Black History Month 2014 - Quinci Moody : Leaning In & Spreading The Gospel

Quinci Moody. I was lucky enough to meet her through her equally amazing younger brother, James, who has been one of my closest friends since he took the East High Jazz Band by storm in the fall of 1999. Quinci is one of the nicest, strongest people I’ve ever met and she’s always supported my blog initiative. So, you can imagine that I am more than excited to be featuring Quinci and the amazing work she is doing.

Quinci is a senior director at a nonprofit, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and most proudly, a Woman of God. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in Washington, D.C., she is a graduate of Florida A&M University with a degree in English and minors in Business Management and Secondary Education.　She then went on to graduate with a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from American University in 2005. She is currently in the process of completing yet another degree from the Spirit of Faith Bible Institute. All that right there is enough to make one go “WOW”, but we’re just getting started.

Quinci's passion for doing good came early on in her career. While pursuing her graduate studies, Quinci performed research and analysis for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Women’s Rights Department with a specific focus on how public policy regarding the federal budget, social security, and Medicaid affects working women. Simultaneously, she served as Management Specialist for Center for Minority Studies, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing the health literacy of underserved populations. While at Center for Minority Studies, Quinci launched her career in organizational development and capacity building by creating and implementing successful fundraising, human resources, and board development infrastructures for the upstart organization.

After graduate school, Quinci continued to strengthen organizations through her role as Program Associate at Fair Chance, an organization that provides nonprofit leaders with tools and knowledge they need to thrive. Her desire to provide more direct service to her community led Quinci to accept a position as Director of Programs and Evaluation at FLY (Facilitating Leadership in Youth), which helps Washington, DC youth achieve their educational goals while promoting leadership development and arts enrichment.

Today, Quinci is Director of Operations at The Fishing School, a nonprofit that provides year-round out-of-school-time academic and enrichment programs for Washington, DC youth and the families.

I know that by now you are probably thinking that Quinci is one of the most motivated individuals you’ve ever heard about, and you’re right. On top of all of this amazing work that she does to build people up and provide them with tools for success she is also the co-founder of virtuositee™, a clothing company and ministry hybrid that spreads the gospel of Christ through apparel that lets people know that being saved in Christ Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The company's mission is to ignite dialogue about Christianity with products that marry faith and fashion – what they like to call “wearing your faith.” Quinci is clear about why she and her partners founded virtuositee. She says, "Christianity isn’t a religion. It’s a lifestyle. Being Christian means, LIVING the Word, not just claiming it. And that’s what the virtuositee brand is all about."

If you are interested in learning more about virtuositee™ and the ladies that founded it please check out this radio program below or log onto www.myvtee.com.

Discover Youth Internet Radio with Teen Talk Radio Show on BlogTalkRadio

Thank you, Quinci, for inspiring others and continuing to do amazing things.

Black History Month 2014 - Yasmine Arrington

"The tassle is worth the hassle!" – Yasmine Arrington, founder of ScholarCHIPS

I found out about this lovely woman when I was researching the organization Black Girls Rock, Inc. She was featured as one of the M.A.D. Girls during the 2012 awards show. (See the video link here.) M.A.D. stands for `Making a Difference` and this phrase could not be more true for this wonderful individual. She and I have emailed back and forth less than 10 times and her spirit, joy, and overall awesomeness have blown me away. I can’t wait to actually get to know her so I can be transformed for the better. This is her story.

Yasmine Alexandra Arrington was born and raised in Washington, DC. She is currently a junior Strategic Communications and History double-major at Elon University in North Carolina. At Elon, Arrington sings and serves in the Elon University Gospel Choir, as president of Potter’s Poets, a radio personality on WSOE 89.3, and is an Elon Arts & Sciences College Fellow conducting independent research on “The Effects of Parental Incarceration on the Educational Outcomes of their Offspring in Washington, DC from 1970 to 1990.” She is also a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Their principles are Scholarship, Service, Sisterly Love, and Finer Womanhood.

Having been the child of a previously incarcerated parent, in 2010, Arrington founded the non-profit ScholarCHIPS to provide college scholarships and mentoring for graduating high school seniors of parents in prison, pursuing a higher education. To date, ScholarCHIPS has awarded over $19,000 in college scholarships.

If Yasmine’s personal story doesn’t resonate with you for the inspiration of this budding non-profit organization please take a look at this quote from Johnston, D. * "The Care and Placement of Prisoners' Children".

“An estimated 200,000 children in this country have an imprisoned mother and more than 1.6 million have an imprisoned father. With the nation’s incarcerated population growing by an average of 6.5% each year, the number of children with parents in prison will likely continue to increase. Parental incarceration — and the crimes and arrests that precede it — causes chaos in the lives of these children, including traumatic separations and erratic shifts from one caregiver to another. Most children with incarcerated parents live in poverty before, during, and after their parents’ incarceration.”

These facts coupled with Yasmine’s personal experiences as a child of an incarcerated parent are the reasons why ScholarCHIPS exists and the reason why we all have a stake in the success of the children of incarcerated parents. Yasmine is just finding her way to give back and help other young people achieve the dreams they have set for themselves.

Arrington’s latest projects are her blog entitled, “Young, Black, and Beautiful…In College,” and her YouTube channel “YazzieSpeaks the Truth,” both in which she examines the realities of being a black female attending a predominantly White institution, aims to excite Black youth about the vast possibilities of a collegiate experience, and gives her clean, humorous commentary on real life events. In addition, Arrington is a poet, motivational speaker, and plus size model. She aspires to be a Broadcast Journalist and TV show host; two occupations that will allow and empower her to inform the community about social injustices, recognize entrepreneurial businesses, and highlight positive changes taking place.

Check out Yasmine being featured in Essence Magazine, Empower Magazine, Teen Vogue, and the Washington Post.

This is just the beginning of Yasmine’s story and I CANNOT wait to see how bright her star shines.