma.
For someone who never graduated high school and once believed her life was already ruined, this moment means more to me than I can properly explain.
The biggest thing I’ve learned through all of this is that your life does not end because you struggled. It does not end because you got sober later than other people. It does not end because you stayed too long in an abusive relationship. It does not end because you had to restart. Sometimes your life completely falls apart so you can finally build one that actually belongs to you.
I’m officially graduating in June, and while I still have huge dreams ahead of me, including hopefully moving to Paris by 2030, today I’m just proud of myself for surviving the version of me that genuinely didn’t think she would make it through all of this.
And to everyone who supported me, checked on me, encouraged me, believed in me, or quietly rooted for me while I rebuilt my life from the ground up, thank you. You mattered more than you know. ✨🐝💛
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