Driven to Inspire: Jamirah’s Path Through Parenthood and Education 

Jamirah Gregory is a Communication and Media Studies student with a passion for people. A self-motivated writer, Jamirah originally became interested in communications after she found her niche in a high school creative writing class. Now, she’s not only conquering her classes, but she’s creating a space for herself in the blogosphere as well, writing a motivational blog focused on supporting young mothers like herself.   

Jamirah started school in 2020 during the pandemic and has primarily taken classes online as a way to balance her busy schedule with the demands of higher education. When it comes to juggling school, caring for her 4-year-old daughter and meeting the demands of every-day life, Jamirah admits “Honestly, [graduating college] was quite difficult. CCP made it immensely easier than I feel it would have been at another institution. The teachers were able to accommodate my needs, so it was very, very helpful being here [as a parent],” she said. “It's very community and family oriented... they encouraged the kids to come on campus for specific events, and they encouraged moms to go back to school and finish their degree.” 

When COVID first started, Jamirah had recently become a mother. She didn’t have any younger siblings or experience caring for infants when she became a mom, so she wanted to create an online community where she could talk to young women who were going through something similar.  "I did it as a way to comfort myself too, because I felt like I always felt comfort in knowing that there was somebody else that I could relate to that might have been going through the same thing [as me].”  

So, she started blogging anonymously under the pen name "pacifyingpen" posting her messages primarily to Instagram, but she is on TikTok and Pinterest as well. “At first I was just slowly [starting to write] for young moms, trying to motivate them and encourage them,” Jamirah said. “ I just thought…Oh, my God I love this so much.” 

“Now it's kind of spun off into a motivational page,” said Jamirah, “I really love having an anonymous voice on social media to talk to people.” She also has a form where her readers can submit an anonymous question or share something they feel like they need to get off their chest.   

Jamirah plans to continue her education after graduating and is currently applying to four-year-universities. Originally, she thought she might want to become a journalist or investigative journalist because she loves to interview and talk to people, but she’s considering studying business or a major that will allow her to work in social media.  

Jamirah’s time at CCP has been full of personal growth and academic wins. One of her favorite accomplishments took place in her public speaking class. “I used to be afraid of speaking in front of large audiences. That was a class I had initially started in person, so that had allowed me to...get acquainted with being in front of people...and it helped me become comfortable.”  

Taking online classes didn't prevent Jamirah from feeling the impact of the community at CCP. She still found time to come to campus for events, bringing her daughter to family fun days, and attending a jewelry-making workshop sponsored by the Fashion Merchandising and Marketing program, to name a few. Jamirah feels that at CCP, she got “the full college experience.” When you come to CCP, she said, “You're going to connect with people, whether it's through school assignments, projects, or just hanging around campus, you're going to connect with people and meet people. That's a big plus about being at CCP too, is that people here are friendly.”