Daniell Washington: Founder, The Big Blue and You Foundation
Posted: May 4, 2011 Filed under: Interviews with Activists, WMYG? Interviews | Tags: community involvement, mother daughter, ocean conservation, the big blue and you, The Big Blue and You Foundaiton, Untamed Science Leave a comment »
Daniell Washington
Founder, The Big Blue and You Foundation
Miami, FL
“I think about it sometimes and I wonder why God chose me to be so blessed to have a mom like her. I hope that one day I can be at least part of how great she’s been to me as a mom to my children. I’m just so grateful.”
I started my own non-profit just over two years ago called The Big Blue and You Foundation. I had submitted my idea for a marine TV show to Roxy and I won first place, so I got a $10,000 prize to start my company.
I wanted to do more for my community. I started it with my mom, and she’s now the executive director. We’re the only two full time people and we have five interns that are all in college.
The Big Blue and You is really about inspiring and empowering kids to be true stewards of the ocean through art. We just had Art by the Sea. We’re also doing an event during the year for families. We’re just getting out in the community The next big project will definitely be our webisodes, talking about south Florida and the marine environment. I’m working on getting the TV show up and running. Read the rest of this entry »
Chris Rackliffe: Social Media Editor
Posted: April 20, 2011 Filed under: WMYG? Interviews | Tags: chris rackliffe, editor in chief, ibis yearbook, ibis yearbook editor, mens health social media, social media editor, womens health social media 1 Comment »
Chris Rackliffe
Social Media Editor
New York City, NY
“To think about it now, it almost brings me to tears. It would have been really easy for me to fall through the cracks, but there were just so many who saw that light in me and nurtured me. There were people reaching out to me left and right, asking if I need to talk to someone.”
I’ve been through some really strange things in life. My parents divorced when I was two. I ended up living with my mom until I was about five or six. She had substance abuse issues. I had some sort of bruise on me and they thought she was beating me. She wasn’t, but they took me away from her. I ended up being raised by my dad.
As a sophomore in high school, my mom’s health started deteriorating. She started drinking and smoking herself to death. She ended up in the ICU because her body basically just let out. Her organs were starting to fail. She was in the ICU for like a month, she lost all of her muscle mass. She made it through, but it was a really weird time because I was so busy with school and soccer and being a normal kid. She ended up becoming disabled.
The following year, right at the end of my junior year in high school, my dad ended up having a stroke. Thankfully I was home when it happened and I knew that he was having a stroke. He ended up becoming legally blind and completely relearning how to read and write. He’s not allowed to drive. He was forced into early retirement, so at that point I had two parents who were disabled and you can’t survive like that, you know? My dad ended up moving to Indianapolis for rehab. My aunt and uncle helped him get his life back in order.
I was about to enter my senior year. I wound up living with my best friend and her family in their house. We ended up drifting apart; I lived on the other side of the wall from her and never saw her.
Bassey Ikpi: Writer, Poet & Mental Health Advocate
Posted: April 6, 2011 Filed under: WMYG? Interviews | Tags: Bassey Ikpi, Bipolar II, Mental Health, Mental Health Advocate, Mental Wellness, Spoken Word, Writer 1 Comment »
“When I start getting, “oh I can’t do this, what made me think I can write a book?” she kicks my butt and really reminds me what I’m writing and who I’m writing for… Because she’s her, I do it when she tells me to do something.”
My two mentors, Denene Millner and Meri Danquah, they’re people that I’ve admired for years. Over the last year, I’ve become personally acquainted with both of them. That never happens – you admire someone from far, you never get to meet them. They never like you and take you under their wing.
