My Why.

What fulfills me and why people should support my passion is summed up in my photo, my why. I don’t need between 600 and 5,000 words to say what you can see and feel from the photo of my son, husband and I. It’s simple, family. My family drives my passions and desires because all I want to do is make a better life for us. They are why I’m currently working my derrière off: full-time job as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, adjunct university instructor, self-published author/co-owner of an indie publishing company, future Doctor of Social Work. It’s my ultimate goal in life to create generational wealth and true passive income for my family. I want to be able to leave my son and future generations to come something more than debt and heartache.

I realized in my community, the Black community, we don’t talk about the importance of generational wealth. It’s almost like we feel we don’t deserve better, and that “the struggle” is a badge of honor. It’s not. I decided very early on if I was ever blessed with children (for quite some time, we did not think it would happen for us), I would sincerely mean what I say when I said I want better for them. I also knew that I would do everything humanly possible to make better happen, and I am working extremely hard towards accomplishing that now.

So, my husband and I had the wild idea to create our own publishing company: Ties That Bind Publishing. We’d always talked about our dreams of writing stories. Initially, about our own adventurous lives; but with the arrival of our son in 2017, the dreams grew! With my love for reading, writing & poetry, my husband William’s uncanny storytelling & our son CJ’s comedic and charismatic personality; we knew it was a must to make our dreams a reality.

But life, as life sometimes does, did not allow the time or space to bring our visions to fruition when we initially hoped to do so. However, in 2020, when we stumbled upon a 2016 statistic regarding “illiteracy in America,” the spark was reignited. At that time, in 2016, approximately 32 million adults in America were considered to be “illiterate,” which meant about 14% of the entire adult population couldn’t read. We knew, it was very important for us to do our part to help combat illiteracy. It is also important for us to create stories and content together that depict the Black family positively, and highlight our community.

We want to ensure that our son has stories that represent and uplift him as a child of color, and other children of color in a positive manner. Education & knowledge is also key, we also want to make sure that he learns from the stories along the way! Our mission is to help combat illiteracy with the creation of fun, transformational and engaging content for parents, children and adults who are seeking to find inclusively representative content through reading, writing and coloring.

The icing on the cake, is being able to model hard work and dedication for my son. Even more sweet, is seeing the joy on his face when he tells people that he is a published “aufor (author).” It makes my heart sing to be able to create content and stories with him and my family; and boy do we have some stories to tell! Our household is so very special and unique, and the look on people’s faces whenever I talk about our multi-generational household is pretty priceless. I often refer to myself as the co-captain of a multi-generational household amongst the many other hats that I wear.

My son is blessed to live in the same home, and grow up with his mom, dad, great-grandmother (my paternal grandmother), and his grandmother (my mother). I wouldn’t trade what I have for anything in the world! I can share however, winning first place would be an absolute game changer for me, my household, and my small, Black owned business. The money from this contest would allow us to bring many of the stories we have ready and waiting to life. And I know how many households will be blessed by having access to stories and content made for them by people who look like them.

So, you ask, what fulfills me and why people should support my passion? The answer to both is summed up in my photo, my why; my family. Here’s the best thing about this, whether I win first, second, or third place; or lose, I will continue to work just as hard as I am right now. All of the commitments I listed above will still take place, receiving the financial blessing would just make my maneuvers a bit easier, and allow me to complete my tasks with more than two nose holes above water. However, no matter what happens, I know my purpose and having that knowledge fuels my passion to smash my goals. I’m clear on my why and that alone is worth it’s weight in gold.