Part of The Voice I Almost Lost – Blog #12
By Alana Pierre Curry
Before the titles.
Before the leadership.
There was a receptionist desk.
And two little reasons to keep going—my children.
After working in social services off and on, I found myself in a new season of life—pregnant with my son, looking for something more stable. I bounced through a couple of roles until I landed a temp assignment at a for-profit company. The job was simple: answer the phone, greet the customers, and keep things running smoothly at the front desk.
It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t overly busy most days.
But it was a decent paycheck. And for a single mom, a paycheck meant peace.
There was another woman there at the time, working in accounts payable. She was sharp, but clearly unhappy. She tried to hang in there for a while since the company had bought both of our contracts from the temp agency at that point, but eventually, she left. And something inside me said, What if I did both jobs?
I thought it through. I rehearsed my pitch.
I gathered every bit of courage I had and presented the idea to my boss:
“You’re already paying me as an employee, not a temp. You would be getting two jobs done—by one person, with one insurance plan, and for less than two salaries.”
It was a family-owned business, so he made a quick call to his cousin who owned the company in another city. To my surprise, he said yes.
What my boss didn’t say—but clearly thought—was that he didn’t believe I could do it.
If only he knew how motivating that was.
Motherhood Made Me Fierce
Here’s the thing: I wasn’t trying to prove anything to them.
I was proving something to myself. And more importantly, to the two little faces that depended on me.
Being a single mother gave me a kind of fuel I can’t fully explain. My kids needed food, shelter, school clothes, birthday gifts, and the occasional “just because” treat. They needed safety. Consistency. Joy. I couldn’t let them down.
So I didn’t.
When I was tired, they gave me purpose.
When I was discouraged, they gave me drive.
When I felt like quitting, they reminded me what was at stake.
That job became a launching pad. I stayed there for several years—long enough to put my son through a year of Montessori school (which, by the way, cost more than my rent). He left that school and entered elementary school reading beyond his grade level and with a knack for math that amazed me. And my little shining star, my daughter—was the cutest cheerleader, where you couldn’t just buy any hairbow. You had to buy THE hairbow! If you know, you know.
Three People for the Job I Did Alone
When I decided to leave and open my own daycare, I gave a two-month notice. I wanted to leave the company in a good place.
Before I left, they tested out the idea of replacing me with just one person. It didn’t work.
They added a second. Still not enough.
Eventually, they hired three people to do the work I had been handling alone for four years. One of them was just for the front desk.
The Voice I Almost Lost… Was There All Along
Looking back, I’m proud of the woman I was then. She saw an opportunity and asked for it. She advocated for herself. She delivered.
And when I wonder what happened to that voice in later years, I always come back to this:
She never left.
She just got tired.
She just got quiet.
She just needed to remember the strength that came from not having a choice but to fight.
Because sometimes, the boldest moments of our lives don’t happen in boardrooms.
They happen behind reception desks. In quiet pitches. In the calm certainty of “I can.”
And sometimes, the fiercest version of you…
shows up when two little humans are watching.