Today we’d like to introduce you to Mariah Lucas.
Hi Mariah, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
At 15 months old my mother was murdered over a $20 drug debt; my father was still deep into drug addiction and inappropriate sexual relationships with minors. The first seven years of my life I was in the lowest levels of poverty and used to pay for my dad‘s drug debts by many of his dealers. I lived in several states before I turned the age of six. When I was seven, I watched my father fight near to death with a man he found his 16-year-old girlfriend in bed with, also a drug dealer. I went into the foster care system and was later adopted by my dad‘s brother and his wife. In their home, I had food, clothes, shelter, and all of the material things I needed that didn’t have when I was with my father, but I lacked affection and love. I became just like the childhood fairytale, Cinderella. I was forced to clean up and maintain the house where anywhere from 6 to 8 people were living at any given time. In addition to that, I was subjected to severe physical abuse and eventually raped at the hands of my older cousin. At the age of 17, a month after I graduated from high school, my uncle and kicked me out, and once again I was thrusted back into a life of poverty having little to nothing to my name. Shortly after I turn 18 years old, I became pregnant with my first child with my high school sweetheart who had just returned home from a tour in Iraq. His deployment was devastating to his mental and emotional well-being and I was subjected to more physical, mental, and sexual abuse which ultimately led to a domestic violence case and a restraining order placed against my new baby’s father. I still had hope and knew that I could give my child a life better than I lived as a kid. Just two months after my son was born, I met a man named Cody, and we quickly fell in love. He had a child from an ex-relationship and I had an infant along with the domestic violence case, restraining orders, and court dates which placed a lot of contention in our relationship. Cody and I separated and went different ways, I took that time to get therapy and start building a life for myself and my son, but it wasn’t until November 2011 I realized something was missing, I knew I had to work things out with Cody. Cody felt the same and we began dating November 8, 2011. Cody and I married March 29, 2012, and moved to a new city where he was starting a new job. We struggled financially, barely making it check to check. Somehow though, Cody was always able to provide for my son, and the new baby we had who was born November 8, 2012. Just a year after we pledged our love again. Cody adopted my son Chase in 2013. We welcomed a baby girl in May 2014. And in 2015 I became septic after wisdom teeth removal surgery. My heart stopped beating, and I was placed in a coma for about a week. My daughter was 15 months old, and my oldest son was five years old, the same age as my brother and I were when my mother was murdered. I had a very vivid dream during the time that I was in a coma of seeing my mother and her simply shaking her head no, almost as if she was telling me, it wasn’t my time to go to heaven. A few months after I returned home from the hospital and had fully healed from septicemia, I realized there was a deeper purpose in my life and an impact I had to make. I researched my mother’s murder and ended up reaching out via a five-page written letter to the man who killed her. And at the end of that letter, I offered him my forgiveness and told him I hope he would be able to forgive himself. My letter sparked hope and inspiration in a few organizations that my mom‘s killer was working with inside of prison, in an effort to redeem himself and change from the person he was when he entered prison. I began working with an organization called Healing Dialogue and action in Los Angeles California. After three months of working with HDA, I had been trained enough to facilitate victim-offender dialogs in prisons across California. I was then told that the man who killed my mother had been approved for parole and was awaiting the final approval by the governor of California. With the help of Scott Budnick an executive producer and director, I was able to make contact with Governor Jerry Brown and plead for my mother‘s killer to be set free from prison after 24 years. December 21, 2016, I met Jason Clark face-to-face. On April 20, 1993, Jason Clark had stabbed my mother in her neck, watching as life fled from her body, listening as she took her final breath. Jason was the product of a broken system, abandoned at six months old by his mother in a hotel room, growing up in the foster care system where abuse, sodomy, and poverty were the only things he knew which led him to a life of drugs. Although Jason had completed decades worth of healing while he was in prison, when I walked into that room to meet him for the first time, I could still see that he was hurt. He was waiting for my forgiveness, he was waiting to be able to look me in the eyes and tell me he was sorry for taking the life of my mother, a woman I never was able to know as she was killed when I was just a baby. After that meeting, Jason and I forged a friendship, a partnership, we agreed to turn our pain into purpose and to help others so that another little girl‘s life wasn’t destroyed by catastrophic loss, and then another teenage boy wouldn’t become a product to the system. Over the last six years, Jason and I have worked together to create change and healing. In 2017 I released my first book, I became, which you can find on Amazon. Jason and I were the first episodes of, and the inspiration for, a CNN documentary series called the Redemption Project narrated by Van Jones. We have been incredibly blessed to have been able to work together and create systemic change the way that we have, and we continue to work hard to make a difference in people’s lives. My next book, open, is set to be published later this year. Life is an interesting experience. Hurt people, they hurt people. But healed people, heal other people.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Homelessness, poverty, abuse, and health issues including cancer.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am currently in the process of completing my master’s in clinical mental health where I will follow through becoming a licensed professional counselor. While I complete my Master’s program, I own a small business called the lighthouse industries where I offer life coaching services, breath work and embodiment practices, and chakra alignment healing. Sets me apart from others is the fact that I have lived a life of trauma in pain and grief, and I’ve been able to overcome it and heal. I also am attending A master’s program for clinical mental health, so my knowledge and experience of mental health services is a great asset. I’m also an empath, and I can connect with people in Waze most cannot. The people who meet me in person immediately feel drawn to me, and oftentimes share intimate stories and details about their life and I’m able to help them walk through those difficult moments.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
My incredible husband, three children, and my tribe of amazing friends and family that I have built is what makes me the happiest. In addition to that, knowing that I have a voice to share my story in a way that provides hope and inspiration for others encourages me to keep fighting the good fight. When I have worked with a client, and I can see the change that they’re making their lives, that brings me so much joy and happiness.
Contact Info:
- Email: thelighthouseindustries@gmail.com
- Website: www.thelighthouseindustries.com
Image Credits
JBolton Photography
Conqueror’s Life Photography
Unconscious Path Photography
