{"id":773427,"date":"2013-10-01T14:15:58","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T14:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/blog\/general\/shay-felder\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:46:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:46:06","slug":"shay-felder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/blog\/impact-spotlight\/shay-felder\/","title":{"rendered":"My Story &#8211; Shay Felder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Shay-Felder-150.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-27299\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Shay-Felder-150.png\" alt=\"Shay Felder\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>I grew up in Washington, DC. Then I relocated to Georgia with my children after my separation. \u00a0It was hectic being a single mom and a provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had to build myself up financially, mentally and emotionally to get out there. I had to talk to myself every day and say, \u201cCome on, Shay, get up! Do this because your children need you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I walked into a Goodwill of North Georgia career center and they showed us a video. \u00a0Then they said, \u2018Have you ever thought about transitioning into the construction industry?\u201d \u00a0I liked what I heard and what I saw in the video. And I said, \u201cWhy not? Let&#8217;s give this a try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The training lasted almost two months. I followed up with my job counselor at Goodwill, filled out an application and obtained a job at the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). It was a very smooth process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I am able to afford a three-bedroom townhouse with wall-to-wall carpet, and a washing machine and dryer \u2014 all of the perks and amenities! I love it. \u00a0My kids are seeing it and tell me \u201cMom, you&#8217;re our mentor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prior to receiving Goodwill services, Shay led a hectic life as the sole provider for her children. Now that she has a new career in the construction industry, she says her family looks up to her as a role model and mentor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":773292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-773427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact-spotlight","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":773429,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773427\/revisions\/773429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}