Today we’d like to introduce you to Charell Coleman. They and their team shared their story with us below:
She was a soft-spoken girl. One might venture to call her introverted. Compliant, an honor student, and a talented violinist. She was confident that her talent as a violinist would reach beyond school until the day she discovered her violin missing from her room. Her parents pawned her instrument to feed their own needs. Although it hurt, she kept smiling, chose to move forward, and looked forward to her next opportunity. She always wore a smile and never gave the teachers a day’s trouble. In the classroom, when student assistance was needed, some teachers would call upon her as a helper, while others would overlook her due to her quiet voice and silence. She would always turn in homework and had high achievements in school. As the eldest of three children raised by an educated mother and stepfather, she strived to be a model student, daughter, and sister.
Others did not know that her mother and stepfather were substance abusers, which caused her to take on the role of mother to her siblings by age 9. She felt that caring for her siblings was her responsibility. Her responsibilities included securing food for herself and her siblings, finding transportation to and from school, and ensuring her siblings were clean, dressed, and groomed before heading out for school. Her most tremendous responsibility was to keep the family secrets so that the state child protection Agency did not take her and her siblings. When she walked into any room, she accessed her smile and expected the smile to tell the story. Her smile said everything was copasetic at home. However, it was far from it. She would wake up to fights before school each morning. Having to fight her stepfather off of her mother before school on the mornings her parents were not in a stupor was just a normal part of her day.
By the time she arrived at school in the mornings, she would have her smile pasted on, the mindset of a warrior, and supplies that peers were kind enough to give her. She knew that sharing her smile helped to soften the hearts of others so that she could have her needs met. Her grandmother always told her that her smile was like Magic and that if she found someone without a smile to give them hers. She knew she had to give life her best shot if she wanted something different for herself and her younger siblings. Although she was introverted, life circumstances forced her to outwardly wear the face of an extrovert as she knocked on doors of perfect strangers some mornings to ask, “Do you mind taking my brother, sister, and I to school because my parents don’t feel well, but we need to get to school, please.” She learned to get comfortable with the uncomfortable, even as a 10-year-old child. When there was no food for dinner, her stepfather would take her to the grocery store, park his car, then tell her, “You go in there and tell the manager in there you need some grits, eggs, and meat and that your Momma doesn’t have anything for you to eat.”
Being what she perceived as an obedient child, she respectfully did as he told her. During her pre-teen years, she was molested by three family members and was told, “Family stays together, so don’t say things like that.” when she told her truth. Because she didn’t want to cause an issue or harm anyone else, she kept quiet as instructed. She faced defeat, but it seemed nothing broke her spirit. She learned to create the life she wanted with a few tools. She used paper, pencils, and pens because it gave her a way to write her narrative for life as she dreamed of it. She made a life for herself in her own fantasy stories. Unfortunately, her mother’s earthly journey ended tragically during the young girl’s senior year in high school. Yet, that same paper, pencils, and pen started the girl’s path as a public writer as she published a poem dedicated to her mother in the National Book of Anthology. She continues to use writing as a source of healing. Today, I am an author, public speaker, and educator because of my journey and most gracious for the resilience God placed within me at a young age.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Nothing about my journey has been simple, but it was all necessary. Without my challenges, I wouldn’t possess the fortitude I have today. While experiencing this journey as a child, I never considered these experiences unfair. Molestation, parenting my siblings, and being mistreated were normalized for me. Instead, I smiled to ameliorate the painful things that were occurring in my childhood. Smiling was my medicine, along with setting goals to ensure my little sister, brother, and I never had to experience this type of life as adults. With my invisible blinders, I only envisioned a way out of our childhood. I didn’t have the luxury of just being a kid. Every day that I woke up, got us to and from school safely, made sure we would eat, kept us safe, and out of the foster care system was a Win for me!
We’ve been impressed with Lead & Ink, LLC., but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At Lead & Ink, LLC. We curate resources to help build resilience and champion others as they walk from pain into their passion. Literacy is the superpower that leads this effort. If we work on healing, we secure our future more seamlessly! Erasing Illiteracy and Healing Trauma is the idea behind Lead & Ink, LLC.
As a writer, I intentionally write stories that children and young adults can relate to authentically. I typically write stories and create journals that deal with social issues we currently face while weaving in wellness strategies for our youth to learn while reading. Illiteracy is a global crisis, and I plan to be part of the solution. People with dyslexia of Color is my primary target audience for literacy. Lack of testing for this audience is a serious issue, and because they are unaware that their reading challenges are due to dyslexia, they aren’t taught to read using the resources and strategies needed, which puts them at a more significant disadvantage in many ways.
The fringe benefits of literacy range from self-worth, how we learn, work, and socialize, how we make informed decisions, how we interact with others, and ultimately how we can contribute to our society and our individual communities. Some of my offerings include author visits in person and virtually to small and large audiences. For parents of dyslexics children, I offer online resources for parents to provide access to information about dyslexia, teaching methods, and strategies for helping their child with dyslexia and, finally, assisting parents in understanding advocacy programs that are available to them so that parents understand ways to work with schools to ensure that their student with dyslexia or reading difficulties receives the support and accommodations they should. For students, we provide digital literacy resources, websites, and access to teacher-created activities.
With my understanding of how childhood trauma leads to adulthood challenges, I refuse to leave children with unresolved trauma. Caring for our emotional well-being is one of the most important gifts we can offer ourselves. Because of my experiences in childhood, I understand the importance of feeding our emotional being with positive interactions. Mental wellness is a priority in our world right now, more than ever. Together, we can do Hard Things. By offering resources and Community Resiliency Model wellness skills at earlier ages, we are hopeful that we can decrease the number of cases of suicide, substance abuse, and eating disorders, along with other co-morbidities of trauma that go unaddressed. In addition, providing youth and young adults with coping strategies, techniques, reading materials, and therapeutic resources helps to prevent future medical issues associated with behavioral health and chronic physical health conditions.
My goal is to assess the whole child and serve them according to their needs rather than only offer what may show on the surface level. To be whole is to be healthy.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Networking is most important whether you are an introvert, extrovert, or ambivert. It’s simple to find your tribe! Your people are those who share your passion. Networking means reaching out to sometimes people to mentor you because you notice they have success at the very thing you desire to have the same success in. It means being unafraid to ask questions and being vulnerable enough to say I don’t know, and I need your help.
As an author, I have a network of authors who write the same genre as myself, a network of other authors who write the type of genre I desire to write, another network with people who are great at marketing, and others who provide positive motivation for me. We should be life learners meaning we can always learn something from one another. It would be best if you always had people you are accountable to that have achieved more than you, can challenge you, and are willing to share mistakes they made along the way so that you don’t have to experience them. When you have a network, everyone should ask questions all the time to gain as much knowledge as possible. WE GET BETTER TOGETHER! I have lived by the following words my entire life: You have not because you ask not. Every time I feel fearful, God whispers these words to me. So, be afraid to ask absolutely nothing in this life, especially if you want it. People are willing to share when they are Your People because we are interdependent. That is the way the creator made us, like it or not.
Learn more on our website or contact us directly to make Magic!
We create Magic with our Resilience!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.leadandink.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charellgcoleman/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharellGColeman
- Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/charellgcoleman
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharellGColeman
