Single mom beats the odds
Growing up with a single mother, Brittany Turner didn’t want to “repeat the cycle.”
“When I was a kid, my mom worked so much because she was a single mom, and she was in school and things of that sort,” she said.
However, at 23 years old, she had her daughter, Kaylee.
“At first, it was really damaging to me because I didn’t want to repeat the cycle, but it’s empowered me a lot and it’s made me and my mom’s relationship a little bit better because I kind of understand that she really just did everything she could to better herself so I could have a better life.”
Turner’s mother was 16 years old when she had her, making her a much younger mother than Turner herself.
“I was just so mad at her because she was never home, but she was getting her education,” she said.
“If I wasn’t a single mom, I probably wouldn’t understand her struggles or what she really went through.”
Originally from Hot Springs, Turner moved to Dallas when she was 6 years old, but moved back to the Spa City when she was 16. The Lakeside graduate attended Ouachita Baptist University for a year.
With no degree, Turner said she found herself applying to jobs online after having her daughter. That’s how she was hired on as a front desk clerk for Courtyard by Marriott Hot Springs. It didn’t take more than a year before she was promoted to a sales representative position for the hotel, and she was most recently promoted to the director of sales position in April.
“It is kind of self-stretching because I’m out of my comfort zone a lot, going out and kind of just introducing myself and putting myself out there,” she said. “I’ve always been a background worker. That’s where I work best at, but it’s been informational, making me more confident.”
Although she has found success in the hospitality industry, Turner said she could see herself following in her mother’s footsteps and going back to college “if the opportunity ever presented itself.”
“There weren’t really a lot of things for me to do,” Turner said about her childhood. “That’s why I’m so shy now, because I was always at home and just watching TV, not really doing anything. So, I want to kind of evolve that and make a difference.”
As if being a single mother and working full time isn’t enough, Turner also volunteers as an ambassador for The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, sings in
the NuEra Community Choir and volunteers to teach Bible School on Sundays with her church, where she teaches the nursery-aged children.
When asked how she’s able to do it all, Turner said she’s “leaning on her village,” which involves her grandmother, grandfather, aunt and sister. Her manager at the hotel is also very understanding, she said.
“If I can’t find a babysitter or anything like that, I’ll bring her to work, she’ll sit down, watch her tablet and we’ll make a way,” she said.
“Take it one day at a time,” Turner recommended to other single mothers. “I was always the person that wanted to plan, and it just never goes to plan. Lean on God, lean on your family and the rest will be history.”