“My freshman year of high school, my dad passed away from cancer. After he passed, a lot of people were just like, “Oh, I know you're going to follow in the footsteps of your dad.” And I think that I was resistant to it for a little while. I knew that I always wanted to do something in the medical career, but I just wasn't quite sure of what that would be. But then as time went by, I saw the importance of the legacy. I wanted to be in that space. I wanted to share the same thing that my dad and my granddad had. That’s how my career started. That’s how I got into dentistry.”

“When I got married, I came to the neighborhood of the Cherry community, and I’ve been here ever since. I remember what they did over in Brooklyn. And I felt so bad about it. I was moving to this beautiful city, and to see them destroy a neighborhood like that was unbelievable. I’m still stunned about it to this day. The Cherry community was next door. We were told that we would be next. That’s when we started getting ourselves together and started the Cherry Community organization so that we could prevent that from happening to our neighborhood.”

I signed up for this class called Designs for Black Women's Living in my first year. I took the class because it had Black Women in the title. I don't know who I thought would be teaching that class, but I got there, and I was thrilled. It was a Black Woman. We read Audrey Lorde and Essence Magazine, and Sonia Sanchez. I was delighted that I was able to pick up that class. That’s when the vision who what I wanted to do really came together.

“I form true, authentic relationships with people. I’m a Taurus and Taurus’s are very loyal in our nature. Once you are my person or once I accept you into my world, you're in there forever. And I’m a keeper of people’s secrets. I might know your business, but I’ll never tell it. I'm that person you feel comfortable coming to, even though I'm also the person who's going to probably say the things to you that you don't really want to hear. So I've always been very straightforward. I’m a straight shooter. I am going to say what needs to be said, just not in a hurtful way.”

“Neither I nor my husband are from Charlotte, but we are the proud parents of a little Charlottean. My son was born in this city. I gave birth to a beautiful, amazing little boy, right here in Charlotte. We could see the skyline from my hospital room. I felt overwhelming joy. I’ve also felt deep sorrow here. My mother passed away in Charlotte. But I feel deeply grateful that she was ever here. When I moved here, my sister and my mother both moved here too. This has become my adopted city. A city of many memories.”

“Entrepreneurship started for me when I was a child. I remember going to the Boy’s and Girl’s club. Well, it was just the Girl’s Club then, and I took gymnastics. So I would go back to school and teach the other little girls there what I was learning. They would pay me…for flips. So, it literally started there.”

“I love meeting people and writing their stories. I love helping their stories become reality in any area in which I can. I especially enjoy recognizing the lives of older people. Some people have invited me to tell the stories of their family members that are aging. They like to know that you remember them, and when they see their pictures in the paper, it means something to them. To know that people haven't forgotten them, matters. When I write their stories, I am documenting their history.”

“And so I remember going to Freedom Mall or just hanging out and getting like an ice cream cone with my mom, or going to Hornet's Nest Park or Freedom Park to see my dad play basketball. My young childhood memories were very fun, and I just remember…it was always love on the west side.”

“Someone I know had a gathering of Black women and we went to Crowder's mountain. I had never hiked the mountain before but it was actually on my bucket list of things to do. And it was very hard, but I stuck with it and I remember at the end, just feeling very relieved. Actually, relieved is not a strong enough word for what I felt. I felt free. I felt free because I knew it was just something about being up there and knowing I could do it even though I was scared. I was scared I was gonna fall. Scared I was gonna trip. Scared of the cliff. Scared of all of the things. But I did it, and I did it with community. For the first time in a while, I felt free.”

“I think part of being a strong woman, and more specifically, a strong Black woman is making sure that you continue honoring yourself. This is in addition to taking care of everyone else that we take care of because many times our care goes forward and backward. We're caring for our children if we're blessed to have them. And the generation behind us did not always have what we have to be fully independent because of generational trauma. So we are caring for them as well. In trying to take care of those older than me, but also trying to take care of the babies, I have to make sure that I care for me first. I put my oxygen mask on. That is I honor myself.”

“I was definitely called to this position. It was not on my radar. And I think God was closing a door and opening another because I had a conversation about serving his people. And I truly feel like, in this position, I am touching the lives of those who need to be touched and inspired. People often say it's a breath of fresh air to come into my courtroom. Because, you know, I know you're not here for good reason. But at the end of the day, you're still human. I'm gonna respect you and I might even try to make you laugh.”

“My mother when she was a kid, growing up, was a washerwoman. And my family… they were farmers. They were sharecroppers, but we had land. And that was something that was being taken from our people by different means, but you do the best you can to hold on to it. I have really good memories of visiting my grandparents and playing with my cousins and we lived a very humble life. But we were always taught to be in the community.”

“I was the president of the Fairview Homes Community Association. One of the main reasons that I did it, was for my kids and for all of the children in our community. We had 400 or so apartments and a large concentration of children with time on their hands and nothing to do. So I would just pile the kids in my car and take them wherever. I took the girls to Girl Scouts and cheerleading. Boys to football. We took all the kids to Atlantic City, Kings Dominion, and Six Flags. We were going to make sure that they saw more of the world than what was inside of their public housing community. I wanted more for my kids…for all of the kids. And we saw to it that they got it.”

“I know that I'm different. And, you know, even as a grown-ass woman, now, I still get bullied and I mean, that's okay, but I don't like bullying. I don't like people being taken advantage of or being or being made fun of or pushed around. I just don't like that. It's just not right. I believe in the universal rule. You treat people the way you want to be treated. And that's really what guides me. People should be kinder to each other.”

“My aunt… she made such a big difference in the community. And I feel like I do the same thing. Anybody that I have an encounter with, I feel like they feel that I'm genuine. It’s a feeling that you get when you get around somebody that is real or genuine, you know? I provide that same space for my peers. They feel peace when they are around me. They feel love. And they know it’s real.”

“I started coming to a place in 2016 and 2017 to let stuff go. I’m grateful I heard that message. So very grateful. Before that, I would walk around with my chest tight. That's how mad I would be. And then I decided to let stuff go. My skin started to light up. My hair and my nails started to grow. I started to breathe again. That was my rebuilding stage. Of my heart literally rebuilding. Out of everything that I've done and accomplished in my life, it is the healing of my heart that has meant the most to me. It allowed me to love myself.”

“Self-care has always been a priority of mine. Even as a child, that was something that my mom instilled in me. So I certainly rolled that over into adulthood. I practice mindfulness. I engage in lots of prayer, fasting, and meditation. I get regular massages and take care of my body. I try to introduce some of those same luxuries to those around me.”

“I can remember the home economics class in ninth grade. We were supposed to go out and buy a pattern. And of course, I went out and bought a Vogue pattern. A trench coat. When I brought the pattern to school my teacher looked at me like, “Who do you think is going to help you make this complicated coat?” I had to return that pattern for a more simple design. That was an important moment because it let me know that I had a different taste from the students.”

“I was very lonely when I first moved to Charlotte. Said I wasn’t gonna stay. I was going to move back to Texas. But I found a Black women's meetup group and I went to the dinner. I also went with some of them to jazz on Sunday nights. I met another woman there. We sat and talked for 45 minutes. The joy I felt! I made a connection. I met her for the first time and knew that we would be in each other's life forever. I had someone who had my back, and I had hers. I’ve met my best friend here.”

“This is where I finally feel like I am home. I never want to leave this place because this is such a special community. And when I think about my son…he never met my mother on this earthly plane. But he did get to be best friends with my dad. Now, he sees so many elders that are in Hyde Park that ask about him, that care about him, that see him… and I feel like we have this just constant embrace of a hug that is all over us every time I see any of my neighbors.”