Lachi

“I like creating experiences," says 27 year old party promoter Punch Dollar. Punch was known as the popular kid growing up; he started throwing teen parties at 16. His first event was a backyard party in 2004, which consists of 500 kids and was a major success. But Punch didn’t always have a passion for party promoting, his initial interest was basketball. During his junior year of high school he attended a basketball camp at St John’s Prep. He recalls sitting next to Michael Jordan’s two sons and the head instructor, which was the top scout of the country, mentioning how many players would make it to the NBA. “20 of y’all are going to play D1, 10 NBA and 2 will become superstars”, said the scout.  This statement is what changed Punch’s perspective on what he wanted to do as a career. Once he heard this, he realized he needed to pursue his passion; he felt the scout gave realistic statistics. Punch’s upbringing influenced his ambitious attitude He was born in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn and relocated to Queens when he was 12. He was the only child raised by his mom and step-father; his biological father passed when he was 9 years old. His parents put him into sports which motivated him to be competitive when he got older. Punch reminisces about his dad being a hustler and how he was well connected in the music industry. He managed “Smooth Da Hustler”, linked with celebrities and was friends with rap tycoon, Jay Z.  Punch describes his dad as being the poster child for Karl Kani due to him having the entire collection of their apparel and how he was featured in Jay Z’s “Dead Presidents” music video. His dad’s lifestyle definitely added spark to Punch’s visionary views; he quoted a phrase from Jay Z that stood out to him “My intuition was there even when my vision wasn’t there”, recites the Queens native. Punch doesn’t have a doubt that he is in the wrong field of work, he expressed that the only doubt that concerns him is not making enough profit, or his events not turning out the way he envisioned. He says “When it comes to failure, I never really thought about failure, I know when I fail, but wouldn’t let it outweigh the positive.” And speaking of profit, this young visionary earned $20,000 his first year of planning parties. From 2004-2005 he threw 5 parties in which he catered to a teen audience.  His reputation influenced the large crowd.  At the time promotion came from word of mouth because flyers didn’t exist and DJ’s fee ranged from $50-$100, it was “easy earned”, he says. 10 years ago Punch did a documentary on how to put together a teen party. He met with a representative of Def Jam named Big B. He had the experience of visiting Def Jam as if he was an actual artist. His conversation with Big B was another major milestone to him fulfilling his dream. He advised him to stick to throwing parties, and that he would get paid for it. Even when events weren’t successful and he wanted to give up, Punch knew it was his passion. He went further to say that its more than event planning and throwing parties, it’s seeing his vision come to life, which is his ultimate goal. Punch is wise enough to know that with success comes failure. In 2005 he planned his first corporate event which was a Christmas party. 1200 kids attended, he came up with a theme for the party called “Popping Tags”. At the time he was working for Phat Farm and Baby Phat and he wanted to create brand exposure and sales. “Popping Tags” meant that whoever came to the party wearing Phat Farm or Baby Phat clothing with the tags still attached, they would pop the tags off and collect them; this would show an increase in brand sales. Invitees also had the opportunity to win “best outfit”. This event would have been an absolute success until an altercation took place at the end of the night, which resulted in two individuals being wounded.  Punch felt if he was properly staffed with security this incident could have been prevented. He wasn’t prepared for such a large crowd, or this unexpected outcome which resulted in his feelings of failure. This mogul in the making doesn’t allow failure to discourage him. He still strives to be successful in all his endeavors. He iscurrently the brand ambassador for Bel Air Rozay (Luc Beliare Rose), which is an exclusive champagne imported from France. It represents a new lifestyle of champagne, introducing a new identity for the young generation; it is pop culture driven. Punch was selected to be the brand ambassador through a mutual business deal; they were looking for individuals that were great in their own field of work. Punch uses his innovative selling strategies to get the product into various clubs and venues that could benefit the brand, along with promotional videos. He generated brand exposure by having the brand at his 10th Annual birthday party. He had artists perform using the brands name in their lyrics, an ice sculpture design and cupcakes and cake displaying the name as well; this type of marketing approach exhibited true brand loyalty.  Aside from being a brand ambassador, he takes part in community involvement. The most recent event he planned was Life Camp’s 5th Annual “Ballin’ 4 Peace”. It was a celebrity charity basketball game to bring awareness to the community. It featured hip-hop artists such as Jim Jones, Mack Wilds, Murda Mook, Grafh and Fred the Godson. The event was centered on balling for peace with a cause; proceeds were donated to charity. Punch has advice for those that dream to do what they love or even pursue a career as a party promoter. He states that when he executes an idea he takes steps to do it, planning from A-Z. He is not focused solely on the profit but actually seeing his ideas come to life. He says, “starting something and finishing it, is what success is to him”. Punch also reads inspirational books; the last book he read was by motivational speaker, Les Brown. He has two key principlesif interested in becoming a Party Promoter: Punch has proven that at a young age, you can bring your dreams to life, with patience, perseverance, and a steadfast attitude. He knows who he is and what it takes to get to the next level. He plans to get more involved with corporate America, take...

