‘Put All Fears Aside and Do Your Best’

“The word ‘can’t’ is a swearword in my house,” says Rasheda Daniel. “My mom always said, ‘Rasheda, put all fears aside and do your best.’ ”

Daniel said she learned the value of persistence by watching her mother and two older sisters suffer major setbacks and then struggle and sacrifice to rebuild.

Her mother, Carolyn, returned to school at 40 in 1991. By the time she graduated from USC seven years later with a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a respectable 3.3 grade-point average, she had survived a stroke and endured a physical attack on another daughter who has cerebral palsy.

But there are no martyrs in the Daniel household. Carolyn Daniel is a nurse at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital. Her eldest daughter, Kendra, 25, is a social worker. Middle daughter Anesha, 20, is about to enter a technical school with the goal of one day teaching children with disabilities.

“The few times I even whispered the word ‘can’t,’ my mother somehow heard and said, ‘Rasheda, don’t go there,’ ” Daniel said.

What Carolyn Daniel also did for her daughter was incorporate the love of reading and religion into everyday life and make them lively.

“I read a lot: Maya Angelou, John Grisham, Terry McMillan. I love Confucius. Sophocles’ plays are like Jerry Springer episodes,” she said.

“Because of Mom, I also have a strong belief in God and my abilities,” she said.

Then, looking up at the ceiling, she smiled, folded her hands and added, “There are times when I say, ‘Please, God. Help me out on this one. Love you, homie!’ ”