When Bravery Met Love

If not for my parents’ bravery, I wouldn't be here today.

It was my mom's bravery that helped her first get aloft. Born in a rural part of Georgia's segregated Jim Crow South, she was the child of sharecroppers who were themselves the children of slaves that had been hunted down, sold, and brought to America in chains from the West Coast of Africa hundreds of years before. My ancestors bravely survived the Middle Passage that killed two million. At 23 years old, centuries later, my mom became the first of her family to leave the red dirt roads and the towering pine trees of Georgia behind to pursue a bigger dream. She became one of United Airlines' first African American flight attendants in 1967.

Each day she boarded a plane, she proved that African Americans, though from crushing poverty driven by oppressive segregation laws, were just as capable of high-flying jobs as all other Americans—if given the chance.

One day, my mom bravely boarded a flight to a country she and many like her had never been to before: Denmark. When she landed, she made her way to the famous Hotel Egmont and did her best to ignore the stares from Danes who had never seen someone like her in their tiny northern European country famous for its butter, cookies, and clogs. Some asked to touch her coffee brown skin, but most stood respectfully at a distance, mouths open with curiosity.

On the steps of the Egmont hotel, my parents collided. My dad was working at the hotel as a bellhop while he completed his Ph.D. studies in English at nearby Copenhagen University. In that moment, my dad made his brave decision. Despite only having seen pictures and film of African Americans on television and the covers of his favorite Jazz and Motown albums, he asked my mom to their first date at Tivoli Gardens amusement park.

As you may have gathered from the author of this story, that date went well. My parents got married, moved to Chicago, USA, and to the country where less than a decade earlier, interracial marriage was punished as a crime. They bravely had my brother and then me.

Bravery and love are a powerful combination.

Growing up in Evanston, Illinois, I joined the activities and clubs I liked regardless of how diverse they were. "Go forth and be the first one like we were if that's the case," my parents told me. I often was.

After I left Evanston Township High School, I pursued my love of History at Northwestern University as a Classics major. The study of ancient Greeks and Romans did not attract a wide range of students, diversity aside. That did not deter me. I still believe as I did then, no matter our background, ancient history holds the keys to humanity for all of us. Senior year, I studied abroad in Athens, Greece. While there, I traveled to Italy, visited the Colosseum in Rome, and ate pizza in Pompeii. Miles from Northwestern, I remembered how my parents were world travelers and kept my chin up during turbulent events, including an earthquake and our nation's tragedy on September 11th, 2001.

As America began to heal, I began to feel I had the strength to leave Evanston after graduation and pursue my bigger dream.

My journey brought me to New York where I was a model, actor, and artist trying out my own brand of creativity in the world. Even as I rode the vicissitudes of life for nearly a decade in the Big Apple as a creative, my parents encouraged me. They continued to give me the good sense to be unafraid to share my ideas of what is beautiful—with people of all races, creeds, faiths, backgrounds, and origins. After a few years, I took up graphic design, made websites, wrote blogs, and designed all sorts of marketing materials for people in NYC, without formal experience. Each project felt like a brave undertaking and I loved these opportunities as I learned my way.

Since 2012, I've been in Evanston as a full-fledged marketer, sharing my perspective on what was beautiful with others so they could make successful businesses and pursue their bigger dreams as well.

Fifty-two years after my parents met in Denmark, many more have stories born of two opposite cultures meeting and creating a unified family like ours. My parents' story, and the story of all diverse families, is a story of courage that inspires me—and reminds me that all great stories, including mine, begin with bravery.