Lisa Lockwood Reveals The Secrets To Her Success

Lisa Lockwood's life reads like a great piece of fiction where the heroine endures countless obstacles along the way until finally finding her way to an amazing life. With a few minor distinctions ... This incredible woman has gone from welfare child to beauty queen to being a member of the Air Force in Desert Storm to being a detective and SWAT team member. Today she's a reinvention expert and the author of "Undercover Angel". How did it happen? What helped Lisa to overcome the adversity she faced along the way?nnLisa's upbringing was far from what one might expect peering in on the idyllic suburban home located in Chicago's south-side not far from the Chicago White Sox stadium. Despite the neighborhood's middle class status, her family relied on welfare to feed and clothe seven children.nn"The neighbors made it clear that we didn't belong," recalls Lisa. "They didn’t want us there. Consequently we were made fun of for everything from our thrift shop clothes, to the fact that we ate donated canned goods and bought necessities with food stamps."nnLife was difficult for the Lockwood children and their parents.nn"My dad wasn’t a lazy bum, a drunk or a drug addict like the cliche welfare dad," she adds. "He worked around the clock holding several jobs including working the graveyard shift trying to make ends meet. He was a janitor, he would plow snow in the winter and worked as a parking attendant."nnThe family was ostracized by the neighbors for not belonging and teased so mercilessly that her mother taught them to hide and sneak around to avoid humiliation.nn"When we went to the store to buy with our food stamps we would wait in the aisles until no one was around so they wouldn't see us at the register," she says. "My mom never wanted us to feel ashamed; she taught us to hide simply to shield us from the harshness of people who were really unkind."nnThough she and her siblings didn't associate much with others, they were far from alone.nn"The seven of us learned to stick together," she says simply. "Hard times often do that to a family."nnBoth of her parents were high school drop outs and despite urging to the contrary, five out of the seven children in her family followed in their parents' footsteps and dropped out of high school as well. In addition, three of her sisters became teenage moms. The one thing that stopped Lisa from falling into the same trap was reading.nn"I would lock myself away from the world in my closet and read," she says. "It expanded my mind and my thinking. Reading opened up my eyes to a whole knew life, a whole new world of possibilities. It also helped me to develop my intellect. I became very strong academically and I excelled. My mom really helped with positive reinforcement. She was always my cheerleader and very proud of me. She told everyone how smart I was and bragged endlessly about my grades. It helped me to see that life could be different for me."nnDespite the extra attention she received, Lisa's siblings weren't jealous.nn"It would have seemed natural that they might feel jealous," she says. "But they were all incredibly supportive. It was like I gave them hope that someone in the family was going to make it out of the neighborhood. Of course, the fact that I helped them all with their homework didn’t hurt either."nnLisa learned to work hard for what she wanted. She started working at 12 years old, often putting in 32 hours a week to pay tuition to a private school so she could have a better education and a shot at getting into a better college. She did odd jobs, cleaning houses, babysitting or working with her mom at various vendor kiosks.nnWhile Lisa was busy working she was also blossoming into a lovely young woman. That prompted her mother to enroll her in the Miss Illinois Beauty Pageant; without telling her.nn"She told me after I was selected for the competition," she laughs. "I was so excited. I thought that was my chance to break out of the neighborhood and get my college tuition paid for. But making the pageant and winning were two different things as I quickly discovered."nnIn order to be competitive, Lisa needed money to buy evening gowns and suits and make-up.nn"That's when my industrious mom decided to take an ad out in our local paper and for the first time, I felt supported by my community," says Lisa. "Local business came through with donations to help me compete. For my family this was a big event, almost away for us to hold our heads up high in the neighborhood."nnWhile Lisa had the support of her community backing her, the competition had something she didn't have -- experience.nn"My roommate was the former Miss Teen Illinois," she says. "Fortunately for me she was also very sweet and encouraging. She taught me how to walk the runway, how to position my body when I stood and how to use makeup."nnTo make up for her lack of experience Lisa act as if she belonged.nn"I visualized myself on the same level with these girls and that made all the difference," she says. "I didn’t win, but I placed 25th out of 205 girls."nnWhen the pageant didn't give her the funds she needed for college, Lisa traded in her high heels for a pair of combat boots.nn"My goal was still getting to college, so I joined the Air Force," she says. "I was in it for four years."nnDuring her service she spent time in Kuwait during Desert Storm. After receiving her honorable discharge she went straight to college. She worked full-time and earned a BA in Psychology and a Masters of Scinece in Social Justice. She became a police officer, was promoted to detective and moved up to SWAT team as a firearms instructor and expert marksmen.nn"I usually wasn't taken seriously, until after they saw me shoot," she laughs. "It’s unfortunate, that still today, people judge you based on what you look like."nnThrough all her challenges Lisa always kept hope. She believed she could succeed and worked to make it happen.nn"Too many people hold on to the victim status," she says. "They think, this happened in my life therefore I cannot succeed. This thinking stops you from getting where you want to go and keeps you from trying."nnToday Lisa is a speaker, author and reinvention specialist. She shares her experiences to help people to improve their lives.nn"People relate to my story, because it helps them to believe that they can improve their lives," she says. "In my talks I share the three most important lessons I learned in life: take risk, say yes before your brain can say no and act as if you’ve been their before."n