We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Crystal Perry a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Crystal, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

When you hear the word pearl you may imagine someone searching the depths of the oceans, discovering a clam, opening said clam, and finding something rare, precious… and white. You wouldn’t be wrong to imagine that. It’s the only version of the pearl narrative we’ve ever been shown. What I know however is that if you searched the depths of black communities, you would easily and readily find black women that carry within their minds thoughts, dreams, and potential that is rare, and precious. In their own way they are pearls. And these are the types of pearls I search for, refine and elevate. Melanated PEARLS.
My name is Crystal Perry and I am the founder of Melanated PEARLCorporation.
People often look at the sea of black communities and wonder, what our main resource is, what is that we have in the waters of our communities that is of value and worth. The short answer is, each other. We are our greatest strength, our greatest treasure.
In these precarious times when industries and businesses are pivoting, and either finding their feet on shaky ground or the rug being pulled completely from under them, I have found great success when I bring women of color together as we swim toward our collective dreams.
While the COVID-19 pandemic required our organization to shift our outreach tactics to reflect recommendations of the CDC and public health officials, Melanated PEARL’s core mission of supporting and encouraging women and girls impacted by poverty has never wavered, faltered or taken on water.At The Melanated PEARL Corporation we Model the importance of collaboration over competition and focus on how we leverage the pandemic to build partnerships with small business owners to produce resources for citizens in need.
Collective Impact through partnerships and philanthropy is our waterway to community change.
We believe in the power and brilliance of Black women to influence and fund meaningful change in their community. We believe in finding Melanated PEARLS. A persistent gender-based wage gap continues to harm women, their families and the economy; and it is particularly damaging for Black women. Black women in the United States who work full time, year-round are typically paid just 63 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. This persistent, pervasive wage gap is driven in part by gender and racial discrimination, workplace harassment, job segregation and a lack of workplace policies that support family caregiving, which is still most often performed by women.
It is time to repair our communities by caring for the women who take care of them: All the time. Throughout our history, especially over the last 20 years, we’ve grown accustomed to thinking and talking about the interests of the black community almost exclusively in terms of the challenges faced by black men; our brothers, our fathers and our sons. We have conversations about Black/African-American men and boys without anyone ever pausing to understand and provide solutions for what is happening to the women and girls of color, specifically black girls. Subconsciously there is this assumption that the conversation about black women and girls is happening somewhere, in some community, or at some other organization. It turns out, that just hasn’t happened. We get into the habit of deferring conversation about women and girls into perpetuity. Until Now.
Black women are our primary stakeholders. Historically we have witnessed the weaponization of Black womanhood. The Melanated Pearl Corporation’s primary goal is to compact that weaponization and transform it into collective community action.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Ms. Perry is recognized for her work empowering equity-focused and mission-driven organizations through targeted professional development, knowledge transfer and best practice sharing. She brings two decades of experience as an
educator, professional development trainer and nonprofit leader to her organization, Melanated PEARL (Passionate
Engaged Activists Resisting Limitations) Corporation, which she founded in 2018 to assist women to achieve
economic stability and mobility.

Through the nonprofit organization, Ms. Perry strives to help Black women accomplish personal and professional
success by providing a safe virtual space to seek advice and share stories of triumph. To date, Melanated PEARL
Corporation has received several grants related to eviction prevention, unhoused and homeless assistance, job coaching, and other areas. The organization has been featured in the local news for its contributions to the community and earned a Silver Award at the first Anthem Awards, which lauds the work of people, companies and organizations worldwide.

Ms. Perry began her career as an educator for Teach for America, then progressed to become the Project GRAD (Move It Math) facilitator, coach and AVID coordinator in Atlanta Public Schools where she was promoted to assistant principal. She is certified in K-12 leadership, elementary (k-4), math in middle school grades (4-8) through the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. She later accepted a teaching position at Gideons Elementary School and went on to excel in various roles at BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life), a Boston-based education organization. She concluded her seven-year tenure with BELL as senior director, professional development and quality. Ms. Perry is certified in Women’s Entrepreneurship through eCornell. She also serves as a diversity, equity and inclusion trainer through Consciously Unbiased, which provides DEI facilitation to businesses nationally and internationally.

