Anxiety can make it extremely difficult to run a business, I can tell you that first hand. It has been my biggest challenge. Trying to make all the right decisions and keep your customers happy feels like you're juggling a million things at once. My parents make doing all of these things easier though. I wouldn't be as successful as I am without their support. I sell different desserts a few times a week. In my opinion, the hardest part of running my business, or any business is keeping customers happy. I make desserts based on what is requested the most through the polls on my business page on instagram. I include specific desserts for people with allergies as well. There is always someone who isn't happy with the menu though, and I tend to stress over things like that. My mama always reminds me that I cannot please everyone and that people pleasers never run successful businesses. Agreeing to too many requests and accommodations eventually makes you invest more than you profit. Her reminders make me a sharper entrepreneur and keep my decision making skills in check. Social anxiety makes communication with customers stressful too. I second guess whether I'm coming off as rude or if I'm being confusing. I have my Dad look over my messages with customers before I send them, just to be sure I'm being as clear as possible. This is crucial because many customers have allergies or need their orders delivered. Not to mention the amount of conflicts that could result from miscommunication. The last thing I want is to cause a major problem over something that could've easily been communicated. Above all else, the biggest tool I've been given is from my mama. She has taught me everything I know about baking, I couldn't have created my business in the first place without her. I learned all the fundamentals as a child, even though I didn't realize it. From the small tips on how to make a cake moist to the perfect base of a cookie. I grew up eating the desserts made from her fundamentals, and I loved them. That is why I base all my recipes off of what she has taught me. I am more than confident in any dessert that I make or sell because of this. My anxiety wouldn't allow me to sell anything without being confident in the quality. It is because of her, and my dad, that my anxiety is a challenge and not an obstacle.

I am extremely passionate about Black representation in film. Films introduce people to new perspectives and environments, that is exactly what the Black community needs. Black children aren't often exposed to or told they can do things other than basketball, rapping, singing, et cetera. Our community needs to be exposed to more diverse career paths and lifestyles, because there is no "one" way to be Black. Movies like Black Panther and The Princess and the Frog showed how much one character or story can inspire millions of people. The amount of joy that movie brought Black children is indescribable, I want to create more of that. My first step to doing this is educating myself in the film realm. I'll be graduating high school this upcoming year and I've registered to take film tech analysis and styles of acting and directing. Though I won't get college credit for these classes, I wanted to have some knowledge of film techniques and scripting before I go to college. This leads me to the next step, college, or film school rather. College application season starts soon and I plan on majoring in cinematography or film production and possibly minoring in screenwriting. Screenwriting will teach me how to write these storylines that include Black people and cinematography will teach me how to bring those storylines to life on screen. I've done my research on the film industry, and I don't know everything, but I can confidently say that networking is crucial to be successful in this industry. Possibly making this step the most important of them all. I'm a little reserved so this may be challenging for me, but I do plan on connecting with other film majors in college, especially Black creators. I also will take full advantage of any internship opportunities I can get, because those usually result in jobs. I know I won't get to direct my own movie first, but I'm willing to work hard so that I can eventually. I'm not a stranger to working hard or being looked down upon. I went to a private elementary school and I was also one of the very few Black students. Though I do now, as a child I didn't comprehend the small comments my teachers made about me. Whether it was about my clothes, my hair, or the way I spoke. What I did notice was the way they taught me things. Like how reading ahead of the class was wrong, even though I did it silently without bothering anyone. Or finishing my class work early meant I cheated or didn't do it correctly. Have you ever heard of a child being punished for learning? Because I haven't. I was seen as less than. Even though I made great grades and I had the normal behavior of a child in elementary school. I dealt with things like that from kindergarten to sixth grade. I was pretty happy my last year there. I had just taken the admission exam to Walnut Hills High School, the number one school in Ohio. I told my classmates and teachers how excited I was to go there, I had only went to one school my entire life. I specifically remember my teacher saying "you'll fail out and you'll be right back here in eighth grade". I've never forgotten that. I'm now a senior on track to graduate this year, with a 3.8 gpa as of right now. It is that perseverance and hard work that I will continue to use when pursuing my passion.

I am the only girl and the youngest of my family, so the expectations have been high for me to say the least. My mama always reminded me that I can't just be decent, but that I have to be the best. I specifically remember being in seventh grade, I struggled in pre-algebra and I couldn't seem to raise my grade above a C. My mama constantly harped on me about my grade and I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. My older brothers made mediocre grades all the time and it was never an issue, so why was it so bad for me to do the same? I didn't understand then, but I do now. My mama grew up with six other siblings and my grandmother raised them all on her own. They had to move frequently due to money issues, bad landlords, and many other things. This made my mama have to move schools a lot. The repetitive process of having to make new friends and get used to new curriculums was pretty hard for her. They were also poor, so when my mama got to high school she had to work to buy anything she wanted. All of this affected her academic performance and her overall development. Through all of that she still managed to go to community college, but she didn't graduate. She has provided me almost the exact opposite life as her. I went to a private elementary school and it was the only elementary school I went to. I've lived in the same house my entire life. Though I do have a job, I don't need it, at least not in the same way she did. I've never really went without anything I needed, she has always made sure I've had what I needed to succeed. Now it is time for me to do just that. My mama has worked so hard to make it easy for me, the least I can do is go to college. She didn't push me so hard to raise my grade because she wanted me to go to college, she pushed me because she wanted me to have options, the ones she didn't have. Her hard work gave me those options. So no, I'm not only going to college because I know it'll make my mama happy, she would support whatever decision I made for my life after high school. I want to go to college because it'll give me the opportunity to finally provide for myself, and hopefully her too.

