Rosetta Walls, 43

Photo: Andrew Nawrocki

Rosetta Walls, 43
Tower Court and Chicago Avenue

Can I ask your age? I’m 43 today!

What’s your craziest birthday memory? Being 43 and having a three-year-old! [Laughs] I couldn’t fathom being in my forties when I was in my twenties.

What was your life like 20 years ago? I was at Malcolm X College, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I felt really beat up. I always went to church and always spoke to God, but even though I said I accepted Jesus Christ as my lord and savior, I didn’t believe it in my heart. One day at church, an evangelist pulled me aside and said, “You believe in God, but you don’t believe in his son.” That blew my mind because that was my secret. That’s when I knew God had heard me. I repented and asked the Lord to come into my life.

What do you do for a living? I’m a breast-feeding educator at Stroger Hospital.

Is there a lot to it? [Laughs] Well, right now a lot of women have gotten away from it, especially in the African-American community, so there’s a problem with obesity and sugar diabetes among children. Formula stretches a baby’s belly, so the child wants more and more, and parents continue to indulge the child.

How did you get into that line of work? I took a breast-feeding class myself. I was trying to figure out how to get my son, Jeremiah, off my boobs! [Laughs] I nursed him for two-and-a-half years. I called him my boob-head. Boys seem to be much more attached to mommies’ boobies than girls.—Jake Malooley