We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amnoni L Myers a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Amnoni, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

As a young person who grew up in the U.S. foster care system, I decided to go to college to pursue a degree in social work and sociology because I was passionate about making a difference in the system. What I didn’t realize is that I also went to college to escape homelessness because that is what often happens to young people once they age out of the foster care system. I pursued academia as a way to prove to myself that I could achieve graduation because I was not on track to graduate and was told that I would end up just like my parents; incarcerated and another statistic. I initially got into the child welfare industry because of my passion for wanting to help reshape the child welfare system because of the experiences I faced. The policy work I’ve done on both Capitol Hill and The White House under the Obama Administration led me into pursuing a master’s degree in Public administration.

While I’ve enjoyed the journey that education afforded me I realized I never really enjoyed being in the classroom; Instead, I enjoyed exploring the world through field trips and experiential learning but didn’t have many opportunities to do that. What I’ve come to realize and accept is that I am a creative person and can still make a social impact from another lens that I am passionate about so I’ve decided to figure out a way to pursue a creative passion while incorporating my love of advocacy and foster care by creating a clothing line. Not just any clothing line but one that embodies my personality as a masculine-presenting, queer, and plus-size person. As a black, queer, and plus-size woman, I enjoy wearing masculine presenting clothing because it best reflects how I show up in my gender identity. The lack of clothing on the market for my body type has resorted to me wearing men’s clothing as the next best thing. The problem is that men’s clothing has been made for men’s body types and tends to be one-dimensional where is not inclusive of those who have curves, hips, and busts so I am unable to fit into the clothing well which leads to getting my clothing tailored which leads to additional costs for clothing I’ve already bought. The lack of inclusive representation within the clothing and fashion industry for those who are black/ brown, masculine presenting/ non-binary has led to a rise of poor self-image, self-esteem, and confidence which contributes to a person’s overall mental health and state of being. I would like to help solve this problem by creating a clothing line that is reflective of masculine presenting women who are plus size and have traditionally been left out of that space because the number of black and brown people who will identify as LGBTQ+A is growing therefore having a market in place for them to contribute and participate essential. I am nervous and scared, and it feels a bit out of my element and what I am used to but I’d like to pursue this as a different brand to the one I am building.

Amnoni, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I currently live in Tulsa, Oklahoma by way of the Tulsa Remote program. I’ve been here for a little over a year and started my entrepreneurship journey through the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce Nest Collective and TEDC’s Mortar Entrepreneurship Academy. . My business and brand You Are the Prize LLC is a consulting-service-based business focused on speaking, training, and consulting people in the child welfare, education, and government arena on the importance of ensuring that people working with young people are knowledgeable and aware of the traumas that young people in the foster care experience by making sure they have access to quality training. After losing my little sister to suicide I decided to write my first memoir titled You Are the Prize: Seeing Yourself Beyond the Imperfections of Your Trauma. This book is in honor of our lives and what it was like to go through the foster care system as it brings awareness to the challenges and issues young people face. I became a number one best seller on Amazon and my book is currently being used at 4 universities replacing the book “A Child Called It” and The Antoine Fisher Story. I am a consultant, speaker, trainer, and author and my goal is to get more books into the hands of young people, child welfare leaders, foster parents, and educators to help bring awareness to the traumas that young people experience. You Are the Prize Brand is looking to expand into curriculum development and Merchandise.  I have received numerous awards for the contributions I have made to child welfare nationwide including being a recipient of The Re-envisioning Foster Care Champion Award, The National Urban Fellows Ron Gonzalez Memorial Fund Leadership Award, The Philip J. Award, The Marlene Matreese Rockstar of the Year award, Tulsa Remote’s Most Outstanding Member of the Year Award, TEDC’s Mortar Entrepreneurial Spirit award, and being named Tulsa’s 2023 Gamechanger. I just recently got accepted into an idea accelerated called Builders and Backers through the Heartland Forward Foundation in partnership with the George Kaiser family foundation to expand on my brand of bringing inclusive clothing onto the market.  The program will help me build upon my idea through multiple experiments. I plan on creating a fashion show in collaboration with local designers from Tulsa with an emphasis on child welfare education and advocacy through the lens of inclusive clothing and personal storytelling.  I am excited to test out my idea and I am hoping that it will bring more clarity, opportunities, and collaborations with other artists who are thinking similarly and out of the box as me. I’d also like for my brand to be one that is focused on social impact, innovation, and creativity!

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish that I knew that it was ok to be a creative artist and own my own journey early on in life. The pain points in my life led me to a; the life of advocacy but I wish that I knew sooner that it was ok to do and be both. Having a system or person invest in me early in life would’ve allowed my confidence and self-esteem to blossom in ways that are unimaginable. Making programs available and accessible for black and brown communities would’ve been essential to my growth. I believe that if I had the resources early in life I would feel less lost and more accomplished on my creative artist journey. It took me moving to Tulsa to learn and be surrounded by other creatives to know that I could do it too. One of the things I will tell creatives is to search out local programs in their state for artists, creatives, and Entrepreneurs. There are a lot more resources out there now than there were before. Skys the limit, and Score are two places to start if you are looking for business mentorships. These types of resources are just as important for creatives as processes are important to have in your business. You can also check out my book You Are the Prize: Seeing Yourself beyond the Imperfections of Your Trauma on Amazon to learn more about me and my journey as well as check out my website at amnonimotivates.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

I believe that no matter what your past is; you still have the ability to create the world you want to experience, see and live. I say this because for young people who’ve experienced the foster care system one of the first things you first lose is your agency, choice, and power. When you lose those aspects; you then lose yourself and when you lose yourself you rarely have the ability to see beyond the storm. My mission in life is to give myself the opportunity to create so that I can create spaces for those who have traditionally been left out so they can create as well. Establishing Normalcy in the child welfare community is becoming more widely accepted because before young people didn’t get to have the opportunity to participate in sports and other activities that their peers were involved in because of misconceived safety concerns from the system itself. I’d like to break through that gap and provide creative programming for young people so they can find out earlier in life what their creative goals and aspirations are.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.amnonimotivates.com/
• Instagram: Amnoni Myers
• Facebook: Amnoni Myers
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amnoni-myers-500b8166/
• Twitter: Amnoni Myers
• Other: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Prize-Yourself-Imperfections-ebook/dp/B09R3VNZJB

Image Credits
Yannick Ntwari