About The Founder
Amalia Gohn
My name is Amalia (Alma) Gohn. I am the founder of the Follow The Dream Foundation. Here is a little anecdote about my life.
Growing up in the Philippines, my family is the most important human beings who have influenced me to be the person I have become today. My mother’s hard work, love, compassion and self-accountability is still tattooed in my soul to this day. As a child, I dreamed of a better world, a world of freedom of education but was unable to achieve it due to the limited financial availability of our household. I lived with my parents in a tiny, but cozy house. I have six siblings, and I am the second of them all. As a little kid I always dreamed of what my life would be, and how it would turn out. I had a vision of one day empowering young men (our next step) and women to break the boundaries of settling for less, instead reach for the sky. Although it was not easy, dreaming helped me pass through the turbulences of my life growing up. My father was barely surviving to make ends meet giving that he was earning less than $2 a day to provide for 8 individuals including himself. Education was the last thing on his mind. I remember looking at my siblings with despair due to my inability to help myself or them. Giving that my parents have never stepped foot in school themselves, it became a normalcy. To their knowledge, rather their upbringings, a woman is to be raised in a proper household and then readied for a family life. A woman’s education has never been a concern to my father unfortunately for him, I was too ambitious for him to handle. Every morning, I will sit by my window watching students pass as they’re rushing to get to school. I deter jealousy from entering my heart by dream hence “Follow The Dream”. Through dreams, I was able to escape reality which helped step into a new world. A world in which Amalia (Alma) was to help young girls like her attain to their full potential through education.
My mother was a maid and through her job, I was able to enter into gorgeous homes that I knew we will never be able to afford. That alone drove my dream to a far end. Given how ambitious and overwhelming I was about my education, my parents finally did their best to send me to elementary school then to high school. Thereafter, I met the love of my life and decided to wed at the age of 21 with my parents’ blessings of course. They had no choice but to agree given the fact that college was out of question for them. I arived to United States by plane packing up as much as I could carry, and took off in the pursue of a better life in America with my spouse. I sought after some jobs but none of them hired a non-college educated woman like me so I settled for a different route. The world of beauty! I quickly subscribed myself to a beauty school and came out a beautician that I am today. Hence, a pageantry scholarship. Not long after my graduation, my world ended in a tragedy through the loss of my husband. Through the fire in my soul and my resilience, I overcame it and buried myself in yet again my dreams. Couple years later, I met my second husband to whom I am wedded to this day with a son we both cherish.
My scholarship pageantry is rounded around my life. A life of beauty through pain. A life of overcoming obstacles no matter how tall they might be. A life of perseverance not idleness. A life of dreamers not settlers. The pageantry helps us enhance or uplift the soul of the broken in order to guide them in a bright, shiny light. Beauty is and has been around us for centuries therefore using it to better a young girl life, raises her self-esteem and gives her a second chance in life no matter her upbringings not to mention her ability to further her education which becomes a priceless gift. My dream is to uplift young women and wipe their tears as they go through life. We also counsel and direct these young women to reach their goals before, during and after their graduation. By being part of our foundation, you aren’t just helping a young woman further her education rather, you are giving her a second chance to life. A life of Dreams, Freedom, Higher self-esteem, Life coaches to counsel them, Responsibility to a new world. In brief, You are saving a life!
Thank you for taking the time to read this anecdote. I hope it gave you an insight to my humble beginnings as well as my life’s purpose.
Yours truly,
Amalia “Alma” Gohn
Founder/Ceo Follow The Dream Foundation
