Jennifer Odister, owner of Southside Salon on Market Street, wipes a tear as she recalls the hardship of being a teen mom.Jennifer Odister was 15 when she found out she was pregnant.
Already sexually active, the daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor says she was a poster child for the stereotypical preacher's kid.
"I lived up to every expectation of what a preacher's daughter is supposed to do. I was wild," she says. "My parents were strict but super-loving. Still, after the shock of learning I was pregnant, my father didn't speak to me for a month."
That was 25 years ago.
Today, Odister's father, now retired from the ministry, manages the finances at his daughter's Southside Salon, a hair and spa business she opened in 2010. The baby, Katie, now 25 and a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga graduate, works in the marketing department of a local office-furniture company. Odister is also the mom of Maggie, 19, a freshman at the University of Alabama.
"Being pregnant at 15 was the hardest thing anyone can imagine," she says. "But with a lot of help, I got through it. And because of that, I want to help others who find themselves in the same situation I found myself in.
So on Tuesday, Odister and five members of her staff, all of whom became unexpected moms at a young age, treated five young mothers and a mother-to-be with complimentary makeovers that included hair coloring, styles and cuts, manicures and pedicures, makeup applications and a catered lunch.
"I want them to see us and know we were in the same shoes they're in now. We made it and so can they," Odister says.
The five young mothers were picked by Choices, a local faith-based, nonprofit organization. Ashley Baldwin, executive director of Choices, says it helps women and men with accurate information, medical services and practical help about pregnancy, without judgment or bias.
"We don't perform abortions and nor do we refer them, but we want to help people make informed choices and we support them no matter whatever decisions they make," Baldwin says. "We're not advocates for abortions, we're advocates for life.
"And we're also compassionate. Our new marketing slogan is, 'No matter who you are, no matter what your choose, we're here for you.'"
Last September, Chesney (who prefers not to give her last name), 21 and a junior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, learned she was pregnant by her boyfriend of seven months. He was her first sexual partner, she says.
"My boyfriend and I were terrified," she says. "We were both raised in church, and we knew how disappointed our parents would be. We thought about getting an abortion, but we needed to talk to someone about the options."
The couple made an appointment at Choices and, based on their upbringing, decided to keep their baby.
"I think the thing we were most frightened about was telling our parents," she says. "We're both in college, and we thought our parents would be really angry at us. We waited until Christmas vacation to tell them, and they were a lot better about it than we thought they would be. In fact, my parents were upset that I waited so long to tell them."
Chesney's boyfriend proposed to her last week.
"We always planned on getting married, but the pregnancy expedited it," she says. "We know it's going to be a little harder for us to get through school. I want to be a physician's assistant and my fiance wants to go to law school. We're going to make it happen. We want to provide a good life for us and our child."
Odister says that, when she first learned she was pregnant, she turned to AAA Women's Clinic, the former name of Choices, for a pregnancy test and advice.
"My sister, who's five years older than I am, took me there," she says. "I remember sitting in the waiting room, knowing I was pregnant because I was so sick. I had already made an appointment in Atlanta to have an abortion, but I needed to take the test first. When they told me my test was positive, they took me into a room and encouraged me to keep the child."
With additional encouragement from the 16-year-old father of the child, she decided to keep the baby.
"I was sick throughout my pregnancy and had to drop out of school after the 10th grade. I didn't get to do the things teens got to do. Instead, I became a mom."
Odister and the father of her child never married. In fact, three years later, he fathered twin boys with another woman whom he did marry. Still, Odister and he remained friends, and he paid $89 a month in child support until his death from a heart attack when their daughter was 16.
Odister married several years after Katie's birth and, at age 21, had her second child. She earned a GED and became a licensed stylist. Six years ago, she opened her salon on Market Street.
"I tried to finish high school, but I couldn't. It was just too hard to do with a child," she says. "But I never gave up on myself, and that's the thing I'm trying to get across to other women. Whether they're teens or adults who experience an unplanned pregnancy, don't ever give up. It's not too late to do what your heart desires and follow your dreams. Keeping my child was the best decision I ever made."
Tia Reed was 26 when she found out she was pregnant - a huge surprise, she says.
"I had just come out of a three-year relationship, and we never used protection," she says. "I really thought I couldn't have children."
When she found out she was pregnant, she Googled "abortions in Chattanooga" and Choices came up, she says. The group's Web page says: "If you are considering abortion, Choices is here to provide you with free services and resources to help you make an informed decision for you and your body."
"I went there thinking it was where I could get an abortion," Reed says. "They did an ultrasound to see how far along I was, and I heard the baby's heartbeat. That's when I knew I couldn't go through with the abortion."
She and the father are no longer friends, she says, and she is the sole financial support for her son, now 2.
"I love my son and it's hard being a single mom," she says. "But I've got a good career and I'm trying to make a good life for us."
Surprisingly, the majority of women seeking pregnancy advice aren't teens, Baldwin says.
"Our clients are all ages from all socioeconomic levels," she says, noting that clients can be teenagers, college students or even an active member of a church involved in an affair.
"There is a stigma that unwanted pregnancy just happens to teens on a low socioeconomic level, but that's just not the case," she says. "In fact, we see more college students who have a promising future ahead of them. I see this age, 19 to 22, as the most vulnerable of all when it comes to making a decision about a pregnancy. There is so much pressure based on their decisions."
In 2015, Choices performed around 800 pregnancy tests, she says, and about 500 were positive. Nearly 360 of the women decided to keep the baby, she says.
And, despite all the contraception options readily available today, unplanned and/or unwanted pregnancies routinely take place, Baldwin says.
"I think casual sex is so different today than it was five years ago," she says. "Unfortunately, sex has become so easy and accepted. Society endorses it. It's what you do in college. It's where you have more experiences, where you can be reckless.
"Things have changed. Movies like 'Fifty Shades of Grey' promotes something we don't even understand. We don't spend time talking about the consequences. And abortion today is marketed as a quick and easy solution to unwanted pregnancies. People are looking for relationships but not thinking about the consequences."
Odister says her parents' generation rarely discussed the consequences of sex with their children.
"My generation is changing that," she says. "I sent my girls to Christian schools and we discussed abstinence, but I told them they could talk to me about anything and, if I ever thought they needed protection, I'd make sure they had it.
"I just want them to make good, educated choices," she says.
Contact Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.