Ms. Perry’s performance in the field was born of her academic journey, which began with a self designed Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies from Agnes Scott College. She went on to earn a Master of Arts in early childhood education from Georgia State University in 2003 and a Master of Arts in writing and digital communications and media from Agnes Scott College in 2020. While pursuing her second master’s degree, Ms. Perry was inspired to utilize multimedia platforms to combat the socioeconomic challenges faced by the African American community leading to the creation of MelanatedPearl.org.

In addition to her work through Melanated PEARL Corporation, Ms. Perry is active in numerous civic pursuits. She is Vice Chair of the Clayton County Library Board of Trustees, and the health and wellness co-chair with Women of Clayton County. She is a former member of the Clayton County Public Schools Budget Oversight Committee, communications manager for ONE Atlanta, and a past board member of The Collective Atlanta. Most recently she was a finalist in the Greater Good and Pay It Forward categories in the Moxie Awards.

Have you ever had to pivot?

On June 30, 2022, our founder and CFO experienced a medial emergency causing us to pivot our programs to launch a Better Health initiative. The HEARTwork Better Health DIABETES Initiative was created based on my need as a wife to create a customized plan of care for my husband of 20 plus years who is living with Type 1 Diabetes. In addition to my husband, I have several family members, friends, and community leaders that are currently managing Type 2 Diabetes and consistently reach out for help, guidance, and assistance. Even after 20 plus years of living with someone with a chronic illness, neither my family nor our organization was properly prepared.

While advances in healthcare are helping many live healthier lives than ever before, research also points to an increase in chronic conditions and diseases such as cancer, arthritis and diabetes and across Georgia people living with diabetes are experiencing barriers to accessing quality healthcare.

With approval from our board of directors, starting October 2022, MelanatedPearl.org is prepared to launch the HEARTwork Better Health Diabetes Initiative; helping increase investment in research, technology, and innovative solutions that improve access to care around diabetes type 1 and type 2. At MelanatedPearl.org we know that the long-term success of our communities depends on the resilience, health and wellness, and overall well-being of the people in our communities. The HEARTwork Better Health DIABETES Initiative launched with the understanding that people in Georgia are not confident about their health, and therefore they can’t be confident about their future.

In 2022, health is a top concern for most Georgians. While advances in healthcare are helping many live healthier lives than ever before, research also points to an increase in chronic conditions and diseases such as cancer, arthritis and diabetes and across Georgia people living with diabetes are experiencing barriers to accessing quality healthcare.
At MelanatedPEARL.org, we’re on a mission to educate, uplift, and empower by focusing on the impact of diabetes in our community. The rising number of people affected by diabetes is putting added strain on healthcare systems. Healthcare professionals must know how to detect and diagnose the condition early and provide the best possible care; while people living with diabetes need access to ongoing education to understand their condition and carry out the daily self-care essential to staying healthy and avoiding complications.

The HEARTwork Better Health DIABETES Initiative Goals
Improve access to health education, screening and early interventions that improve health status.
Increase access to comprehensive, high-quality health care services.
Improve overall health and wellbeing but instituting routine glucose screening as part of our routine health visits
Increase access to better health outcomes through technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) research.
Extend the lifecycle and improve the quality of life for anyone living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Support and design diabetes initiatives that help those most vulnerable to social isolation build connections in their community.

Specific needs or conditions the program addresses.
Target Focus: Diabetes Awareness.
The HEARTwork Program aims to improve on existing healthcare practices, and services to help reach underserved populations as it relates to diabetes.
The HEARTwork Program focuses on specific efforts, such as early detection and intervention, aimed at reducing the development and severity of chronic diseases and other illnesses.
The HEARTwork Program seeks to support those newly diagnosed adults with type 1 or type 2 and or adolescents (10-18) during transition from pediatric to adult care.
The HEARTwork Program aims to create safe and supportive environments for adolescents, young adults, seniors, and families during diagnoses of diabetes and or recovery from illness. People recently diagnosed with diabetes report feeling lost, isolated and disconnected for resources and information.
The reasons people feel disconnected are different for everyone and every community. Disconnection can be influenced by external factors, such as childhood trauma, technology, urbanization and migration; and within a community, being able to access events and cultural institutions that are affordable and inclusive can impact how people feel and participate.
The HEARTwork Program aims to create educational and social events where people are included and empowered to participate in their community and share health and wellness best practices.
The HEARTwork Program is committed to helping increase access to the opportunities caregivers and people living with diabetes need to participate and feel a sense of belonging in their community.
The HEARTwork Program seeks to improve patient outcomes through AI research, such as medical diagnostics, personalized care and medicine, and chronic disease management.
The HEARTwork Program has a clear evaluation and measurement process to track impact.
The HEARTwork Program focuses on applied research that aims to solve specific health problems (versus clinical/general research).
The HEARTwork Program seeks to demonstrate impact that extends beyond a single health-care provider by willing to share findings with others.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Our mission is to empower, educate and uplift women; Black Women in particular.

