[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1458549864192{padding-top: 43px !important;padding-left: 10% !important;}”][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”0″ images=”4057″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Dr. Patrice Holley: Education is Your Best Debt and Community is Your Best Support[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Born and raised in Memphis, TN, Dr. Patrice Holley’s roots stem back to generations of fighters and go-getters. The story starts with her grandparents, gets passed down to her parents, and is instilled in her. Her grandparents were both college-educated. They actually met on a college campus, but how they got to that college campus is interesting and moving. Dr. Holley’s grandmother grew up on a farm. She also grew up in a county where she couldn’t continue her education past the 8th grade. Her grandmother knew that she wanted more than to live on a farm for the rest of her life, so she decided to pack her things and moved, by foot, to a place where she could finish her education and go on to college. Dr. Holley’s grandfather, also known as her paw paw, was a graduate of Booker T High school when he decided to take a gap year before transitioning into college. He took that year to take care of his family in St.Louis before his friend, Dr. Holley’s godfather, convinced Dr.Holley’s grandfather to start […]
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[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1458549864192{padding-top: 43px !important;padding-left: 10% !important;}”][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”0″ images=”4051″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Dimitri Stevens: Life Through Art and Ice Cream [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Dimitri Stevens is a local artist, who is originally from Oakland, TN. He gets his inspiration from the things that surround him. “To create art in a sense it’s trying to make sense of chaos. That’s why I get inspired by everything I see,” said Stevens. As one might imagine, it’s not hard for Stevens to think outside of the box and he prides himself on his ability to do so. He shows this pride through his creation called “Recluse Gallery.” The name was inspired by the brown recluse spider. Stevens gets inspired by this spider because in a way it mirrors Stevens himself. The Brown Recluse Spider is unique. It has 8 legs but only 6 eyes and it stays hidden. Stevens identifies with the ways of this spider. The way that the spider stays tucked away “off the web” just like Stevens who doesn’t have the biggest social media presence. Stevens says that he himself is a loner and can do his best work and his best learning that way. Stevens is an artist that likes to take risks and chances. He enjoys thinking […]
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[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1458549864192{padding-top: 43px !important;padding-left: 10% !important;}”][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”0″ images=”4050″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Demarcus & White: Priceless[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Demarcus and Jay White also known as the “Priceless Twins” is a dance group that plans to take their brand to the next level. They have been using their past to fuel their fire into the future. Demarcus and Jay White have been working toward building a name for themselves for 8 years now. As we interviewed them, they walked us through what their journey has been like. It hasn’t been ideal. Growing up with a mom who suffered from mental illness and an unwelcoming family dynamic, the Priceless Twins have been exposed to toxicity that has held them back from their true goals in life. They were incarcerated, doing free shows and getting exploited, and fighting over women. They were becoming a product of their environment. Once the Price Twins realized how special their dreams are, they’ve taken time to reflect on their damaging past and learn patience for others and acceptance of others. They also learned how to let go of people who no longer served them and they did exactly that. These lessons have allowed them to carry resilience by giving them a “keep pushing forward” mindset. […]
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[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1458549864192{padding-top: 43px !important;padding-left: 10% !important;}”][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”0″ images=”4049″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Deja Price: Doing My Part[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Deja Price is now a social media activist, and her walk of life is what drove her into becoming an activist. Price was born in Memphis and raised in Olive Branch. She traveled around a lot when her parents divorced and with travel came different experiences with people including racism. When she was in Olive Branch, she experienced a majority of her encounters with racism. There were teachers in her school that would ask microaggressive questions like “why are Black girls always the loudest in the group?” or “why do Black men have a certain kind of chest hair and white men don’t?” These were all inappropriate questions that had nothing to do with actual textbook content, and even some of the textbook content Price was reading were stories glorifying racism. In the year of 2012, Treyvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman. Word of his murder swept the nation similarly to the word of many other staple names in the Black Lives Matter Movement. It hit Price hard as well. After hearing the word of Treyvon Martin’s death, came news that George Zimmerman would not be charged with […]
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[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1458549864192{padding-top: 43px !important;padding-left: 10% !important;}”][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”0″ images=”4054″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Daryll Lewis: Protecting the Fort[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]French Fort is an area in Memphis, TN that isn’t known by many people. It’s a small neighborhood tucked away near the downtown area. It’s a place many would say that you “run into” as opposed to visiting. When you walk into French Fort, there is a calmness to the neighborhood. The houses are beautiful in age and upkeep. It’s a place that Daryll Lewis is proud of. Lewis feels a sense of security in the Fort. He loves that politicians don’t leave French Fort out of the loop of information. He appreciated the Memphis Police Department for taking care of him and his neighbors when trouble arises. He overall loves the community, which is majority made up of his family. Lewis’s family was one of the first families to move into the French Fort neighborhood. The neighborhood was established in the 60s and although it was on the market, not many people were buying the houses due to the industry that was surrounding it. Thus, it’s always been a close-knit and secluded area for Lewis. In the Fort, as Lewis likes to call it, there are 2-3 generations […]
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[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1458549864192{padding-top: 43px !important;padding-left: 10% !important;}”][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”0″ images=”4048″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Darnell Williams: Pray, Protect, and Provide [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Darnell Williams comes from the Orange Mound community with roots in Frayser in The Bay. When you enter the origin story of Williams, there is a tale of a young child who grew up without his father in a neighborhood of economic instability. Williams had to grow up fast and quickly learned the street code to becoming a strong leader without the rules. His mother is from Brooklyn. She is one of the contributing Black business owners in the Orange Mound Community with her own landscaping and home improvement business. She brought her roots from New York and incorporated them into raising her son. Throughout Williams’s young life, he had what he likes to call a New York hustle and a Memphis Hustle inside him. The New York hustle came from the lessons his mother would teach him whether that’s through her directly teaching him or leading by example. The Memphis hustle comes from him being born and raised in Memphis without much guidance on how to become financially free. He knew he had to put the two together to pave a way out of the house and […]
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