Today we’d like to introduce you to Tenille Warren.
Hi Tenille, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My Father (God) LOVES Me! The rest of the story is 40 years of creativity, hustle, struggle and dreams wrapped up in too many words, emotions and faith. My earliest memories of life as an artist began at age 6. Though my mother (aka #1 fan) would tell a different story. She would say I was born with a crayon. By far, the most beautiful affirmation I could receive as an artist, especially since I spent most of my childhood trying to change my world with a crayon. I was born and raised in Southeast DC. And I say that not as a location on a map, but as a way of life. Growing up in Washington, DC during the ’70s & ’80s made art a necessary hope that I gratefully shared with two creative grandparents. My grandfather could sketch, build or repurpose anything and my grandmother must have been born with a needle and thread because her hands could sew the tiniest doll clothing with the finest details. She could easily transform a cereal box into any piece of furniture in Barbie’s home. Every creative thing my grandparents could do, I believed I could do and they shared that same ambition and all their creative abilities with me. Though my time with my grandparents was short (age 9), the impact of that time remained with me and I continued those creative experiences with my Barbie dolls. Barbie kept my life of building, sewing and changing the world with a crayon growing as I lived as big as I wanted too through an 11” doll. My creative hobby on the side was creating heart-made crafts and drawings exclusively for my mother. At age 14 (aka still playing with my dolls) my mom had drastically changed the peaceful world I quietly created in my room by making me attend Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Georgetown of NW DC. She and my mentor (Steve Bumbaugh) ambushed me with the diabolical plan (LOL) just as I was anticipating following my friends and my sister to a more popular high school in NE DC.
To my surprise, even my sister agreed with our mom and also campaigned for me to go to that far away, long work day, non-paid, over-time and sweatshop of a school. My mom of course, had her way and I furiously made my way to that school; up at gloomy 6am, a dark walk to the bus stop, a bumpy hour-long bus ride for a 9-hour school day. Some days, art classes lasted longer and some teachers held sessions on weekends, not to mention the agony of portfolio reviews every semester in front of the entire visual arts department. For three years, I cried and cringed at the reality of so many artists, professionals, critics, my mentor and my mom crashing in on my safe little world. It was easier to believe in my talents in spaces and places with people I know who have been by my side every step of the way. My confidence had turned to shyness when I stepped into new territory with strange faces. I didn’t trust them and I didn’t trust my own creativity at this higher level. But at the end of those 3 “brutal” years (I exaggerate) of my quiet life as an artist being exposed, on the day I received my high school diploma from DESA (1994), I told my mom it was the best decision she ever made for me and I thank her to this very day for believing in me, when I didn’t believe in myself.
Today, I am still playing with dolls (age 45) and I am still changing the world with a crayon. I have evolved from the 11” sensation to a new generation of 18” dolls who are my creative tools for serving children in the same ways my grandparents, my mom, my sister and my mentor served me. I am capturing those creative experiences from childhood to adulthood and the fortitude and grit that made them possible to build my company EVERYTHINGCRE8TV. I am in the business of helping children to advance their creative minds, creative communities and creative lifestyles by providing the guidance, principles and support they need to pursue their own unique vision. Somewhere in the midst of all the crafting, drawing, sewing, ministry, community service, 5 states, 3 Countries, 7 schools, 23 jobs, 6 internships, 2 shelters, 3 degrees, a 30 year old dream and returning to Atlanta, I finally understand and accept the blessings and the burdens of life, my faith and all my creative experiences from childhood, education, work, church and other places around the world, and I have decided on one vision -one lasting work of art; to serve children and create the next generation of world reformers.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I have never traveled a smooth road in my life. I laugh to think that such a thing exists. But if it does, the overwhelming fears and insecurities in the earlier part of my journey would have definitely made a few craters to make a smooth road more difficult to travel. In fact, I would say that’s exactly how it happened. Following graduation, I had no real plans for college, though my mentor (Steve “Always in my Business” Bumbaugh) flooded my mailbox with college brochures for design schools in New York. I may have accidentally on purpose, made the mistake of sharing my dream of going to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, knowing what a total education junkie he is. I was on the fence with one foot over and one foot hanging on the wrong side. It sounded good when my friends and fellow artists would boast about their college plans at DESA, so I jumped on the bandwagon truly believing for a short while that I could take that next big jump. I couldn’t tell you back then if I was hiding my talents again or facing my truth or stuck in a lie. All I can say is months after graduating high school, I found myself enrolling at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC- aka the University for Dumb Children). No yellow cabs, Statue of Liberty or Empire State.