“Meet 14 year old Alexandria White, socially known as Fashion Alley; a sweet spirit with a meek voice, a giggle that contagiously captivates your heart and desire to be a motivator and role model to others her age.   This aspiring fashion designer has a hearing impairment but refuses to let it stop her from enjoying the beauty of life and pursuing the career of her dreams. She conquers what she calls her biggest challenge by believing passionately that God will heal her ears. Alexandria was in kindergarten when she first realized that she had a hearing impairment. “I was mad that I couldn’t hear and wanted to hear so bad” she said. She remembers it being frustrating, causing her to feel anger to the point where she became aggressive. Alexandria’s mom recalls while driving she would say “Mom put the driving mirror on your lips so I could hear you”. She never liked wearing her hearing aid and would scream because she didn’t want it on her, but observed when she didn’t have it on it felt like she was underwater, everything sounded mumbled. Her mom told her the key to healing was prayer, “Ask the lord to heal your ears”; she taught her Isaiah 53:5 “with his stripes we are healed”. Alexandria’s mom eventually had a special aid to assist with her speech but after 7th grade Alexandria made the decision to not rely on the aid, she felt like she could do it on her own. She stopped receiving speech therapy because her vocabulary and speech had approved outstandingly. She was an A student once she reached the 8th grade. Her middle school experiences helped her become an advocate for herself. Alexandria felt very insecure about people not wanting to be around her. She was called “deaf girl” which offended her because she wasn’t. Alexandria’s insecurities intensified, she thought everyone was talking about her, because she couldn’t hear what they were saying, she became emotionally drained. Alexandria found herself wanting to be friends with the popular crowd more than anything. She wanted to fit in and felt more like a follower than the leader. Middle school was her stepping stone and the making of a confident and empowering young lady. Her adversities helped her grow instead of wither. Now a freshman in high school, Alexandria is an A plus student and has an optimistic view on life. She doesn’t care to fit in but to be true to herself, and respects others that vow to do the same. She prefers not to surround herself with negative individuals. Alexandria asked God to give her better friends and for her not to care what others thought of her; she would pray “Thank you God for the friends that I have and things that I want, I know it was already done for me” this prayer she would say every morning. She now chooses friends that are real and honest, ones she can rely on and trust. If she notices a friend is being unreal she will politely pull them to the side and confront the situation, she doesn’t want others to think she accepts things when she doesn’t. Alexandria has come so far from the girl that once wanted to be popular and blend in with everyone else, she considers herself a leader now and not a follower, and though there are times where she may not always feel like a leader, she knows that she is one at heart. Alexandria’s high school is extremely diverse which she loves. She has a variety of friends and doesn’t just hang with a single group. When asked if everyone gets along with her, she replies with a bubbly giggle, “Yes, cause I’m nice and I accept everybody”. She expressed her love for her two best friends who she describes as; always there for her, they have a lot in common, can talk about everything and have fun with each other without getting offended, and though they have ups and downs they are very supportive during hard times. Academically Alexandria loves math and is brilliant at it. But she does have one subject that she isn’t quite fond of which is Biology, “I am the worse at Bio Lab” she laughs. She also considers herself a problem solver; she stated that if she didn’t pursue her fashion designer career, a private investigator has crossed her mind. “You can have more than one career, I will always be a fashion designer at heart”, she attests. Pursuing her dream career as a fashion designer is Alexandria’s passion. Although during her free time she enjoys hanging with friends and shopping, she also loves to sketch the latest fashion, and what she sees others wearing. She gets inspiration from other people’s designs, her favorite idols and singers and incorporates them into her drawings. Her favorite designer is Betsey Johnson; she describes her designs as “wild not simple, enthusiastic and jovial, always happy. Alexandria shares the same happy-go-lucky personality as her ideal designer. She never wants to be sad, loves having fun and doesn’t take things serious unless she needs to. She desires that everything around her has to be happy and positive. This breezy teen not only is artistically gifted but she is an awesome writer as well, she has a blog, which she hasn’t written for in a while because she’s been focused on school, titled “Alley Says” (www.alleysays.wordpress.com) in which she blogs about what she fashionably adores. Alexandria truly believes that preparing for her future will help her achieve her dream. During the summer she took fashion classes at Hofstra University, in Long Island, NY. She is presently taking sewing classes and still is learning sewing terms and so forth. She has a selection of dream schools she is interested in, FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), Art Institute of New York, FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising) and a school in Paris as well. Aside from school and pursuing her passion, Alexandria has...

