We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Victoria MsVee Gray a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Victoria MsVee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

In my role as a communications, community relations and educational consultant with Victory Group VG LLC, I am charged with developing ideas, programs or projects that will change lives. One of my passions involves our youth. As a former high school teacher, I witnessed first hand how students were overlooked for opportunities for post secondary preparation. I also noticed that very little focus was placed on helping students with exposure to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. I wanted to change that and created a pilot program called THRIVE and within 6 months, the program was formed into a non-profit organization-THRIVE Inc. Because I have a proven track record with my approach to education and helping students in and out of the classroom, I strongly believed that THRIVE would work and grow to become a national organization. I called on people that I knew who worked in various areas of education to act as advisors. I knew that there did not exist an organization that focused solely on preparing high school students for HBCUs and that helped them earlier than their senior year of high school. I approached the principal of a local high school and presented the program to him. He gave me the green light which allowed me to give a presentation to the sophomore class. Students had to complete a selection process and demonstrate follow through in order to be included in the pilot program. THRIVE liberates high school students from communities with challenges and prepares them to attend and graduate from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. When I say communities with challenges, that can mean a number of things. If a child is Black in America that is a challenge in itself. Just think of all of the issues that may impact the future of one’s educational endeavors and there are your challenges. THRIVE helps those students and their families to navigate the HBCU process. In addition, we focus on the total student by providing a personalize and wholistic approach to post secondary education. The THRIVE Model helps to guide our work which includes advocacy, civic engagement, community reciprocity, empowerment, leadership and literacy.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

During and after college, I spent years working in the communication, journalism and public relations industries. I majored in journalism from Texas Southern University and also received my master’s degree in communication from TSU. My first job after graduating from college was Director of Communications for a national nonprofit organization in Washington, DC in 1994. I was able to utilized my skills but also developed many more skills that I now see were beneficial in my professional and personal development. I’m also a former AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) who served in Tallahassee, FL in 2004. During my time as a VISTA, I learned the strategies of becoming a change agent. For those who are not familiar with AmeriCorps, it is the domestic version of the Peace Corps. While serving communities of poverty, VISTAs are charged with building capacity through program development, fundraising, grant writing, research, and volunteer recruitment while enhancing their own leadership skills. After serving as a VISTA, I went on to run an AmeriCorps program and then later answered the call to teach again. I love the fact that I am able to incorporate all of my areas of expertise in the work that I do now as a consultant and also the leader of a nonprofit organization. I’m am proud of the work that is being done with THRIVE that can’t be done working alone. We have Board of Directors who represent 9 HBCUs. We are awarding over $11,000 in scholarships to the first THRIVE graduates (Class of 2022) who will be going to their respective HBCUs. This summer are traveling to 11 HBCus with over 40 THRIVE scholars on their first HBCU tour. Every semester, we have interns from HBCUs who are charged with completing project-based assignments that help to grow the organization. THRIVE has supportive parents, private sponsors, donors and volunteers who believe in the mission. We are truly blessed to be a blessing.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Relationship building, effective communication, consistency and creativity are the my keys to building a solid reputation. Relationship building is important to reputation, and it’s more than just networking at events. Going to networking events is just the avenue to meet people. It’s important to join organizations such as the local chambers, industry and professional organizations and even social organizations that may position you to meet other professionals. It requires skill to build relationships, especially meaningful relationships that will ultimately support one’s mission or vision. I am an over communicator too. Sharing accurate information is also important in building your reputation, and I use various methods to communicate-not just text messages and emails. I have a solid track record that I am proud of that follows me with everything that support. This track record has been built over the years with my ability to build capacity. My success is revolved around being consistent and follow through. If I say I’m going to do something, you better believe it’s going to happen. Therefore, when working with young people, your word is bond. Because we are impacting lives of young people and education is a key factor in what we do in THRIVE, it’s imperative that the information that is shared will lead towards some level of success for our young people-we call them THRIVE Scholars. Just a reminder that building a strong industry reputation happens over time.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I love building teams and managing teams. The best method for managing a team is to encourage autonomy because the culture and climate is the responsibility of the leader. People respond more positively and productively in an environment that is less like a dictatorship. Maintaining high morale within a team does require that you know how to respond to people, but it also requires that you self reflect and self examine often. Be sure that your team has flexibility to utilize their skills and talents to accomplish the team goals. Allow leaders to emerge within teams. Provide support and guidance for all team members whether they are leaders or team players. Set expectations and it’s perfectly fine if those expectations are high. Don’t relent. Adjust but don’t relent. Recognize all victories, celebrate often and recognize the team for their involvement..

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thriveinchbcu.org
• Instagram: @thriveinchbcu
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thriveinchbcu
• Twitter: @thriveinchbcu

Image Credits
Photo credits: Cassandra Brooks