We asked some of the brightest folks from within the community to reflect back on their days in school and to share with us a story of when they learned a particularly important or impactful lesson. We’ve shared highlights below.

Alonna Tipton

The most important lesson I learned was during Sunday School at my home church. Mr. Rhymes, my Sunday School teacher at the time, was teaching a lesson on how a Christian should behave and what type of character they should possess. He taught me, in that moment, that in order to become a leader, I must first learn how to follow. Read more>>

Nxxxa Ace

A couple months after I moved to London, I enrolled into middle school. My teacher, Mr. Williams said something during one of his lessons that left a mark on me for life. I was about 12 years old so I can’t remember the full details but I think he was teaching us about capitalism. Read more>>

Meghann Mason

I was in school at The Westmore Academy in Los Angeles in 2002. It was a prestigious trade school for Makeup for Film and Television that, unfortunately, is no longer around. I attended this school after undergrad and it was the first of many milestones in my career. We had amazing instructors that worked in the industry and Marvin Westmore was the founder. Read more>>

Kelly Cagle

During my PhD, one of my professors asked the question, “how do you define academic success?” Since then, that question constantly rings in my head. Truth is, individuals have their unique definitions of success. When it comes to academic success, parents (many time, unintentionally) place unrealistic expectations on their kids of what that can look like. And when kids can’t live up to that expectation, they feel inadequate– only increasing their anxiety. Read more>>

Jacobus Uys

Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t do. Only you get to decide that. Read more>>