“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion; the potential for greatness lives within each of us.” – Wilma Rudolph This quote was spoken from a woman who lived these words. From the moment she graced this planet prematurely, Wilma Rudolph had to overcome a lot of odds in order to not only speak these words, but also become who she became. ​Wilma Rudolph, an African American, was born prematurely on June 23, 1940 weighing in at 4.5 lbs. in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee. She was the fifth child of nineteen children; eleven from her father’s first marriage and eight from her mother, her father’s second marriage. Wilma lived a normal child hood up until the age of four years old, when she contracted polio, a disease that attacks the nervous system. Although surviving the illness, the disease still took the use of Wilma’s left leg. Due to this ailment, the Rudolph family decided to pick up and move to Nashville, Tennessee, where Mrs. Rudolph found out that she could be treated at Meharry Hospital; the black medical college of Fisk University in Nashville. Even though it was 50 miles away, Wilma’s mother took her there twice a week for two years, where they consulted a specialist. The specialist recommended massage therapy, and began to teach Mrs. Rudolph the technique. Once Mrs. Rudolph learned the technique, she continued on and also taught her other children. So they all chipped in and Wilma’s left leg was massaged daily. At the age of twelve, Wilma went against all odds and walked again on her own and here is where her life began. ​After several years of home schooling, Wilma finally attended Burt High School. Wanting to follow in her sisters’ footsteps, she opted to join the Burt High School female basketball team; however, the coach Clinton Gray would not allow her to play in a game for two years of her high school career. By her sophomore year not only did he allow her to play starting guard, Wilma set state records, leading her team to a state championship. During the state tournament, Wilma caught the attention of Ed Temple. Ed Temple was the head coach of the women’s track team, “The Tigerbells”, at Tennessee State University, and saw the potential in Wilma. Burt High School didn’t have the budget for a track team so Ed decided to allow Wilma to train with the track team during her summer breaks from school. ​Wilma continued running track and in 1956, at the age of sixteen she qualified for the summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Here she won a bronze medal in the 4×4 relay race. The following year, in 1957, Wilma was accepted to Tennessee University on a full scholarship. While majoring in elementary education and still running, the pressure of sustaining both eventually affected her and she fell ill. Unable to run in 1958, she rebounded in 1959 only to pull a muscle at a crucial meet between the USA and what was then, the Soviet Union. Fortunately for Wilma, Ed Temple would prove a good friend and would nurse her back to health, and by 1960 Wilma was ready to run in the Rome Olympics.The 1960 Olympics is where Wilma Rudolph showed the world her talents and all of her hard work had paid off. She was considered the fastest woman in the world in the 1960’s. On September 7th, 1960 in Rome, Italy at the Olympics, Wilma became the first American woman and African-American woman, to win all three gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter dash; she finished approximately three yards ahead of her closest competitor. She set the world record in the 100 meter dash and set a new Olympic record in the 200 meter dash. Wilma’s swift legs earned her the nick name “La Gazzella Nera” (The Black Gazelle) from the Italians and “La Perle Noire” (The Black Pearl) from the French. Without question, Wilma set the standard at the 1960 Olympics. Her celebrity broke down barriers in the world of athleticism, and put women and African Americans on the map. ​With her instant celebrity, Wilma did not allow it to get to her. Not wanting to fade out, Wilma retired from amateur athletics in 1963 and within that same year she also completed her BA degree in education, and got married. She earned a lot of honors as well. In 1963, she was selected to represent the U. S. State Department as a Goodwill Ambassador at the Games of Friendship in Dakar, Senegal. Later that year she was invited by Dr. Billy Graham to join the Baptist Christian Athletes in Japan. ​With all the continued success, Wilma still remained humble. Becoming a mother of four, she returned to Clarksville, Tennessee to live. There, she taught at her old school, Cobb Elementary, and became the track coach at Burt High School; replacing her old coach Clinton Gray, who was killed in an auto accident. Throughout the years, Wilma would continue to participate in the fight against segregation and travel all over the country to multiple universities as a guest speaker. Her first triumph over segregation was in Clarksville, Tennessee, where she insisted that her homecoming parade be open to everyone and not a segregated event; as was the usual custom. Her victory parade was the first racially integrated event ever held in the town. The townspeople held a banquet in her honor; this was the first time in Clarksville’s history that blacks and whites had ever gathered together for the same event. She went on to participate in protests throughout the city until the segregation laws were struck down. In 1967 Vice-President Hubert Humphrey invited Wilma to participate in “Operation Champ,” an athletic outreach program for underprivileged youth in the ghettoes of 16 major cities. She started her own non-profit organization, The Wilma Rudolph Foundation, to continue this kind of work. The foundation provided...