Denene, I met through a mutual friend. She’d been reading my work; she encouraged me to write more. I was like “no, I’m not really a writer. I just blog sometimes and don’t really take it out of the poetry realm.” She gave me a lot of confidence and perspective, she showed me my strengths. A lot of young writers get caught in the way they sound. They wonder if they sound enough like other people for the general audience to be accepting of them. But she told me, “Nobody writes like you, so you should be the one writing like you and they should be the ones wondering if they should be writing like you.” Read the rest of this entry »
D.R.E.S. tha BEATnik, Underground Concierge
Posted: November 10, 2010 Filed under: WMYG? Interviews | Tags: Atlanta Hip Hop, D.R.E.S. tha Beatnik, Dres, hip hop, Hip Hop Education, Hypeman, Music Education, Underground Culture, Urban Culture, World Famous Mic Club 2 Comments » 
D.R.E.S. tha BEATnik
Underground Concierge
Atlanta, GA
“I do recognize that no one can make it out here in this world alone… I might not be able to change the world overnight but I can at least contribute. All the world’s a stage and everyone can contribute a verse, I just want mine to be heard.”
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“My name is Andre Karim Lett. I’m publicly known as D.R.E.S. tha BEATnik and I am an underground concierge. I’m a host and an emcee, a human beat boxer, and lecturer, and promoter, and I make sure everybody gets what they need, when they need it, and how they need it.
“I started 4Kings Entertainment in Philly with three of my best friends – we all attended Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, hence the name 4Kings. We started with Sunday get-togethers and house parties and all that. It’d feel very Dead Poets Society-esque. [We’d] share stories, music, books, magazines; my grandmother would cook Sunday dinner for us. Every time we’d get together, we’d ask people to bring someone new the next week. It got to the point where it got so big that we had to find somewhere else to go. I kept it going pretty much until I graduated high school. Read the rest of this entry »
Cooper Holland, Central Atlanta Progress
Posted: November 3, 2010 Filed under: WMYG? Interviews | Tags: Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association, business women, Central Atlanta Progress, Cooper Holland, Creative careers 2 Comments »
Cooper Holland
Senior Project Manager, Central Atlanta Progress
Atlanta, GA
“My children inspired me constantly to do better, to work harder, to find new ways to reinvent myself. “
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“How I got here is a long and winding story. On the way, I learned from so many people who I guess were overwhelmed by me, inspired by me, I don’t know, they just gave me chances. One of the great chances in my life, I started out as a book keeper at The Mescon Group and ended up being COO [,partner and CFO]. I was the only one without a college degree and my partners all had PhDs. I was given chances. It was a great job, but it was a corporate job. I decided I wanted a more creative life. Read the rest of this entry »
Stan Zeff, House DJ and Electronics Techie
Posted: October 27, 2010 Filed under: WMYG? Interviews | Tags: Atlanta house music, Greenhouse ATL, House DJ, House music, London House music, sound system, Stan Zeff, TAMBOR 2 Comments »
Stan Zeff“Part of my growing up was living in a bedroom with three brothers. It was just full of music all the time. I was a little kid just watching them… As time got later on, we more seriously collaborated. We kind of bounce ideas off each other and we share things with each other… Musically we’ve always worked together.”
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“I was born in London, my parents are from the Caribbean. My father is from St. Lucia, my mother from St. Vincent. I’ve always had two loves in life; my first love is electronics, my second is music.
“My father was a builder. He bought this house, then he built four extensions on it because I have three brothers and two sisters. Part of my growing up was living in a bedroom with three brothers. It was just full of music all the time. I was a little kid just watching them. Read the rest of this entry »
Tanya Fowlow, Artist Manager and Assistant
Posted: October 20, 2010 Filed under: WMYG? Interviews | Tags: artist management, Canadian hip hop, hip hop, music management, Promise, Tanya Fowlow 4 Comments »
Tanya FowlowArtist Manager & Assistant
“I started [what I do] because of a Canadian hip-hop artist by the name of Promise. He was looking for someone to help him organize his business finances. He heard about me through a mutual friend at church and he brought a shoe box of receipts to me and said, “What do I do?” His manager Andrew was really excited once Promise came back to him. About a month later before they went on tour, [Andrew] called me and asked me if I would be interested in taking care of some stuff back home while they were gone. We met for about 20 minutes before they left.
“Then [Andrew] talked to me about becoming part of his company. When he and I met he was really clear about what he expected from a character standpoint and he wouldn’t really compromise with that. That was so rare from a music business standpoint. He really expected that from everyone on the team. It was really an honor for me. We’re still business partners today. We manage Liya now, Promise’s wife. Read the rest of this entry »
