Valerie eventually bought a decent laptop on credit and set up a workstation in the corner of her studio. She began taking on “tasks”—small modeling jobs for interior designers and advertising agencies.
There were nights she cried over the software, struggling with complex lighting and textures, working until her eyes burned. She was slow at first, missing deadlines and losing sleep, but she refused to quit. She used her high school English skills to communicate with international clients, slowly building a portfolio.
Her eye for detail was her secret weapon. She didn’t just build models; she understood aesthetics. She knew how to make a digital room feel warm and lived-in. Soon, her “tasks” became “projects,” and her paychecks began to grow.
Her neighbor, Nancy—a mother of two—became her lifeline. Nancy watched William when Valerie had to pull extra hours or attend a virtual meeting. They became a family of choice.
“You’re going to make it, Val,” Nancy would say, handing her a cup of coffee. “I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as you.”
Valerie didn’t take a maternity leave in the traditional sense; she worked until the day William was born and was back at her computer a week later. William was a healthy, vocal baby who seemed to understand when his mother needed to focus.
“That boy’s going to be a CEO,” the nurses had joked at the hospital. “He’s got a voice that demands attention.”
Valerie named him William, after her grandfather. She worked at the factory part-time now, spending the rest of her hours building a digital empire from her kitchen table. She ate her meals while rendering files, her life a blur of fabric dust and pixels.
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