Contra Costa Times
(Walnut Creek, CA)

"The rule is to keep going and forget where you come from, but the exception is to give back," she said. "My goal is to know that when my life is done that I used it up in helping finance children in the system to have a better life."
Looking at Louise's smiling face today, one would never know that she was once brutally beaten with a garden hose. When she talks about that dark past, a few tears start to form in her striking golden eyes.
This highly energetic African-American woman walks down the street with her head held high. She would rather focus on the future with all of its endless possibilities.
After she was abandoned by both of her birth parents, Louise entered Contra Costa County's system for abused and neglected children, and lived in at least 30 foster homes and children's shelters. She chronicles these adolescent years and her undying quest to find love in her memoir "Somebody's Someone" (Warner Books, $23.95).
In finding her voice as an author, Louise also hopes to unlock the voices of the 600,000 foster care children nationwide. She recently founded the Esther Collins Memorial Children's Foundation for Literacy to introduce them to poets and writers through intensive workshops.
Louise is becoming a recognized spokesperson about foster care issues. Recently she spoke at a symposium hosted by the Celebrity Philanthropic Initiative and has also shared her thoughts at numerous annual conferences on foster care and alternative family services.
Each year more than 20,000 young people turn 18 and leave foster care; the majority end up pregnant, homeless or the victims of violence, according to Louise.
As the result of the severe beatings and emotional abuse of her childhood, Louise became resilient and manipulative in order to survive.
"I learned how to be charming. I had this intense desire to please," she said. "When you are a child of the system, every positive thing that you have becomes (part of the) arsenal in your quest to get what you need."
The book ends on a happy note after Louise is taken under the wing of an employee at the former Edgar Children's Shelter in Martinez. Jeanne Kathleen Taylor even tried to be her foster mother.
"She infused me with a reason to want to live. She told me I could be anything I wanted. She was ready to love me," said Louise. "She made me feel like somebody's someone and that's the essence of the story."
Albany photographer Lori Cheung was so inspired by Louise's book and mission that she contributed portraits of the author to be used in publicity materials.
"The book defines courage, hope and love," Cheung said. "It is the ultimate in turning something around and healing others."
After feeling like a throwaway child and battling alcoholism during her early adult years, Louise built a successful career as co-owner of the Keter salons in Berkeley and San Francisco. Looking at her perfectly painted toes and carefully applied cosmetics, it is clear that she enhances the images of her clients. The stylish hairdresser lives by Vidal Sassoon's philosophy of "each one, teach one."
She not only provides beauty services but has created a cultural outpost for Bay Area artists through art openings, fashion shows and music recitals. A recent poetry and prose benefit featured the artistic works of young women from Juvenile Hall. Through a pet photo shoot, Louise even raised money for the Berkeley Humane Society.
During the next five years, she would like to bolster the foundation and possibly re-open the Martinez shelter, which was one of the safest places she lived in between placements. The former shelter is currently used as a maintenance yard for county vehicles.
"I want to re-open it as a multigenerational community for the elderly and foster children," she said. "When it comes down to the foundation, I want to walk the walk and be an example for these children."
Meanwhile, Louise is reaching out to social workers and adoption agencies in an effort to improve the system. She realizes the need for foster families to have better access to available resources.
Through fund-raisers, the foundation will teach foster children about altruism. The goal is to get them out of the "recipient mentality," Louise said.
"I want everyone to read this story and reach out to a foster child in their community in some way."
Today, Louise is the proud mother of a 16-year-old son and has broken the cycle of abuse. In later years, she plans on being a surrogate grandmother to many and changing the fate of at-risk children -- to once again be somebody's someone.
Reach Paula King at 925-284-7519 or pking@cctimes.com.
Who: Regina Louise
What: Author of "Somebody's Someone," Warner Books ($23.95, 367 pages)
Where to see her: Louise will lead several book discussions in the Bay Area next month:
Alexander Book Company, 12:30 p.m. Sunday, 50 2nd St., S.F., 415-495-2992.
Marcus Books, 6:30 p.m. June 18, 3900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland, 510-652-2344.

Copyright (c) 2003 Contra Costa Times.