When Linda Murray Bullard was 14, she was asked to leave Howard High School, and her friends were told by their parents they couldn't speak to her anymore.
It wasn't bad grades or disruptive behavior that caused this response. It was because she was pregnant and beginning to show. Things were different 40 years ago, she explained.
Each day, Murray Bullard rode the bus from Alton Park to the Florence Crittenton School for unwed mothers where she kept up her academics and learned how to raise her son, who is now a captain in the Chattanooga Fire Department.
That experience, along with others from Murray Bullard's life including the loss of her mother when she was 9 years old, have been combined into a memoir titled "The Well Ran Dry: Memoirs of a Motherless Child." She self-published the book last year and, so far, approximately 1,000 have been sold or downloaded.
"I don't want people to get caught up on the bad things that happened; I want them to get caught up on the choices we are all empowered to make," Murray Bullard said. "If you change your mind about how you envision yourself, you change your life."
Now she makes it her life's work to help empower others. Through her business, LSMB Business Solutions, and speaking engagements, Murray Bullard works full time helping others empower themselves. Her business provides support to small startup businesses during their first five years and she regularly speaks on topics including entrepreneurship, the power of choice and how to self-publish books.
"I want to empower people. I want to go around the country and make that my life," she said. "I think that's my purpose."
When Murray Bullard looks at her legacy - three sons, four granddaughters and one great-grandson - she said she knows her decisions affected more than just herself. Not only did she change her life, she empowered her children, grandchildren and great-grandchild to reach their fullest potential. That's something she wants to share with others through her book, speaking engagements and business services, she added.
For more information about LSMB Business Solutions, visit getthebusiness.org. To order the "The Well Ran Dry: Memoirs of a Motherless Child" online, visit amazon.com/The-Well-Ran-Dry-Motherless/dp/1482624028.