It is no secret that mental health is ignored in the Black community, not only by others but by ourselves too. On multiple occasions I have heard people in my family say things like depression or anxiety are "white problems", what is worse is that they are not the only Black people who think this. These beliefs are not harmless and are in fact direct contributors to unhealthy coping mechanisms like drug and alcohol addiction or self harm. Not to mention the amount of Black people who commit suicide, especially Black children. My utopian vision for optimal mental health for the Black community includes accessibility to education on mental health and mental health resources. In less privileged Black communities we see plenty of corner stores, loan agencies, and liquor stores but no doctor or therapist offices. These should not be seen as privileges, because they are necessities to live a healthy life physically and mentally. Due to these places not being readily available locally, it forces the people of those communities to travel to where they are available. Sadly, traveling is not an option for many of them, and even if they could, the expenses of these resources often prevent less privileged people from receiving help. Another problem is that many Black people don't even realize that they need help. Alarming signs of mental health issues go unrecognized often, due to the lack of education on the issues. I can personally attest that in health class, I was never informed on things like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, borderline personality, et cetera. I was only constantly lectured on how drugs are bad or how I should exercise everyday. Educating Black students on mental health is the least that the U.S. education system can do to help and advocate for mental health. Accessibility is the clear main issue here. Schools should be equipped with professional therapists, as well as Black communities too. Mental health should be apart of all school curriculums. Many could argue that we don't have the money to provide everyone with access to these things, but in all reality we do. Each year tax dollars are given to police departments, the armed forces and countless other things. Yet, they don't even use all of the extremely large amounts of money they receive. If a fraction of their budgets were given to mental health resources there would be much more accessibility, thus contributing to the greater good. This kind of access would improve lives and communities as a whole. It would help end the school to prison pipeline specifically. Many incarcerated people have mental health issues that contributed to the decisions they made, that led them to their imprisonment. Black children would have access to therapists in school and locally. Thus, creating less conflicts in school and at home. Also possibly improving academic performance. Mental health being apart of the school curriculum would create emotionally intelligent children, who will eventually grow into adults with better response to conflict, internally and externally. These resources are not a privilege, and Black communities need and deserve help.

I hated sports and the outdoors as a whole as a child, weird right? I didn't have too many friends that lived near me to play with, so I always had to entertain myself. I've been into a little bit of everything from a creative perspective. I drew for a while, as most children do, and then I got into painting, I wrote stories, and then I got into fashion design and sewing. I have a love for all of these things, I couldn't ever focus on just one for too long. Then I found film. I remember watching Scarface and being astonished with how well written and symbolic the story was. Then I saw Euphoria and the uniqueness of the cinematography and soundtrack. I loved how it had the ability to include every creative process, from costuming to set design to storytelling. I realized certain careers in the film industry don't require me to pick just one creative area of focus, meaning I didn't have to choose. I want to go to film school so that I can finally fulfill every creative aspiration I have into one cohesive experience. I am currently in Black Culture Club, Black Girls Prosper, Stagecraft and Tutor Teens. I went to predominantly white elementary schools as a child, so going to a more diverse high school gave me the chance to join a club that connected me with my people and our culture. In Black Culture Club we learn about black history, discuss current topics that effect our community, host fundraisers and donate to less fortunate areas in Cincinnati. Black Girls Prosper is a club my friends and I created over the summer of 2020. Many of us missed out on opportunities during the pandemic and Black Girls Prosper was made to help bridge that gap for us. We provided information sessions with mentors in multiple career fields for the girls in our club. We also donated clothes and sanitary items to various women's shelters in Cincinnati. In Stagecraft I helped build sets for the junior and senior high plays throughout the year. I also have virtually tutored a girl in Algebra for the past year, through the Tutor Teens organization. As of right now, I am most passionate about helping the Black Community. I think different approaches need to be made to make change. All of the protesting and funding to underprivileged communities is surely effective and important, but I feel that my people need encouragement and to see positive stories. For example, as of recently I've seen plenty of shows incorporate police brutality and black trauma into their scripts, which they hadn't done prior to the murder of George Floyd. My community doesn't need to see more of that in a fictional setting, we already see it daily in real life. Our representation in the film industry shouldn't be solely focused on violence and trauma. We need more positive settings and stories, especially for black children to see. Like we saw with Black Panther, films can inspire and uplift people, and that is exactly what my people need. I intend to create black films that not only inspire my people, but hopefully the film industry as well.