“I AM HISTORY” The story of Ebony Watson’s mission to Cape Town, South Africa You often hear the phrase “history in the making,” but what makes an individual historically inclined? God has predestined each and every one of us for his divine purpose; he’s given each of us gifts and visions to present to the world. In honor of Black History Month, JPowellBowTieLife online magazine presents the life and mission of a young black woman that is on the rise of greatness; Ebony Watson. Who is E.W: Ebony Watson is a 25 year-old young woman with a heart of gold, a highly anointed individual who boldly speaks her dreams and goals into existence. She is a wife to the love her life, Jahi Watson, who she adores with all her heart, an honors student, loving sister and amazing daughter; but she declares, that doesn’t make her who she is. “I am honestly a girl who used her obstacles and personal experiences as my motivation to become who I am today. I am a child of God. I truly believe I was created and went through all of the experiences to help someone else and serve others,” she says. Born to Shine: Ebony Watson was born in the sunny side month of June. She was raised in Roosevelt, Long Island, NY, in a single family home and was the only girl out of her four siblings. “I grew up in a single parent family home without my father, my mother did the best she could to raise my brothers and I. She always told me the sky is the limit and to never let my circumstances stop me from my dreams,” says Watson. During high school, Ebony had no desire to attend college, due to her personal childhood experiences; she was more focused on working than her education; which is now her core focus. She is presently a junior at Virginia Union University located in Richmond, VA, in which she is a double major, Criminal Justice and Social Work; maintaining a 3.7 grade point average. She is also a member of the Phi Alpha National Honor Society of Social Work, Alpha Phi Sigma Criminal Justice Honor Society, Virginia Union University Student Conduct Committee, and will be a first-generation college student. Talk about an overcomer and overachiever blended brilliantly in one; God is able. Ebony is a true woman of God and acknowledges that God was, and has always been her source. She grew up in Antioch Baptist Church, Hempstead, NY where Bishop Phillip E. Elliott is the pastor. “That’s where I found myself, at church. I use to walk around with the world on my shoulders; you could even see it in my eyes, because I was hurting from all my childhood experiences that I had been through, that I had no control over. More and more I started to seek God, and get connected with positive energy and people that wanted to see me succeed, and believe that despite my circumstances I was going to be someone,” she announces. Ebony’s childhood shaped her into the beautiful empowering woman she is today. “Ebony Watson is someone that is a role model for other young people who grew up in a single parent family home, who went through hurting, who was not as privileged as others,” she says. It was during high school that she came into fruition of her purpose, which was motivating young people. She developed a passion for speaking to the youth, and dreams to open up her own business which caters to assisting young women and men. Girl on a Mission: Ebony’s mission to study abroad at the University of Cape Town, South Africa was inspired from her International Studies program held at her college in 2013, featuring now alumni Calethia Christmas, who studied abroad in China. Ebony’s Spanish professor encouraged her decision by offering extra points to students who enrolled in the program. She followed up with Calethia to gain more knowledge of her experience in China. “I knew I wanted to study aboard, but I did not know exactly where. I wanted to stay in a small setting similar to my University, especially being in another country by myself,” says Ebony. Ebony did her research; she went to the international office at her school to explore the study abroad options and countries listed in the program. The program that stood out to her was the CIEE-Service-Learning Program located in Cape Town, South Africa. “I knew the Service-Learning Program offered the smaller classroom settings and learning styles with a small group of students from other universities in the world. The Service-Learning Program also offered students the opportunity to become involved and work with local organizations in Africa related to my career goal, which focuses on the at risk youth population and young incarcerated females. The Service- Learning Program was the perfect fit to help me become an agent of social change,” she exclaims. Ebony’s decision was confirmed and she decided to study abroad at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Ebony was now on her mission to pursue a goal that would launch her into history; she is the 2nd student at Virginia Union University to study abroad. Dream Goal: The expense to study abroad at the University of Cape Town, which included her tuition, international airfare, Visa, course materials and more, was $25,000. In which Ebony successfully raised through scholarships, fundraisers (a Bake Sale held at her University and Pop-Up Thrift Shop held in her home state, New York) along with donations and supporters. She also organized a YouCaring.com site for contributions to support her dream. However, it wasn’t a smooth ride to reaching her goal. Between the opposing views of others and the life-threatening disease Ebola on the rise in West Africa, so much could have discouraged Watson, but with unwavering faith she stood steadfast and was able to achieve her goal and more. Through the grace of God and her genuine supporters, Ebony raised a total of $27,733,...