Spotlight: Tera Walley
Spotlight: Tera Walley
“I went to jail because I’m an addict.”
So says Tera Walley, who isn’t one to mince her words. Maybe that’s what drew her to become a mentor at 2nd Street: to tell it like it is, to accept responsibility, and to create a new life after becoming clean and sober. She should know. Tera has been clean and sober since 2021, but there were plenty of bumps in the road on her way there.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tera moved to the Berkshires in 2001 with her mom, stepdad and two siblings when she was 15. Both parents are recovering addicts, and the move was made when they decided to get clean and sober. They’ve been clean and sober ever since.
“I was raised around addiction, so that’s all I knew how to be. Their life was kind of like my life,” says Tera, who didn’t have much of a relationship with her mother until she went to jail.
“I had to relearn how to be somebody in jail. I had to talk to myself to figure out why I am this way, and then I had to sit down with my mom and it explain to her,” Tera says. “I told her, ‘You can’t bash me because you’ve been 25 years sober. I’m the same age now that you were when you got your life together.’ That finally clicked in my mom’s head, and we’ve had the best relationship that I’ve had my whole life.”
Tera landed in jail after drinking heavily, using drugs and committing a felony she doesn’t even remember committing.
“Basically, I had a chemical imbalance in my head from being on e pills for so long, and I was drunk at the same time, so I blacked out and don’t remember anything I did,” she says. “When I was in jail, I did a lot of self-reflecting, trying to figure out what was wrong with me. But there really wasn’t anything wrong with me. It was the fact that I had taken drugs. When you’re on drugs for so long, you don’t think for yourself. You have to be sober enough to understand yourself. When you’re in a jail cell, you have a lot of time to think.”
Today, she is a sous chef at The Airport Rooms, part of the Tourists hotel in North Adams, as well as her work on the side as a mentor at 2nd Street and at State Food + Drink in Greylock Works. Although Tera was already employed in the restaurant industry before her jail sentence, she’s improved her skills as a result of all she learned while behind bars.
“The way I am now with my work is a hundred times better, because while I was in jail, I didn’t just do nothing. I read cookbooks. I took in all this knowledge from the library, from any book they had in there, just to better my career when I came home,” she says. “I manifested my life when I got out. I went from being a line cook to being a sous chef in a matter of three years.”
But that self-improvement takes a lot more than reading books, Tera says. It takes self-discipline every day, and that means doing whatever it takes to not regress into her old way of life.
“I cut out anybody that was involved with drugs to live a better life. When you’re a recovering addict, it’s about people, places and things. If I see people I used to do drugs with, it gives me PTSD. I feel bad for them, but I can’t be around them,” she says. “I can’t even be their friend, because then I’m at risk for being sucked back into that life. I can’t go back to old habits.”
That’s okay, she says, because her newfound habits have helped her create a new lifestyle — one in which she is busy and fulfilled.
“One of the things I need to work on is that I don’t know how to say no when it comes to work. I like to keep myself busy. I get high off of working. If I’m in a bad mood, I just cook,” Tera reflects. Between her cooking jobs, she meets with mentees at 2nd Street on Tuesdays. Sometimes, she’ll bring a mentee out for coffee, shopping or to doctors’ appointments. Other times, she might bring them to court. Whatever the case, it’s important for them to spend time outside their sober homes with someone who’s been in their shoes, she says.
“Some people get stuck in a routine, especially recovering addicts. When that routine is broken, they distance themselves,” Tera says, noting that one mentee in particular has resisted trying new experiences, such as 2nd Street’s horse therapy program. But she’s making progress.
“I had a mentee tell me she wanted to use, so I told her I was going to go pick her up. I don’t try to tell them what to do, but I change the subject, like, ‘Let’s just go get a cup of coffee,’” Tera says. “I don’t give them advice that I wouldn’t give myself. I try to be their friend. I’ve been sober since 2022, so I can show people it’s possible. I have felonies, but I still have a full-time job with benefits. I’m doing it.”
There’s no question that Tera is motivated to be the best chef she can be, and now that she’s clean and sober, she’s come a long way from her humble beginnings. She started cooking about 20 years ago at Supreme Pizza in North Adams, where she was taught to cook by an El Salvadoran immigrant who taught her Spanish while she taught him English. Eventually, she landed a job at the Williams Inn under Pete Belmonte, who opened her eyes to a different style of cooking. At that moment, Tera says, she knew she wanted to be a chef for the rest of her life.
“I just kept going. Even with my addiction, I was still cooking,” she says. But the addiction finally caught up with Tera, who was incarcerated while working at the Williams Inn. It was a powerful wake-up call — powerful enough to realize she needed to get sober.
“I was sober for a year before I went to jail. I was fighting my case. My life was on hold. I took my plea and I went to jail, but I ended up losing my job because of it,” Tera recalls. After serving seven months, she was released in February 2023. It was the first time she’d ever been in trouble, but it was enough to change her life.
“It scared the crap out of me. I never want to go back again. Jail actually did a lot for me,” Tera says.
Part of that learning experience began with a visit from 2nd Street Executive Director Lindsay Cornwell, who met Tera while she was incarcerated. Lindsay introduced her to the programs available at 2nd Street, including the mentorship program, and eventually helped her get an apartment in North Adams.
But first, after her release, Tera moved to North Carolina to get away from it all, to leave her old life behind. It wasn’t easy. She was making just $10 an hour, barely enough to scrape by. She started receiving emails from the executive chef at Tourists, asking her to come work for him. After eight months, she decided to come home to North Adams and give it a try. It was the right decision.
“When you walk into a job, and they say they’re going to do a CORI check on you, if you’re honest with them, sometimes they’ll give you a chance. But if you lie to them, they won’t give you that chance,” Tera says. “I was honest with them. I told my executive chef, ‘I just need somebody to give me a chance.’ He went above and beyond to get me hired there.”
Now 37 years old, Tera says she just goes with the flow, taking one day at a time. Her mother, stepfather, sister and brother, and their extended families, all live in the area, providing her with a big support system for which she is grateful. They help her navigate the challenges of everyday life, including her fight for partial custody of her ex-girlfriend’s seven-month-old and six-year-old daughters.
“I’ve been back in my six-year-old’s life for nine or ten months now. When I’m not at work, I have my kids or I’m at 2nd Street,” says Tera. “You have to make the best of whatever support system you have and thrive off of it. 2nd Street is a big support system for a lot of people, especially for people who don’t have a family, who don’t have a mom or a dad.”
She credits 2nd Street for being that support system to so many, especially as there was previously very little support in the Berkshires for formerly incarcerated people. While Tera considers herself one of the lucky ones who is leading a better life after jail, she is matter-of-fact about it.
“Maybe I’ll open my own restaurant one day, but for now, my plans are to keep cooking and living my life,” she says. “I’m just trying to live.”
