‘She really uplifts me’: Fort Lauderdale mom wants daughter to enjoy Christmas despite adversity
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.
Grandoit shares a father with her sister Rochelle Joseph, 24 and has two other sisters, Jada Mareus, 20, and Gabriella Etienne, 16. All four sisters have a close relationship. A conversation with Jada inspired Grandoit to name Promise.
Grandoit is hopeful that she can show up for her daughter as an active mother.
“I got pregnant with Promise when I was trying to figure out life myself,” she said. “She really uplifts me. She always tells me, ‘Mommy, it’s going to be okay.’”
Rosa Etienne was 40 when she died from a heart attack in March 2023. Losing her mother deeply saddened Grandoit, who did her best to stay focused on her career as a hairstylist and secured her studio space in November 2023.
Navigating life after being in the foster care system for years has been difficult for Grandoit, but her perseverance has not gone unnoticed by those around her.
Jamecia “has been a part of our program for a while now,” said Natalie Molina, life coach at SOS Children’s Villages, the agency that nominated Grandoit for Wish Book.“ She’s a [former] foster kid at SOS that aged out of the program. We’ve kept in touch since then. She went through a tough path with her mom passing and having a daughter when she was younger. She is driven to be a great mom to Promise.”
With pink and purple strands woven into her hair that was braided by her aunt Rochelle, Promise Jean bounced around her mother’s studio space with the vibrancy of a carefree kid on Christmas morning.
“I’m writing my name,” Jean said with a smile as she wrote on a small whiteboard in different colors.
As Grandoit looked on, she said that the best Christmas gift her daughter could receive is her own room and hopes that they can find a permanent home. She has spent the past two weeks searching for one.
She also shared a desire for Promise to get Christmas gifts that reflect her creativity and believes that she will one day be an artist.
“She does ask me for an iPad,” Grandoit said. “She just needs clothes and shoes. She’s interested in arts and crafts. She likes shimmering things like shimmering clothes and shoes.”
Grandoit wants to make sure Jean appreciates people of all backgrounds and has gotten her special edition Barbie dolls with alopecia and a doll version of Winnie Harlow, a supermodel with vitiligo.
Grandoit believes being around family is the most important part of the holiday for her and her daughter.
“It’s about being able to spend it with family,” she said. “My sisters are all the family I have.”
HOW TO HELP
To help this Wish Book nominee and more than 100 others who are in need this year:
▪ To donate, use the coupon found in the newspaper or pay securely online through www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook
▪ For more information, call 305-376-2906 or email Wishbook@MiamiHerald.com
▪ The most requested items are often laptops and tablets for school, furniture, and accessible vans
▪ Read all Wish Book stories on www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook
This story was originally published December 23, 2024 at 5:15 AM.
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