Cultural Biography 1

Cultural Biography:
Mini Assignment B
Jasmine Barnes
Georgia State University

Cultural Biography 2

Present Position in Life

Choosing to become a social work major was quite a journey for Jasmine. Presently, she is still
not certain that she has chosen the correct career path. She has struggled her entire life from a
lack of passion and direction. Growing up, her closest friends also shared the same struggle.
Their biggest aspirations were to marry and have children. There was little to no desire to be
anything more than great wives and mothers. Today, all of Jasmines close friends have children,
and a few are even married but none of them continued their education past high school.
Currently, Jasmine still shares the same values as her close friends, and her biggest aspirations
are to become a great wife and mother but she worries if that lifestyle would be enough.
As a child, she was not involved in any extracurricular activities besides swimming and chorus.
She abruptly gave up her love for swimming after middle school because she was not
comfortable showing off her lanky body in comparison to more developed girls on the high
school team. She also quit chorus to take healthcare classes her junior year because she was
trying to make a decision on what career path to take. After all, she didnt have the best singing
voice compared to others anyway. Although, she got along with everyone and was well liked she
was still quite a loner. On the contrary, her older brother was highly intelligent and played
several sports; basketball, baseball, football and track, he even played an instrument in the
orchestra.
Jasmine often feels a sense of mediocrity, and she constantly suffers from an inferiority complex
and has continuously fought to overcome it over the years. Some people have visible talents like
musicians, artists, singers, and dancers. Other people have passionate ambitions; they may have
known their entire life they wanted to be a doctor, judge or own their own business, and they
worked hard and achieved their goals. Unfortunately, Jasmine is not aware of her strengths and
does not have any known talents, so she wanders aimlessly throughout her life trying to find her
niche. She is certain of a few things; she is a good-hearted person, and she enjoys the rewarding
nature of fulfilling good deeds and these facts about herself helped influence her choice to pursue
social work.
Identity
Jasmine is an African-American woman, she is non-religious but actively spiritual. For twentyfive years, she identified herself as a heterosexual but now at the age of twenty-six she has
opened herself up to same-sex dating after recognizing she found men and androgynous or
masculine women attractive. She dated a female for the first time in her life and thoroughly
enjoyed her experience. Jasmine shared her new identity with some of her friends but has not
announced her newly discovered bisexuality to her immediate family. Her mother knows about
her new lesbian stud friend and has voiced her concerns about their relationship. Her mother
does not agree with homosexuality and has referenced the bible to Jasmine on several occasions,
she warns her to not conform to the world but Jasmine is not worried about what other people
think of her. She feels liberated, joyful, and comfortable with her sexuality. She considers herself
lucky because being bisexual offers you so many more opportunities to find love because you
have the option of meeting a great man or woman. Jasmine identifies herself with the middle

Cultural Biography 3

class because this is the class she was raised in and felt the most familiar. Her current class
position is between the working class and working poor. She relates to the working class because
she earned an Associates Degree, and is continuing her education but she doesnt make the
suggested income this class earns. Additionally, she can relate to the working poor because of
her present low income.
Influences
Several factors influenced Jasmines decision to become a social worker. She has always wanted
to do something rewarding and worthwhile. First, she became a Certified Nursing Assistant and
worked in home care and nursing homes. She loved working with the elderly population but
wasnt too keen on how physically hands on the job was and decided she wanted to help in a
different way, possibly becoming a social worker employed at a hospice or other facility. Also,
Jasmine saw several of her childhood friends become incarcerated and the sentencing they
received was unreasonable and harsh which has made her interested in possibly working in the
penile system. Additionally, her newly discovered sexuality and group cultural immersion
experience has peaked her interests in advocating the equal rights of the LGBTQ community.
She is willing to work with and uphold the human rights for numerous client groups. Jasmine is
excited and optimistic about her future in the social work profession. She is not certain at the
moment what her specialty will be in this chosen profession but she is positive she wants to work
with a diverse clientele throughout her career so developing cultural competency skills is
essential to her success.