Book chronicles journey out of ghetto

LaTonya So survived ghetto life in Whiteville, N.C. for 18 years.

Her childhood was nightmarish: a biracial child, the product of a one-night-stand adulterous affair between her black mother and a white man; a victim of racial prejudice; living surrounded by poverty, crime and drug deals in her home; sexually molested by family members and family friends.

In August, she published her first book, “Through the Eyes of a Mother: Surviving the Sin and Shame of Ghetto Life” (Richer Press), which chronicles her journey from a childhood that could have led to disaster to her current happiness and success.

Today, the 34-year-old has been happily married since 2005 to her husband, Kyong, 39, and both revel in their three children — sons U-June, 14, and Montana, 13, and daughter Keesa, 10. They moved to Maricopa from Leland, N.C., about six months ago and live in The Villages at Rancho El Dorado.

“We fell in love with Maricopa,” So said. “We didn’t want to live in a big city, but we wanted to be close to one. The kids love it here and the people are wonderful. It is such a safe, friendly place to live.”

She and her husband own Maricopa-based Alpha Paint Tech Inc., a painting and drywall business. No longer financially stressed, So said she enjoys the freedom to take classes, work on her own and participate in her children’s activities.

This lifestyle is polar opposite of her childhood and young adulthood, as her book describes.

She candidly writes about her own problems with alcohol abuse, of being a poor, unwed mother of two sons with different fathers and of her marital problems. Both she and her husband were products of dysfunctional homes, so they fought, and cultural differences disrupted harmony.

Nonetheless, So was determined to make her marriage work and said she accomplished that through prayer.

“I let God guide me,” she said. “He helped me be patient, hold my temper and find a way to make our marriage work.”