You don’t have to be old to be successful. That is the message that Steve Jones, president of the African American Alumni says the Sankofa AAAC Farewell Brunch Reception wanted to make.
On Oct. 26, Pittsburgh students and alumni from near and far enjoyed brunch in the University Club ballroom while authors, and administrators told encouraging stories of real life hardship and triumph during a three hour ceremony held in honor of this year’s Rising African American Award winners. The criterion for eligibility was: be an alumnus of Pitt and be under 40 years old. Sounds simple enough. The hard part is measuring your resume against these three awardees—who all confess to working, on average, 12 hours a day six days a week.
“The only time I’m not working is when I’m sleeping,” said co-award winner Marita Garrett, who in addition to serving on the Wilkinsburg borough council, also has spent the last seven years working at the Alzheimer’s disease research center raising awareness in the African-American community in Pittsburgh about the progressively debilitating disease.
“People think it is normal to forget things as they get older but really it isn’t.” Garrett said. Garrett also coordinated the ENCOREplus Health Support Line as a resource for African-American women to obtain vouchers for preventive health screenings. As if helping under-privileged women and the elderly in Pittsburgh wasn’t enough, Garrett admitted to being on a 10-year plan that would take her to the brink of making decisions of national consequence.
“I definitely want to continue my career in politics, I do see myself in U.S. Congress which is part of my ten year plan so I see myself taking it to the highest levels because I do feel we need more minority representation and we also need to get the youth involved.”
Fellow award winner Jessica Robinson is an entrepreneur and a new author. Her first book Mission Unstoppable: Success from Failure’s Blessings goes on sale Nov. 1 and is an assortment of 31 stories of the different trials, tribulations and triumphs of people in positions of leadership. “We started presale orders in the last week of June and we’ve gone number one in six categories. It‘s the first time in amazon history,” she said.
When she isn’t promoting her upcoming book, most of Robinson’s 12 to 14 hour day consists of running Pure Point International: A self-started organization that works for the safety and security of women internationally, and according to Robinson, work has even begun on an app in the same community interactive makeup of Facebook, but the details are still mostly secret in this crucial developmental phase. When asked what her advice to the youth in the room was, Robinson was profound. “The thing I tell to people is if your vision can be achieved in your lifetime, than your vision isn’t big enough. Because as a leader, your vision should also be for the people who follow in your footsteps.”
The third and final awardee was Latrenda Leonard. Leonard is the deputy chief of operations and administration in the Office of the Mayor, City of Pittsburgh. She is spear heading the Summer Youth Employment Program which employed 680 kids this year up from 327 last year. “We want to hire every kid that applies, that’s the goal.” This program is designed to give young people in the city of Pittsburgh ages 14-21 have a chance to have a job and make legal money as an incentive to keep kids out of the streets and lessen the temptation towards a life of crime. Currently the kids have two options for work, by working in conservation or taking an office internship. “We are also trying to include public safety opportunities, marketing opportunities, and specific outcome based opportunities for these young people.” Leonard’s passion for the youth doesn’t stop at the borders of Pittsburgh. Recently Leonard returned from Dublin, Ireland where she served as delegate to the One Young World Summit, Leonard was one of 1300 people from 170 countries discussing peace, conflict, sustainability, and youth employment. When asked what was the hardest challenge she faced as a youth trying to find work, she reminisced on leaving college. “The hardest obstacle was getting people to believe you have the ability with such a short work history. This award proves we [the youth] do matter, we have a voice, what we are doing matters more than ever. To the young people, Black people need you more than ever.”
While the clear theme of the event was young stars of today, the ceremony also included a salute to the Black pioneers in Pitt’s history. Robert L. Vann, founder of the Pittsburgh Courier class of 1909 and Dr. Jean Hamilton Walls, the first African-American woman to earn a bachelor’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh class of 1910 were remembered and praised for their courage and sacrifice.
When all was said and done, African American Alumni Council member and emcee for the event Tony Fountain was very pleased with the event’s proceedings. “The attendance was great, we had over 80 people from across many generations. The three individuals who were honored this afternoon serve as examples of inspiration to these young students and it gives us older generations hope for the future.” In a nutshell, the Sankofa AAAC Farewell Brunch can best be described as an event that filled the body, mind, and soul.
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