We recently connected with Alvin Woods and have shared our conversation below.

Alvin , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The mission of “HBCU White House” is to celebrate aspirational narratives that target underserved communities while spotlighting the spending power of minorities, including (but not limited to) Black Americans, women, and members of the LGBTQIA community. As a two-time graduate of the only historically Black collegiate system in the United States – Southern University and A&M College – it was important to develop a business platform that provided purposeful information on cutting edge stories that shape communities of color with coverage of trends, products, industries and services not seen in the majority of national news outlets.

After receiving my master’s degree and moving to New York City to start a professional career in advertising, back in 2007, I quickly realized that there wasn’t a “safe space” to develop as a minority creative with a passion for entrepreneurship and business development. After spending more than a decade creating and building for a large variety of brands, I felt depleted and unseen; not sure of what my end goal would be. My purpose came into focus following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When preparing to launch the digital series at the start of 2021, I wanted to ensure that the “personality” of the show would be anchored in mental health and personal wellness within HBCU, Black, and minority communities.

As a child and teenager, I battled with mental health – specifically suicide ideation. I’m a product of young teenage parents – my mother was 15-years-old and my father was 14-years-old at the time of my birth. As a toddler in Louisiana, I dealt with physical abuse from the maternal side of my family that left me with scars – including a permanent burn mark on the palm of my right hand. During my most formative years, being abandoned by my biological mother triggered an ongoing struggle with mental abuse.

My journey of hardship to success motivated me to use my platform’s growing reach to advocate for an open dialogue about suicide prevention and mental health awareness for Black boys and Black men across America.

As a survivor of suicide ideation, I’m most proud of simply being here at 40-years-old. At the end of each episode, I conclude with the phrase – “move with purpose.” That expression became somewhat of a chant that I would use in some of my darkest moments. Today, I’m very proud that I stuck around long enough to find that purpose.

Since then, a recurring wellness check has been incorporated into guest interviews with the intent to regularly chat about difficulties that we all can relate to, along with spotlighting methods to practice personal wellness.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

As an entrepreneur for over a decade, I had to unlearn the idea of allowing people to project their thoughts upon me.

Most of my days are unconventional. Throughout my 30’s I committed myself to “living a life that most people can’t imagine” so that one day, I could “live a life that most people cannot imagine.” It was my choice to struggle, oftentimes going without what society thought I should have – so that I could focus on pursuing my goals. I’ve been pulling myself out of dark places, alone, since I was a child.

That said, I know that I’m built for anything life throws at me. There were many conversations throughout the years in which family members and close friends tried to project their thoughts – about my situation(s) – onto me.

Allowing others to project their fears about my circumstances in pursuit of entrepreneurial success was never conducive to my productivity. I adopted this method due to how I handle my suicide ideation growing up. Although I would not recommend to anyone – much of what I experienced during adolescence remained internal – because I chose to keep it that way. If I would have allowed family or close relatives to know that I was experienced suicidal thoughts, their projections of what I was dealing with (and forcible actions to get help for me) could have pushed me over the edge with an attempt to take my own life. Again, I do not recommend that anyone in this situation handle it the way I did…but it taught me a valuable lesson to not allow others to project their thought (or fears) onto me. If I would have done so, I may not have had the internal strength to pursue entrepreneurship and the mentality to stick to it during the most difficult times. I speak from a “healed” space as a successful business owner.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

“HBCU White House” is a digital series that tracks bi-partisan news topics along with narratives about entertainment, business and entrepreneurship, consumer, lifestyle, education, wellness, sports and product reviews — targeting a diverse audience of “HBCU alumni, supporters, and friends.”

Episodes feature interviews with high performance business owners and industry thought-leaders, along with entertainers/musicians and actors that can currently be seen on hit shows on HBO, BET, Amazon Prime, CBS network, Starz, FX, Hulu, Netflix, SHOWTIME, and Disney+. Product segments are featured every episode and spotlight a variety of brands throughout a spectrum of categories.

I created the platform toward the end of 2020 and launched in the spring of 2021. Now in its third season with over 300K+ collective streams, the traction underscores that there is a significant void in the marketplace for this type of platform. It has been a fulfilling journey to watch a passion project find its voice from the ground level.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hbcuwhitehouse.com
• Instagram: @hbcuwhitehouse
• Facebook: @HBCUWhiteHouse
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvinl1

Image Credits
HBCU White House