We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Leisa Herrera a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Leisa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

SoulPhamm, Inc. is a labor of love that I began on June 25, 2021. My husband Luis and I created the program as a way to give back to young people in our communities by providing them with an outlet to learn and excel as young athletes and artists. We were really excited about the project, more him than I, because I had retired from more than 30 years of youth work in Brooklyn. Just before we were set to launch SoulPhamm, Luis passed away unexpectedly. So I now find myself a new widow and nonprofit leader. I incorporated SoulPhamm on his birthday as a way to ease the pain of his passing and the opportunity to lead this work, in his memory, is one of the most important things I have ever done.

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?

I created the 1City Youth Project as a senior in high school as a way to give young people who were typically bullied an opportunity to be part of something bigger than themselves. The organization started as a social club and over time, grew to includes sports and the performing arts. I became 1City’s Step Team coach and the steppers gained popularity quickly as regular performers for NBA halftime games and other high visibility events in New York City and New Jersey. 1City served more than 3000 young people, providing opportunities for them to connect and compete in venues that are often closed to them. Housed at a public school in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn, 1City drew youth from all corners of New York City and New Jersey and even made its way to Nigeria! After 1City closed in 2010, I moved to New Jersey, but the impact of 1City remained alive. I am most proud of the fact that 1City kept thousands of young people off of the street with very limited resources and many of those young people have grown up to become educators, or professional athletes and creatives. A documentary was made on my career with 1City and will be introduced through a private screening in New Jersey on October 1st.

When Luis decided to create SoulPhamm, I knew that it would become 1City 2.0 and I was excited to re-engage with the work of developing our young people by fostering a love for sports and arts. What sets us apart I think is that we keep our program small so that we can really get to know each child and work with them individually as they develop and hone their skills and love for their craft. I am really looking forward to growing SoulPhamm in memory of my husband and to someday making SoulPhamm a household name!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think the best thing that society can do is create more opportunities for young people to develop a love for sports, and the arts. Most cities, particularly larger ones, have well-funded after-school activities and some may even be fortunate enough to include sports and arts in their school curricula, but you would be surprised how many young people still do not have access to high quality activities that truly tap into their creativity and prowess. Start-up organizations like mine have to struggle to find space and because we are start-ups, we may not have the money to pay the high price for renting dance studios and other creative spaces. If we are fortunate enough to find cheap spaces, they are wholly inadequate (improper flooring, space, infestations – yes, you read that right, infestations). Then we have the challenge of being able to safely get kids to those spaces so that they can participate.

I personally believe that our cities can do better at creating access and it starts by completing eliminating red-tape for funding and other resources that we need to be able to do what we do. There needs to be more open and accessible space, more funding opportunities with requirements that small business owners and nonprofit leaders can realistically meet and dare I say, more opportunities for technical assistance and in-kind resources. If we are really concerned about our young people’s future (and we should be), then everyone and I mean everyone has a role they can play.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding thing is seeing young people develop skill in an art or other creative area that they would not otherwise have had access to. One of the most stressful, yet rewarding things is to prepare our young people for competitions and exhibitions. We stress each other out during practice times and often have to rob Peter to pay Paul to get the costumes we need and to pay for travel and competition fees. We get to the point where we want to give up, because either the young person just isn’t getting it (or isn’t ready to showcase their talent), or we have uncooperative parents or other impossible situations. But then we get to “showtime” and the kids “show up”. They give it their all and the light in their eyes when the crowd is clearly enjoying, supporting and acknowledgement can’t be compared to anything. The kid then locks-in to their commitment and our performances invariably attract other kids who didn’t think they could do anything. I am fortunate enough to be able to drive this work and to watch our future Emmy, Grammy and Tony winners grow in their craft. There’s nothing better!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.soulphamm.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/soulphamm
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/soulphamm
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/Soulphamm
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/soulphamm
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPsoiFpdpBMz05y2W4uubtw?reload=9
• Other: Tik-Tok: www.tiktok.com/@soulphamm