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Friday, October 30, 2026Oct 30

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Making it, one check at a time: Chattanooga area woman subject of HBO documentary

WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY• What: Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert• When it airs: March 17 at 9 p.m. on HBO• If you miss it: The documentary will also be available free at hbo.com, shriverreport.org and on YouTube between March 17 and March 24.• For more information: facebook.com/HBODocsSource: HBO

WOMEN ON THE BRINK: FACTS AND STATS• One in three women in America is living in poverty or teetering on the brink of poverty.• Women make up nearly two-thirds of minimum-wage workers.• More than half of babies born to women ages 30 and younger are born to unmarried mothers.• One in five American families has a homemaker mom and working dad.Source: The Shriver Report: A Women’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink

photo Katrina Gilbert, a Chattanooga-native and single mom, poses for a portrait at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga on Tuesday. A new HBO documentary called “Paycheck to Paycheck: the Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert” follows Gilbert through a year of her life as she struggles to make ends meet.

Tuesday was a homecoming of sorts for 30-year-old Katrina Gilbert.

The Chickamauga, Ga., native walked the stage at Chattanooga’s Memorial Auditorium 13 years ago to claim her high school diploma from Rossville’s Ridgeland High School. And Tuesday, she returned.

She sat in the same auditorium, this time with her three kids — daughters in sparkly purple and pink dresses and son in a suit — and watched an HBO documentary that was all about her. About her life. Her struggles. Her triumphs.