We recently connected with Raina Young and have shared our conversation below.

Raina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission is to bring back the original intent of Sweetest Day which is to spread love and joy to those who are often forgotten. Sweetest Day was established in Cleveland by Herbert Birch Kingston who worked at a candy company. He formed a committee that consisted of more candy company employees and Sweetest Day was born in 1921. The first Sweetest Day silent stars passed out candy at local theaters and 10,000 boxes of candy were distributed to orphanages, nursing homes, and other charitable organizations. When I learned all of this it touched my heart in a special way because it all started in my hometown (Cleveland). More people should know the original intent of Sweetest Day and Sweetest Day Foundation will let it be known. I loved how the silent stars were involved and that is what gave me the idea to involve the model/fashion community into all of my fundraising events for the foundation along with me being a model myself. Not only do I want my foundation to give back to the community, I also want my foundation to help build the community and keep the community together. A lot of people are in the mindset that if you are in a certain industry you have to leave Cleveland to get noticed. I want to change that mindset.

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

I have been modeling since 2019. Of course I’ve walked in many Cleveland Fashion Shows and worked with a plethora of Cleveland photographers’. Outside of Cleveland I’ve walked in NYFW, Miami Swim Week, and LAFW. I had photoshoots in all of those cities as well along with Atlanta, Dallas, and Malibu.
I know the struggles of a pursuing model. Our struggles also motivated me to coordinate my fundraising events around the model/fashion community. I wanted to shine light on Cleveland models to give them a better chance to further their career.
The Cleveland Fashion Gala was my biggest fundraiser. Sweetest Day Foundation partnered with David Njoku’s foundation and together we hosted the biggest, grandest fashion show that ever took place in Cleveland. That was very proud moment for me because my team and I were able to have a fashion show that Cleveland models would have had to get on an airplane or take a road trip to be a part of. The Cleveland Fashion Gala is an annual event. We are already planning for 2025. Sweetest Day Foundation will be having more fundraising events this year. At the beginning of November we will be hosting a Pop Culture Networking Brunch. This will be my way of asking the rest of the local entrrtainment industry to hop on board with Sweetest Day Foundatiom mission and purpose.

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

It is extremely hard for me to trust someone. I question everything because there’s always two sides to a story and a pair of lips can tell you anything. My loved ones always get offended when I say I trust no one. The way I explain it to them is “ I have 2 children that I can’t trust to do the right thing every time and I know they respect me and love me dearly. Also I’ve been in situations where I’ve done things I thought I never would have. Now that I have my foundation I have a team I work with daily and I have to learn to trust people more. There have been times I would question things and once it was all explained I realized that I was the problem. I understand that when I question things people sometimes take it offensive because they feel like I’m accusing them of something instead of just wanting hard proof of what sounds unclear to me. I’ve learned not to question everything and honestly that was the best choice for me. I have a great team.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I started Sweetest Day Foundation with my boyfriend. Last September I had a conversation with him asking him to help me do a give away at a shelter on Sweetest Day. I explained to him how Sweetest Day started and expressed that doing a give away every year on Sweetest Day were my intentions. He loved my idea and immediately wanted to make my idea something official. Just a few weeks later, together we started Sweetest Day Foundation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sweetestdayfoundation.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaYBTB7RlVWreiiLAXBiekezWSGtqwDvS2qnh05lD3KHJU5hkV6-0tMxEWk_aem_AfnQrrwWx99XkgNdE8_m4w
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loverainatiffiny?igsh=MTNpZWwxNzh0MmNkZQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/sweetestdayfoundation?igsh=cW5xZHkxNDJ3NjZp

Image Credits

Collin Mac
Chris Harris
D Marz
W. Eric Snell