Hi SO FLY Hearts-

So I’m loving this Streets 2 Executive Suites hoodie… Gotta love a clothing brand with a message… so fly…

Thank you, to MY Niece and the Designer ‘Lady Caressa’ for giving me a new brand to rock.

I was just thinking how major it is to understand where you come from. That is how you begin. This week I would love to tell you about where I’m from.

I’m an Around The Way Girl. Born and raised on 58th Street SE, Washington, DC. I grew up in one of the many Black neighborhoods of America that had very, very, little resources, known as the ‘hood. This was the ghetto. My hood was part of those city government housing programs -or worse- what was also called housing projects. I’ve always had a problem with that word ‘projects’. I’m up for having that conversation. I mean, was I considered a thing or an objective and not a person!? But that’s a conversation for another time and place.

Being from the “streets”could be pretty low times. Yes there was crime, drama, young men dying right in front of us, kids dying, family members hard on drugs, lack of education for our minds, unhealthy food, spirit starvation and many other ills that hurt a society like the one I lived in. Throughout all of that though, I had to be strong and not allow the bad in my surroundings to get the best of me. When good things did show up I knew to take it and run far with it.

But there was also a high life. I came up around a ton of support and joy. I grew up in a household with my loving sweet & spicy younger sister, three loving big brothers and a fourth older brother too. My brothers were brothers with their close friends from our way and they are also my family. My extended brothers would tell you on any given day that my mother helped raise them. These were true bonds and shared experiences we had. The kind of bonds and experiences only a ‘hood can create, in my opinion. This is where I learned loyalty. And more than any other character in my life, loyalty has done the most for me.

Growing up with brothers and being from this community guided me in ways that give me an edge in life. Despite all the darkness around us I never felt deprived of family or alone back then. I had a lot of people to learn different things from. That was a blessing to me. Family introduced me to love and parts of protection that are still with me. I want them to know that they matter. Thank the parts of your past (or where you’ve come from) that helped make a difference in your life.

Hanging out on the sidewalks and in the streets of our city government funded homes was a way of life -what else was there to do, what else did we know to do. Call it the ghetto, but this was a community for me. I lived up-close and personal to a lot of problems and deeply unfortunate situations. But later in my life, I ended up in all kinds of ‘notable’ places too. Where you come from is not a permanent marker for where you are going. But so much of what you need started there.

I love how things can turn Around. I have long moved away from my old community. (Look up gentrification.) That worked out just fine for me. Now it has become my business to build up youth wherever their communities are. I hope I can be here for youth no matter where you come from.

Much Love