Fort Lauderdale native Jamecia Grandoit and her 7-year-old daughter Promise Jean have been unhoused since August 2024, but that does not dim either of their lights.
“She means my whole world,” Grandoit, 26, said as she organized items in the Lauderhill studio space she uses to style her clients’ hair. Grandoit is a self-taught stylist who is committed to making sure Jean has a joyful Christmas.
Grandoit’s mother Rosa Etienne had her when she was 15. By the time Etienne was 26, she had four daughters and Grandoit —the oldest — remembered the family having to skip Christmas some years.
Etienne’s addiction to percocet caused her to lose custody of her four daughters. Grandoit noticed the difference in her mother before and after her mother developed a drug addiction.
“There were times we’d experience homelessness,” Grandoit said. “The mom I knew before was a totally different mom. Before her addiction she was the best mom in the world to me.”
After their mother lost custody of her children, Grandoit and her three sisters navigated the foster care system and endured the challenges of not having parents to support them.