Teen mom from Homestead builds a life for herself and 2-year-old son
At night, after the door to their hotel room in Doral clicks shut, Nathalia Hall focuses on one thing: keeping her son happy.
She wipes 2-year-old Rhylan’s nose, scrolls through games on her phone so he can tap the screen, and talks to him about Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man. She tries not to cry in front of him.
“He’s growing. He’s learning more. His talking is getting better,” Hall said. “In the situations that I’ve been in — whether it was in my mom’s toxic household or in the shelter with many people that I had no control over their actions, or even just here — I just try to keep my baby happy.”
Hall, 18, and Rhylan are struggling to find stable housing, and are temporarily staying in a hotel paid for by the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. According to Hall, the program covers their room for up to 90 days. She has no plan yet for where they’ll go when the time runs out.
Right now, Hall said she and her son need the basics: stable housing, food, clothes, diapers and other everyday necessities that are easy to take for granted but difficult to secure without a permanent home. She also needs support to keep working toward an education that could change the trajectory of her life — and her son’s.
“I want my baby to be able to make better decisions than I have,” she said. “I want him to be better, smarter, different — and choose a different path.”
Through the Miami Herald’s Wish Book holiday fundraising drive, readers can help Hall and her son take steps toward that path — offering not just material support, but a chance at stability, dignity and hope during a critical moment in their lives.
Hall was nominated for Wish Book by Aisha Hassan, a program specialist at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, a nonprofit youth mentoring organization. Hassan described Hall as an “ambitious and goal-oriented mother.” She never missed any school-to-work site visits for the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, Hassan said, and treated everyone at the visits with kindness and respect.
Hall was born in South Miami and raised mostly in Homestead. She graduated from Homestead Senior High School this past June, despite a childhood she says was marked by instability. Still, Hall excelled in school. She earned A’s and B’s and dreamed of a different future.
During her sophomore year, while taking virtual classes, she found out she was pregnant.
At first, she considered an abortion. Then she changed her mind.
“I decided to keep him because I felt like he would give me the love and motivation I need to keep going,” she said.
She stayed in school throughout her pregnancy and gave birth to Rhylan just days before her 16th birthday.
Now, Hall is largely raising him alone. Every day, she is his primary caregiver — feeding him, comforting him, playing with him, and trying to create moments of normalcy even when her own life feels anything but. They spent this past holiday visiting Christmas Wonderland.
“All my memories that I have with him are my favorite,” she said. She smiles when she talks about taking him to the pool, celebrating his first birthday and a trip to Volcano Bay when he was still a baby. Recently, she scraped together money to buy him some new clothes.
“I know the situation we’re in,” she said. “But I also want him to enjoy himself too, because he didn’t ask to be here. My job is just to keep him happy, no matter what it takes.”
Hall said her employment situation is uncertain. She has worked in food service, but her hours are on hold as she navigates housing transitions and the lack of reliable child care. She’s applied to more than 300 jobs, she said, searching for something stable enough to support her son.
In October, Hall enrolled in Miami-Dade College’s nursing program. She has two years left to complete the degree, though she’s considering switching to a technical program that would allow her to graduate sooner and start earning a steady income.
But Hall’s biggest goals are modest and urgent: “I want to move into a place that’s comfortable and more peaceful for my child.”
HOW TO HELP
To help this Wish Book nominee and more than 150 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
Miami Herald staff reporter Clara-Sophia Daily also contributed to this report.