PEARL is an acronym meaning Passionate Engaged Activists, Resisting Limitations and we speak to our audiences passions, engage them, give them a call to action and show them how to resist the idea that they are limited in any way. Nonprofit organizations like Melanated Pearl Corporation play a vital role in building healthy communities by providing critical services that contribute to economic stability and mobility. Black women in the U.S. are disproportionately affected by every issue from pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths to the gender pay gap to HIV, nonetheless our ideal customer seeks to pioneer a leadership and health movement for Black/ African-American women and girls grounded in equity, civil rights history, principles and female leadership. 
New Clients find us via social media and word of mouth.

Based on our discovery activities, we’ve prioritized client audiences for the Melanated PEARL Corporation as follows: The 5 largest ethnic groups in Clayton County, GA are Black or African American (Non-Hispanic) (69.1%), White (Non-Hispanic) (9.51%), White (Hispanic) (5.82%), Some Other Race (Hispanic) (5.73%), and Asian (Non-Hispanic) (5.13%). N/A% of the people in Clayton County, GA speak a non-English language, and 94.4% are U.S. citizens.

Poverty by Age and GenderFemales 25 – 34: LARGEST DEMOGRAPHIC LIVING IN POVERTY: 21.9% of the population for whom poverty status is determined in Clayton County, GA (58.7k out of 269k people) live below the poverty line, a number that is higher than the national average of 13.1%. The largest demographic living in poverty are Females 25 – 34, followed by Females 35 – 44 and then Females 6 – 11.

Poverty by Race and Ethnicity: LARGEST RACE OR ETHNICITY LIVING IN POVERTY Black- 39,003 ± 1,735 Hispanic- 12,049 ± 842White- 11,452 ± 860. The most common racial or ethnic group living below the poverty line in Clayton County, GA is Black, followed by Hispanic and White.

We’ve realized that we have 3 customer groups to target.
Customer Profile Groups : Donors/Partners/Consumers

Donors
The Melanated Pearl Corp educates donors on issues aligned to their personal passions and that are important to the community.
The Melanated Pearl Corp uplifts and highlights donor contributions using digital marketing to maximize community reach.
The Melanated Pearl Corp empowers donors to make a positive impact the community by offering meaningful and purposeful programming, offering volunteers hours, and multiple donation opportunities.

Partners
The Melanated Pearl Corp educates partners by sharing data and resources on issues aligned to their personal and organizational passions and that are important to the community.
The Melanated Corp uplifts partners and partnership events by sharing economic responsibility, providing differentiate resources and access to capital.
The Melanated Pearl empowers partners highlighting programming, attending programs events.

Consumers/Clients/Grantees
The Melanated Pearl Corp educates consumers/clients/grantees by providing training, professional development and leadership programming and volunteer opportunities through the year.
The Melanated Pearl Corp uplifts consumers/clients/grantees by providing funding and financial assistance to bridge the gaps to success.
The Melanated Pearl Corp empowers consumers/clients/grantees by promoting the talents and services of our consumers and connecting them reliable resources.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.melanatedpearl.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonprofit_melanatedpearl/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MPCPEARLWorld
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanatedpearl/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/melanatedpearl?lang=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDLI9EaFZ_sW0DYcMoxmxnQ
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/HEARTworkbyMelanatedPEARL.org

Image Credits
MelanatedPearl.org iPhone 11 Max Pro