More Than a Woman...She’s My Sunshine

July 31, 2019

To be clear, I am a hopeless romantic. I went to college with the aspirations of changing the world and meeting the one I would spend the rest of my life with. I met Althea in November 2002. I knew then what I know now…she IS the one for me.  For all of those who are not into the idea that you can have a soul mate; someone made just for you, then this blog post is not for you.

When I started my journey in college, I portrayed something I really did not have; I portrayed confidence. In reality, I did not have confidence I wanted. So, I had to fake till I made it. I did NOT have a lot of value in myself. I did not have value in my physical appearance; I did not have value in identity. It was not self-hate; it was more of a belief that my Blackness (my ethnic/racial identity) was not valued by other Black people. I just wanted to be me. I wanted my version of Blackness that was authored solely by me and valued by others. But, for my first 2 years of college, I did not have the legitimacy I hungered for.

My perceived legitimacy came from my involvement on-campus. In other words, I had value in what I did (the works). I believed my works (to better humanity) earned my value with others. Althea taught me I was wrong. Just being me was enough to be valued. Althea got me. She appreciated my traits (flaws and all). She may not have understood my passion for guys like 2pac or Malcolm X, but she could empathize. She showed me that showing the world who I was and who I knew I was meant to be was just as important as the things I did. She believed in me when I was too stupid to believe in myself.

Althea pushes to embrace the unfamiliar. Sometimes that means trying things I have never tried before, or not letting my family’s past dictate my present or my future. She has told me to be naked in my story.  Be naked in my faith in Jesus…be naked in where I come from does not tell the world where I am going…be naked about my talents and my passion for the betterment of humanity. That nakedness had led me owning my leadership in my own home, embracing my call to teach and empower, and to eventually become Dr. Hurd (officially).

15 years into this journey called marriage, I can say I am more in-love with my Sunshine now than I was 15 years ago. I ache at her absence from my presence more than ever before. I have evolved as her husband, father to our children, and her best friend. At each stage of my evolution, my Althea, my Sunshine was there. She never stopped believing in…never stopped offering feedback…never stopped pushing me. To me that’s being more than a woman. No words I type or orally say will ever equate my appreciation and admiration of my Sunshine. When I call her Sunshine, it is not just a nickname. It is my attempt to put into words the light she has brought into my dark world. Calling her Sunshine is proof that I am deserving of unconditional love from someone who does NOT that have the same earthly bloodline as me.

Althea, my Sunshine, I only have one request… “Always remember us this way!”

Jet Black Shelby Mustangs!

-  Elgrie J.

Independence from Doubt and Uncertainty

July 4, 2019

I have always admired Victor's determination.  I met Victor D. Reynolds as an undergraduate in college.  He had goals of mastering Japanese, playing college basketball, and becoming a video game designer.  Within four years, he had playing college basketball and mastering Japanese under his belt.  Not much time had gone by before he was taking his skills of making video games that he had begun as a young teen to becoming part of design teams for some of the top video games.

When he left the world of video game programming/designing I was blown away.  What really stuck out to me was the description of his new reality.  He talked about how free he felt.  That is a beautiful thing.  The icing on the cake is how his major life transition would have a direct effect on my family.

At the center of my family is Althea; my Bride, my Sunshine.  People often associate me as the teacher of my family.  But, if we are being honest, it is Althea. I always knew Althea was a teacher.  When we first met nearly 20 years ago, she was in training to be an elementary school teacher.  And while she had not been in traditional teaching roles, she was always teaching.  As we began to have children, Althea was the one teaching our kids to read.  She was the one who did most of the homeschooling with our kids.  When she was doing all of that, she still found time to tutor the children of family and friends.  Althea is great at teaching kids.  But Althea has a secret:  She is great at teaching adults, too!

Since we have been in Texas, Althea has been teaching adults in formal and informal ways.  She has helped adults from all parts of the fitness continuum to learn how to maximize the benefits of making smoothies with a Vitamix.  Lately, over the last 2 years, she has been focusing on helping mothers before and after childbirth.  Althea has empowered moms to have a deeper understanding of the childbirth process (from comfort measures to the actual delivery).  Althea has even helped new moms improve their confidence in their breastfeeding techniques.

As Althea’s self-proclaimed biggest fan/cheerleader, it is cool to see Althea go from volunteering to leading classes for her own birth education business.  She’s not simply putting together classes occasionally; she is becoming more methodical, increasing her network, and getting requests from many non-profits to be their birth education presenter. 

This transformation has occurred from two things: (1) success coaching provided by Victor; (2) strategies of mindsets provided by Victor’s book, Get Off the Bench (2019).  As her coach, Victor has done a great job of equipping Althea to maximize her efforts and increase her efficiency to impact the birth education world.  He is constantly pushing her out of her comfort zone by tying her next steps to her “why;” tying everything back to her purpose. Get Off the Bench (2019) is a great complement to Victor’s coaching. In the book, he describes the impact of how mindsets can make or break the success of your business.  He also offers practical solutions on how to improve your mindset to find consistent success in your efforts.  Having read the book, I have implemented some of his strategies to stop mindsets that have hindered my own personal success.  And in the short period of applying his suggestions from his book, I have reaped some of the financial and motivational successes Althea has had.  

What is your mindset?  Are you still thinking that you are not good enough to be great?!  Do not sell yourself short.  Declare independence from the uncertainty and doubt in your life!

- Elgrie J.

For more info on Victor’s entrepreneurship coaching…

●     https://www.victordreynolds.com/

●     https://www.amazon.com/Get-Off-Bench-Playbook-Maximizing-ebook/dp/B07QG3J1J9