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My name is Calum Brown. I’m 14.
My name is Damoni Brown. I’m 13 years old.
My name is Sheridan McHenry. I’m 17 years old.
We interviewed Emmai Alaquiva on August 13, 2014.
I grew up in the projects fatherless. Mother worked two jobs, wasn’t really there. It could have broke me, but it built me up to be a better person, a better father, a better husband one day.
I attended college actually after dropping out of school. I dropped out of school my senior year because my sister was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. So I had to step in and take care of my family, and a lot of times school, at that time, I thought kind of got in the way of some of my responsibilities. But once I realized that, what better way to commemorate my sister’s passing, trying to be the very best Emmai Alaquiva I can be? So I went back to school, got my GED and went on to the University of Pittsburgh to get my degree in liberal arts.
After my sister’s passing, I fell into a deep depression. I was homeless for about maybe a good year, year and a half, and I very well could have been that individual that asks you for $0.50 in a 7/11 cup. But what I realized is that we all go through things. What that did is allow me to dig back into my creativity. I’ve always had music. And I said to myself one time, “How can I change the world with what I love?” Next thing you know, I got myself together. I depended on a few individuals in my community. Opened up a studio out of a 300 square foot room. I was sleeping in there and washing up in the restroom at the studio and said to myself, “Every dollar that I make, I’m gonna put $0.90 back into the studio.” I did that with integrity. I did that with a level of commitment and a level of my community, and today I own a full service recording facility that’s Emmy award-winning, Multi award-winning. 25 employees later, I stand strong on where I am today.
What made me want to do it is the satisfaction of changing somebody’s life. The fact that I can put together a film, or I can put together music that will change your emotions and that can make you happy or inspire you to do something actually drives me to do it. Sometimes, when you do what you love, it’s not work. When somebody says, you know, “Do you like your work?” And I say, “I don’t work.” I actually just wake up and play with a bunch of electronic toys, and I happen to capture stories along the way. So I don’t work. I do what I love. People, they don’t do what they love, and I know you know a lot of people that go to work every single day, but they come home miserable, they come home upset, they come home complaining, they wish they can get a better job. If we simply took the time to do what we love, this world would be a better place. I change the world with what it is that I love to do, and I happen to get a check for it.
My community has influenced me because there are a lot of upstanding and strong individuals that sort of set up the pillars for a great foundation of a community. One thing we need to realize is when you’re growing up, your community means everything. The individuals that are part of it, the people who make it up from the police officers, to the crossing guards, to the older lady who plants her flowers and waters her flowers every 5 minutes… These are the individuals that really make up the fabric of what makes a better world. When you start with your community, you essentially make a better city. You essentially make a better state, better country, better world
When you think you can do everything yourself is the day you’re going to end up by yourself. Teamwork makes the dream work. Anything you do, any goals that you have crystallize them in a way that others are included. There’s a lot of individuals that are responsible for where I am today, and I’m eternally grateful.
In life, we have individuals that are around us that have certain blueprints that we can sort of take. It’s called inspiration. I know you can think of one person that you find to be positive or find to be a great example of what a man is. You can internalize that and extract certain things out of certain people. You might extract the way your uncle or your aunt does a certain thing, or the way your grandmother cooks, or the way your grandmother speaks to other individuals, it could be the toughness of a basketball player at your local court. The way he manages the ball, the way he shoots, the confidence that he has. Again, these are all individuals that are around you that you can take that blueprint from to make you a better you.
The one thing that will always be guaranteed throughout our lives is the fact that things change regardless of how much you think your life is boring and you know it might stay the same. It-it really changes. But what builds character in us all is our ability to adjust to that change. You know, a lot of times, us as African American men, we go through a lot of difficulties that a lot of people won’t understand. But the thing is, you know, when things change around you, whether it’s positive or negative, is we can build a better us by adjusting to the change.