Yesterday, for the first time in history, Americans across the country honored Juneteenth as a national holiday. For years, many African Americans have celebrated the momentous occasion which commemorates the day in 1865. When former American slaves in Galveston, Texas, were finally informed of President Abraham Lincoln’s Jan. 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation and the end of […]
When was the last time you had a challenging situation but you were able to look at the bright side or make something good out of it? Well, that’s usually easier said than done, but my friend, LáDeia McNeal does it beautifully. After a positive HIV diagnosis, most people would understandably be afraid and ashamed. […]
Can you imagine someone weighing nearly 300 pounds becoming one of your health and fitness role models? As a high school junior, a few of my friends and I skipped a couple of days of school (Shush, don’t tell anyone). We spent those days on the campus of the University of Memphis with some incredible […]
One thing I know for sure is that you never know what the future holds. When I met Ashley Daniel, Bradshaw at the time. We were college freshmen excited about serving on the Student Activities Council. By our sophomore year, we were both committee leaders having fun planning events. I was already a mother with […]
I attended the University of Memphis on the Emerging Leaders Scholarship and one of my special Emerging Leaders friends was Darci (Richcreek) Caesar. It was a small group of us, and we learned a lot about leadership and grew together as young college students. Darci has an awesome story including marrying my Mr. University of […]
One of the greatest honors of my life was when I was asked to create a course for the University of Memphis. After I received the Fogelman College of Business and Economics Outstanding Young Alumna Award. The Dean, Rajiv Grover, learned about me and my story. He reached out to me to create a life […]
Today as I celebrate my 42nd birthday, I also reflect on my 15th birthday when an incident that happened so fast changed everything about my life. And made me question if I would be successful. What I learned in my journey, 26 years after becoming a mother, is that to be successful in life you […]
Ten years ago, I shared my story and life lessons in my first book, Life After Birth: A Memoir of Survival and Success as a Teenage Mother. I had no idea then what would happen when I told it. A new chapter in my life started back then. And as I celebrate an anniversary like […]
When I moved to Memphis for college in 1997, I came with two of my best friends and Bilicia Hill was one of them. Friends since 8th grade, we had a lot in common. But what I loved the most about Bilicia Hill was how positive she was during very challenging times in her life […]
