The late honorable John Lewis said, "If you don't do everything you can to change things, they will remain the same. You only pass this way once. You have to give it all you have."

Those words that I recently read sparked a reminder of what motivates me to create spaces for change and DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). I only pass this way once.  We only pass this way once. So, I decided to step out in faith to pursue what has been ingrained in me for a long time. My life has always been around building bridges where we all can meet and cross to the other side together.

My upbringing was in a well-known city of Memphis, Tennessee, during tumultuous time of the Civil Rights era. It was a period of school desegregation, which I was very much a part of. It was a time where the oppressive system of segregation that kept Black and White students from going to school together as well as many places in the city and across the country that Blacks couldn’t go.  I, along with many Black students, would arrive at a school across town to be the first to integrate schools across Memphis where most schools were predominately White.  I remember the name-calling, fears, and anxiety of asking myself, why do these people hate us so much? What have we done to them?  But, as I matriculate through my early school age journey into high school, I found myself numb and frustrated at the conversations around race. I was ignorant because I had allowed myself to become causal in my actions and dialogue to the tensions of race discussions that eventually affected my identity. I was in a state of deny and bewilderment as to race, cultural and how that affected me. However, I started asking myself questions about my identity as a human being, created in God's loving image which placed me in a personal crisis mode. I knew I was created for a purpose, but I wrestled with the notion of God loving my Black skin. This skin he wrapped around me which drew and still draws so much hate.

My parents and the church we attended, always taught and lived out what it means to treat people with fairness, try understanding their situation, and listen. That platform gave me the drive to live my life in a way where people can share their stories and know that their story matters.

We live in a time where things are changing fast, and people are being pulled into corners of conversation they’ve never imagined. Conversations around race, culture, gender, ethnicity, etc., have moved people to examine themselves and figure out how to have more in-depth meaningful dialogue around what could be and has been explosive topics. The reality is that culture, race, ethnicity and etc., affects all of us. We can't turn a blind eye or become conversational deaf because we feel ill-equipped to have these dialogues and not debates, conversations, and not conflicts and finally listening without judging.

My hope behind LEAPS (Your Story Matters Too!) is to provide platforms for learning and development for individuals and organizations to grow beyond cultural awareness to a place of being culturally intelligence. We work and live in spaces where sometimes being your authentic self is unsafe and overwhelming.  Because some have to assimilate into a corporate/organization culture around dominance factors that at best are both recognizable and unrecognizable which can and will be detrimental to the health of any organization.

The WHY? We all need cultural intelligence in every aspect of our lives.  My desire is for organizations and the lives of people from various backgrounds to cross racial, cultural, and economic lines to have safe spaces for telling and hearing the stories of those we work and live closely with.  The cultural friction and unrest within the borders of America and organizations have produced the need for a clarion call for all of us to listen, process, and take collective action together to deliver the best outcome.  It’s about the willingness to CHANGE!

The courage and love of my parents and the shaping of close friends and strangers, I've learned how to be a bridge for hope and change to help create safe spaces. I do this for change. I believe in this because I still believe in hope. Lastly, I do this because it's my calling in a complex, confusing, and challenging world we engage with daily.

The story behind the story

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