AE Media is my baby, sorry my business! It’s started from volunteering at church and realizing that I actually loved social media and taking photos. Soon after, people were asking me to help them out at events outside of church and my boyfriend recommended (more told me) that I should star a business and charge people for what I’m doing. I agreed and AE Media was born. Today AE Media LLC is a full service media and marketing agency which monthly clients. I’m thankful that we’ve been in this for 3 years and I’m looking forward to where this business will go in the future.

The nurse looked over at me and said “your blood pressure is really high”. I thought they were overreacting, probably just trying to scare me into taking some medications I didn’t need. As she turned around and typed into the computer, I looked at the blood pressure machine, it read “175/105”. I didn’t know what it meant, so of course so googled it. As I waited for the doctor to come in, I read about how a blood pressure of 180/120 means you needs to go to the hospital and that I was in stage 2 hypertension. My thoughts were all over the place “Are they going to send me to the hospital?” “How can my blood pressure be so high at age 23?” “How did I end up in this position?” When the doctor finally came in, she gave me the whole spiel about being healthy, eating better and exercising, and also put me on medication that I didn’t want to take. It’s important to live a healthy lifestyle because it’s not all about how you look, I’m learning. You can be as skinny as can be and be unhealthy on the inside. Being healthy is about taking care of your whole body. I maintain a healthy lifestyle by making healthy choices. That doesn’t mean eating salad for every meal but being intentional about what goes in my body and also moving my body intentionally everyday

Superfoods and Ariel go hand in hand. I love them because they are easy to find and incorporate into my diet day to day, which as a college student is something that I need when it comes to my food = healthy & easy. My favorite would probably be dark chocolate and coconut. Dark chocolate is a great on the go snack for me so I’ll pack it with me in my purse no matter where I go. Coconut water is my favorite day to day, it keeps me hydrated and happy, what more can I ask?

Being the child of a single mother has impacted every single aspect of my life. With my dad living in a different country, my everyday needs were left up to my mother who never complained. She took night classes for years to get her masters, worked harder than any other parent I could see, and indirectly showed me that hard work was the standard always. What inspires me most about my mom is that she lives the life I aspire to live. She worked hard for many years, lots of lates nights, working hard so that I could go to the private schools and do the extra curriculars, and when I look at her life now, the house she lives in, her friends, her car, her happiness, it inspires me that it was not for nothing. That hard work works, even if it takes years to see the output .

AE is what many people call me, my name is Ariel Elizabeth and I'm 21 years old. I never had a nickname...like ever. And I always thought it was cool, those people with dope nicknames and everyone just KNEW them. I always wanted to be one of those people, but the nicknames I created for myself never fit. So when I started my business, AE Media, I didn't think anyone thought anything of it...until they started call me AE. All throughout middle and high school my dream was to study political science. I loved politics and everything about the government and how it functions, and I still do actually. But after high school, I moved from Charlotte to Miami and started serving at the church I was attending and there I discovered my two passions : ministry and social media. I realized I had a love for witnessing people find Jesus and the hope that is in Him, and I was called to be the one to share that hope. From there I changed my major to Christian Ministry and Theology and dove deep into the word of God and His call on my life. Through this I discovered so many things about myself : that I can preach, that I am energized by people, that I love the church and helping build it. The other passion I discovered was social media. I'm a millennial so of course, I love social media, but I found a passion for the working of it. Why certain people lean towards certain posts, how algorithms work, building and growing social media pages, and growing them began to excite me. So, I started a business to do just that. I now own two businesses that focus on content and social media strategy : AE Media & AE Marketing Agency. Through education and my career, I hope to marry these two passions of mine and help build the online church through social media. I want to build the first social media marketing agency that specializes in building churches online presence and I want to be able to go into churches and help equip and train their leaders to use social media and teach the best ways to handle it. I want to do this because this is what someone did for me. They took me under their wing when I came into the church and taught me the basics, but not only did they teach me but they planted a seed in me that has now grown and bloomed into two business and an upcoming degree. My goals are to build these businesses into powerhouses, and also through them be able to showcase the church in a light many people may not have ever seen it before or maybe even thought about it in that context. I pray to be the bridge between those two words and I believe my business will allow me to do that and through your grant I'll be able to get the necessary funding to continue my business and education. Thank you!

Opportunities for black women, it seems, come few and far between. Our mothers and fathers have raised us to work hard because they know far better than us that in this America, we have to work 5x as hard to get that same as our white counter parts. And as a result, in my life, working hard has become less of a "push" and more of a personality trait. If you ask anyone around me about me, one of the first things they'll say to describe me is "Ariel works hard"...and I'm not mad about that. I have many dreams and goals that I want to accomplish and I know that black or not, I won't get there without the grind. All throughout middle and high school my dream was to study political science. I loved politics and everything about the government and how it functions, and I still do actually. But after high school, I moved from Charlotte to Miami and started serving at the church I was attending and there I discovered my two passions : ministry and social media. I realized I had a love for witnessing people find Jesus and the hope that is in Him, and I was called to be the one to share that hope. From there I changed my major to Christian Ministry and Theology and dove deep into the word of God and His call on my life. Through this I discovered so many things about myself : that I can preach, that I am energized by people, that I love the church and helping build it. The other passion I discovered was social media. I'm a millennial so of course, I love social media, but I found a passion for the working of it. Why certain people lean towards certain posts, how algorithms work, building and growing social media pages, and growing them began to excite me. So, I started a business to do just that. I now own two businesses that focus on content and social media strategy. Through education and my career, I hope to marry these two passions of mine and help build the online church through social media. I want to build the first social media marketing agency that specializes in building churches online presence and I want to be able to go into churches and help equip and train their leaders to use social media and teach the best ways to handle it. I want to do this because this is what someone did for me. They took me under their wing when I came into the church and taught me the basics, but not only did they teach me but they planted a seed in me that has now grown and bloomed into two business and an upcoming degree. My other goal that I hope to achieve through my education is to become a better equipped teacher and preacher. I love to speak about God's word and to share His love with others but I'm definitely not learned enough yet to go to the depths I want to go with it. I pray that through the scholarship, I can further my education and hence, my goals for the future. Thank you!