Working mother of 4 passes bar exam after studying for 9 years

This mother of four’s success story will inspire you to never give up on your dreams, no matter how long it will take for you to reach them.

When Evelyn Uba moved to the United States from Nigeria in 1983, she had one dream: to become a lawyer. Now, after almost a decade of tears, hard work, and dedication, this working mom from California finally got her license!

Evelyn’s family and friends celebrated with her for her victory, but she never thought the rest of the world will, too.

Her daughter Naeche took to Twitter to share a video of her mom jumping for joy after learning she had passed her state’s bar exam. Not long after, the clip went viral and had hundreds of thousands of strangers congratulating her.

“my mom finished law school in 2011 and has been studying for the california BAR exam while raising 4 kids & working full time for the past 10 years. today? SHE PASSED THE BAR!!!!!” Naeche wrote in the caption.

Evelyn’s journey toward success has been a long process. It involved many tears, disappointments, and sleepless nights, but the dedicated mom never gave up on her ultimate dream.

Evelyn left her home of Igboland, Nigeria, to start her journey toward becoming a lawyer in America. However, shortly after migrating, her father suffered a stroke that led to their family facing several financial difficulties.

Two decades later, after taking an extended break to get married and start a family, Evelyn got back on track and began studying law at California Southern Law School in 2005.

“I never stopped wanting to go to law school,” she said. “After my last child turned 2, I went to a school that I could afford that was conducive to being a mom, going to work and making payments.”

Evelyn graduated in 2011 and made it her mission to pass the bar exam, wanting to fulfill what she had promised her dad years before he died.

Evelyn would take the test but would fail time and time again. She took the bar more than 10 times and eventually stopped counting. However, she knew that giving up wasn’t an option.

With each failure, Evelyn became more determined to study harder for her next attempt. She would come home from work as a welfare professional and would open up her textbooks to study until late at night. She didn’t have a lot of free time then, and it caused her to miss several family events.

Luckily, Evelyn had a family who supported her every step of the way.

“My daughter, Naeche, once said to me, ‘Mom, if you give up now, you can’t get your time back. Then what would you have gained out of all the missed time you could’ve spent with us?’ So that always stuck in my head and I knew the only time I’d give up is when I’m dead,” she said.

On January 8, 2020, two months after taking the exam, Evelyn learned that she had passed the bar!

“I started jumping up and down,” she recalled of the moment. “I had so many reasons to give up but I knew I just had to keep pushing. I felt so relieved.”

Evelyn was captured dancing and jumping for joy in a now-viral clip that has been viewed almost 400K times on Twitter. In it, she was also seen kissing a portrait of her late father.

Now that she is a licensed attorney, Evelyn plans to work within criminal defense to represent low-income individuals in marginalized communities.

“Eventually it’s going to happen when God says it’ll happen,” she said. “It might not be easy but you just have to keep going and never feel sorry for yourself.”

Despite facing multiple challenges, Evelyn never gave up on her dream, and neither should you!

Watch this new attorney’s reaction to passing the bar exam in the video below.