How Doctor Catrina Pullum Overcame Grief & Now Helping Women Find Their Purpose

Dr. Catrina Pullum has had her fair share of traumatic experiences, but her resilience is a testament of how she’s been able to turn her pain into triumph. After overcoming sexual abuse, domestic violence, becoming a teen mom, divorce and loss, she has devoted her life to now helping other women find their purpose.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Pullum on her journey to becoming a self-proclaimed “chain breaker,” creating her children’s book series, “Growing With Grace,” and more.

1) What were some experiences that shaped you into the women that you are today?
Experiencing sexual abuse as a child; domestic violence as a young woman; motherhood as a teenager; forced abandonment by my father; being raised in the church; being raised by my great-grandmother and my grandparents; having my uncles and great-uncle as father figures and brothers; attending a HBCU; getting married; getting divorced; getting remarried; losing my great-grandmother, my grandfather; and my grandmother. Whew!  These life experiences created The Chain Breaker.

2) Are those things the reason you were so grief stricken?
Losing my great-grandmother was hard but I managed since I was still in college to survive and adapt. Now that I’m older and the next generation that raised me is starting to transition on, like my grandparents and great-uncle, those losses hit me like a ton of bricks. They were a large source of grief, close in proximity to each other, and harder to deal with.

3) Define what you believe your purpose is and how you are helping women to find theirs?
I am a survivor, and a P.I.M.P., meaning Pushed Into My Promise. First, I was a protector; in a job and life to protect those that could not protect themselves. Like I couldn’t when I was abused as a child. I didn’t realize at first that was why I was taking on those roles trying to protect the little girl in me by protecting the children under my watch. Now I’ve become a connector. My purpose today is being a conduit for anything and everything. Over the years, I’ve managed to build a strong network and I’m adding to it daily. So when people come to me with needs, ideas, dreams, vision, or purpose, I normally know who to connect them with and how to connect them with the right people to push them into their promise.

4) I recall reading your were honored by former president Barack Obama. What was that like? Why were you honored? 
It was special for me to receive this recognition while an African-American man was in the Oval office. It was the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, given for service not only to community but the work that I am doing across the globe.

5) Tell us a little about your ‘Growing With Grace” children series. How did that come about?
When we lost my grandfather, I started thinking about how to have the discussions about death and grieving with my youngest son. I went looking for resources, like children’s books, that dealt with the subject and found next to nothing. Then we lost my grandmother and I knew I had to write this book. I thought initially I was writing it for him, but as we started moving through the project, I realized that I was writing it for the hurting little girl in me that missed the woman who primarily raised her. Then as we started laying out the book we quickly realized this would not be a single book but a series to really tell the story and take the reader through the grieving process with Grace.

6) What are you hoping that children, or even adults, can learn or be inspired by Grace’s story?
We hope that Grace’s story opens the door for children to be able to talk with the adults in their lives about the grief they are suffering through, rather than act out or slip into depression. By providing children tools for processing grief, we hope that they can manage to work through those feelings and properly integrate them into their lives. The intent of this series is to provide a common framework for children and adults to discuss coping mechanisms for grief, and by doing so hopefully lead both of them into healing. All sale proceeds will benefit the Center of Empowerment for Families & Youth’s H.O.P.E. Legacy Foundation to provide grief counseling for youth ages 17 and under.

You may learn more about Dr. Pullum, the work she’s doing and how you can be of assistance by visiting the-chainbreaker.com.

For more on her “Growing With Grace” children’s book series visit growingwithgrace.biz.

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