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My Story — From Hardship to Hope, From Survival to Advocacy

My name is Rebecca Jane Smith — known to many as Becky. This is how I found my voice, and why I spend every day lifting others up so no one walks the hardest roads alone.

🕯️ The Foundation: Faith, Family, and a Twin’s Light

I grew up holding close two things: my faith, and the love of family. Most precious of all was my twin — a part of my very soul, walking beside me through every joy and every stumble. Losing them left a hollow place nothing seemed able to fill… until I learned: what we carry in grief can become fuel for grace. I learned that every life matters, every voice deserves to be heard, and no one should ever feel invisible or forgotten.

I built my own family, loved deeply, and learned that home is not just walls and a roof — it is safety, warmth, and certainty that you will be cared for. And life… life taught me what it means to fight for that.

💔 The Hard Road That Taught Me Everything

I walked through housing hardship — the fear of losing shelter, the uncertainty of where to turn, the endless forms and confusing rules that leave you feeling small and unheard. I’ve navigated the welfare system, fighting to understand what support exists and how to access it, only to find barriers where there should be bridges.

And I have known the heaviest heart of all: loving someone who is locked away, fearing for their safety, fighting for dignity even behind bars. Trying to keep connection alive for my children — to let them know love reaches even through prison walls — while battling systems that make every step harder than it needs to be.

People looked at me and sometimes turned away. Bureaucrats spoke in language designed to exclude. I lived what so many face: disability that society does not accommodate, homelessness that people pretend not to see, hardship that is dismissed as somehow our own fault.

But in the darkest moments, I made a promise: If I ever find my way through this, I will go back and pull others up. I will clear the path. I will speak the truth no one else is speaking.

✨ How I Became an Advocate

I didn’t set out to lead an organisation called Choice & Control Advocacy — I set out to survive. But survival turned into purpose. When I learned what rights I had, I told my neighbour. When I found a way through a benefit maze, I wrote it down and shared it. When I spoke up and was heard, I realised: my voice matters — and so does yours.

I turned my lived experience into a map. I started helping people navigate housing applications, understand their benefits, stand tall when facing officials. I spoke on local radio because the stories of the vulnerable need to be heard, not hidden. I created resources and merchandise to fund outreach, to keep showing up, to keep caring. I stand alongside people with disabilities, those without safe housing, anyone the system has pushed aside.

❤️ Why I Do This

I advocate because I know what it feels like to be hungry for hope.

I do this because choice and control are rights — not privileges reserved for the few. Everyone deserves to choose where they live, how they are supported, and what dignity means to them. No one should beg for what they need to survive.

I do this in memory of my twin — that their life, and our bond, might be a light for others.

I do this for my children — so they grow up knowing kindness is strength, and that we stand on the side of those who need help most.

I do this for my partner — believing in fairness, in humanity, in the possibility of redemption and dignity for all.

I do this because my faith calls me to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and set the oppressed free.

🌿 My Promise

I am not an advocate because I have all the answers. I am an advocate because I know the questions. I have felt the confusion, the fear, the exhaustion — and I have found hope. My mission is simple: walk beside you, help you find your voice, and fight until every person in our Waikato communities has a safe home, fair support, and the freedom to shape their own life.

Hardship broke parts of me — but it built something stronger too. It built us. And together, we are unstoppable.

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