Today we’d like to introduce you to Millicent Phinizy.
Millicent, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born on Long Island, NY and attended predominantly white Christian schools from 2nd grade through 12th grade. This is where I learned the art of code-switching. My 90’s alternative music-loving school persona differed greatly from my girlfriend of a drug-dealer neighborhood persona. I lived with my parents and two half-brothers (1 from each parent) until my mother passed away four days before Christmas when I was eight years old. My father, though a very successful, college educated, Accountant was addicted to cocaine for the early years of my life until he had a heart attack shortly before my mother’s passing and quit drugs cold turkey! My dad and I had a wonderful relationship despite his being physically handicapped. He did not have full use of his arms due to having Polio as a child. My brothers (both several years older than me) had moved out by the time I was in high school so I spent those years with my dad as a single parent spoiling me rotten. I grew up active in our small baptist church and took years of lessons in various disciplines of dance. Two days before my 17th birthday, at the start of my senior year of high school, my father passed away and I was forced to move clear across the county to live with my mother’s sister in California. Don’t get me wrong, I loved living with my aunt, her son, and my maternal half brother but that transition was super hard on me. Not to mention the fact that I was also diagnosed with a serious heart condition four months after moving. I dealt with suicidal ideation and depression and sought counseling to learn some strategies to help me cope with all the changes. After graduation, I attended Spelman College as a psychology major, education minor. It was important to me to be around like-minded women who looked like me. I had never experienced that in school before and it reshaped the way I thought and felt about myself. I no longer had to live with this split persona. I could be fully myself. Fast forward through Spelman and Georgia State University where I obtained a Master’s and Specialist’s degrees in the area of School Psychology. I worked for ten years within the Cobb County School District. This is where I met my husband and together, we founded a non-profit organization called Beta Phi Youth Leaders, Inc. Marvin and I have two children (8-year-old girl and five-year-old boy). As of this school year, I decided to branch out and with my husband’s help began Phinizy Educational Consultants. I hope to in the near future, complete a doctoral degree and become a licensed psychologist working to rehabilitate juvenile offenders, improve school-based mental health services, and counsel children and families in private practice.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I will say my greatest struggles existed in my early years. Living with a father who could not use his arms and with older teenage brothers really robbed me of physical affection. You don’t realize how impactful the absence of something as a hug can be! Not having my mom present for the majority of my life was also difficult. Though I must say that God has always blessed me with strong female role models during different times in my life. Their impact on the woman I have become is undeniable. However, I presently struggle with my current role as a mother to my daughter. I worry constantly that I am not doing it right. I know that’s probably something many mother’s struggle with but for someone with no mom example to follow, it can feel overwhelming.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Beta Phi and Phinizy Educational Consultants – what should we know?
Beta Phi was my husband’s baby initially. It started in 2006 as a high school step team at Pebblebrook High School in Cobb County. My husband had just graduated from Morehouse College and was eager to put his leadership skills to work volunteering to pour into the lives of these students. I started working at Pebblebrook about three years later and immediately got involved in the work he was doing. His passion and dedication towards these kids is what I fell in love with and ultimately what brought us together in marriage. Together we grew Beta Phi beyond a step team into a school leadership group and eventually into a non-profit organization in 2011. Beta Phi Youth Leaders Inc is built on five pillars: scholarship, leadership, service, brotherhood, and sisterly love. We aim to expose these underserved teens to life outside of Mableton, GA while instilling a sense of self-worth, cultivating a belief in the importance of helping others, and building a family that loves each other through it all. I am so proud to see the successes many of our teens (now adults) have achieved including becoming lead dancers with professional companies, engineers, veterinarians, nurses in major metro Atlanta hospitals; joining the peace corp, national guard, military, and other armed forces; and landing major modeling gigs with the likes of Adidas. We even have one young lady who just this week moved to Uganda to continue her work with a local village to build them an orphanage.
Phinizy Educational Consultants is the name of the consulting business my husband and I started this year when I stepped out on faith and left the school district. He plans to join me in consulting work when he finishes his contract at the end of this school year. I am currently under contract with the Cora Lee Institute in Smyrna lead by Clinical Director Ty Ellison Lightfoot, Ph.D. At Cora Lee, I currently serve as the Educational Director working as both a school psychologist and educational advocate. Through Cora Lee, I am able study under a brilliant and generous licensed psychologist learning the ins and outs of private practice while simultaneously doing what I love in service of children and families. We conduct comprehensive psychological and psychoeducational evaluations of individuals from pediatrics to geriatrics. For those still enrolled in school, I work hand-in-hand with families and schools to ensure that the needs of the students are met. This often involves attending school meetings in various metro Atlanta districts and on occasion participating in due process hearings and mediation meetings with the GA Department of Education.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Resilience! I would definitely call what I have resilience. It is the thing that has kept me alive. It is the thing I seek to teach to the students of Beta Phi. It is the thing I seek to instill within the patients I will serve in my practice and the families I will consult with through Phinizy Educational Consultants. Resilience is fighting through adversity. It’s about making the most of what you have and giving of yourself even when you don’t feel you have anything left to give. I wholeheartedly believe that the things I have experienced and lived through in my early life were a set up for the empathy I would need to be successful in my present life and career. There is a quote I heard as a teenager that has become sort of my mantra. It says, “the life I live is not for me. It’s for you. God gave me gray skies so yours could be blue”.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3080 Highlands Pkwy Suite A Smyrna, GA 30082
- Website: www.getschoolpsyched.wordpress.com
- Phone: 770-634-2349
- Email: betaphi.untouchables@gmail.com or mphinizy@coraleeinstitute.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coralee_institute/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coraleeinstitute/
- Other: Pinterest: https://pin.it/d3bef6nijnltew
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