Blake Roux

At the age of seven, my parents divorced, and the impact on my life was profound. My mother stopped practicing the Jehovah's Witness  religion, and my older sister and I stopped attending as well.

Around the same time, I experienced a series of painful losses and difficult circumstances. My uncle passed away from a drug overdose, my father went to prison, a close childhood friend died by suicide, and later, I learned that I am on the autism spectrum and also struggle with ADHD. Each of these experiences shaped me in different ways, but they also pushed me to seek a place where I could escape, process what I was experiencing, and rebuild. I found that place in my imagination.

Growing up with my mother as a single parent, we did not have the financial means to start a college fund. Like many American families, we lived paycheck to paycheck. College often felt like a dream that would be difficult to achieve, but I never stopped believing that creativity could take me somewhere beyond the circumstances I grew up in. I now take care of myself knowing the benefits of exercise and mental health — I am learning Mixed Martial Arts, including Jiu-Jitsu.