After 1 year of higher education, I became a brief college dropout. Getting paid and looking out for myself seemed like the smarter plan. Somewhere between three minimum wage jobs, many temporary places to lay my head but never call home and exhaustion, I found my way to a community college where I earned my first associate’s degree with a mediocre 2.0 GPA. I worked and moved around a lot, trying my best to stay far away from the hard circumstances of my childhood, which was now becoming the hard circumstances of my adulthood and doing poorly to figure it all out. I felt like I was digging more of a hole for myself because I was neglecting the very thing that had always inspired me. I was an artist with NO VISION. How ironic is that? This was worst than a creative block because I wasn’t even trying to create. Forget smooth roads or paths. I was on no road or path at all. I was in the wilderness doing just enough to get by and had sadly convinced myself that this life was better than chasing a dream. At about age 24, I admitted to myself that I was “a little bit” or “a lot” mad with God about plenty of hurts from my past, but now I was hurting myself by avoiding Him. So I picked myself up and off to New York I went to live my dreams (more like a visit to NY to scope out the land). Sounds cliché, right? But I’m sure I don’t have to explain what a powerhouse New York is for dreams. Nonetheless, I made that first step towards the dream and got back to DC in a NY minute to contemplate my next big step. After multiple trips to the Empire State to case FIT, I finally applied and auditioned to the Fashion Institute of Technology and was rejected… TWICE!! This isn’t the part of my story where my fears and insecurities were confirmed. This is the part where grief, struggle and disappointment had finally convinced me to trust and obey God. I ended seven glowing years of service at a grocery store to take a pay cut working for a local arts & craft store in Virginia.
After work, and any time around the clock, I was taking sewing classes at a fabric store in Maryland. My sister (aka in my business #2) introduced me to The Soul Factory Church, which became my new ministry, next creative adventure, full-time job, 2nd pay cut and my plane ticket out of DC and off to Atlanta, GA. Now in Georgia and knowing for certain that I was out of the wilderness and on the right path, I kept working towards my dreams of fashion design in New York. When I wasn’t at church building a set, props or doing graphics or costume design, I was making a path to FIT. Though my mind was seeing the vision more clearly, the road didn’t get any smoother. My vision (God’s plan) just became worth the pain, adversity and struggle. I was building something. Something necessary and powerful. I didn’t know how and I didn’t know what, but I knew who I was building for and I knew why. In 2009, I took a flight from Georgia to New York City to serve a summer internship five blocks from FIT. It took years of praying and grinding, but I was over the fence and went knocking on those doors at FIT once again. To say less, I received my “Welcome!” letter in 2011, threw up my crown and received my Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Fashion Institute of Technology in Milan, Italy (Cum Laude) in 2016.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I teach and mentor children. My journey became a strong relationship with God, a vision and a purpose. That vision is my company EVERYTHINGCRE8TV LLC. It’s a platform for me to share a dream journey with children in creative ways that help them to discover their own great abilities and to jump-start their unique path while they still possess their child-like faith. Though I am facilitating my ACE program (Arts/ Community/ Entrepreneurship) at its development stages, the impact this program has on children has been remarkable. These children truly RISE & SHINE on every occasion. My priority for the ACE program is to build the program up in a location that my students can call their creative home. Since COVID, I have gone fully mobile and teach door to door, which limits the consistency and stability that children (and myself) need to truly be effective. But thankfully, my Dream-Mobile (Ford Edge) is still riding and pushing through this tough transition. Pre-pandemic, I launched and served my program through church and schools or partnered with non-profits in my community. Let’s just say a global shutdown will change everything. I didn’t stop teaching or mentoring. I just joined the world of virtual learning. I didn’t like it. I’m old fashion, but I played the hand I was dealt to keep my business going.
So at the first sight of doors opening again, I jumped back into my Dream-Mobile and back into the community to serve my kids. And by this time, the dolls were ready to join me! My dolls are truly that added touch of bling that helps to set me apart from other programs serving children. My dolls have been promoted to Dream Team Ambassadors. My students have built stages and props, written scripts and conducted interviews (for dolls), hired and managed teams (dolls of course) designed games, made clothes (need I say for the dolls), produced fashion shows, promoted parties and community events all for the dolls. And even while my ACE program is fragmented and designed, organized and propelled by one woman, ACE Dream Academy has served over 100 children through five states. I am always working behind the scenes to build its home and to keep EVERYTHINGCRE8TV alive and active to inspire children and teach them the power of their imagination, the value of education, and how to build upon their dreams.
How do you think about luck?
I’m going to give God the Glory for this life and business and praise Him for the excellent work He’s done to inspire my faith. I can truly and genuinely say that God is always working it out for my good. When we glance at people’s story or their best-filtered pics, if only we could read between the lines or view the scenery of their lives that didn’t get posted for the world to see. If only people could know us and see us the way God knows us and see us. But it’s God’s plan for each of us to search our own deeper knowledge and understanding of our true selves by stepping out on faith. My faith built up this life and business. Only God knew how He would use the very things that caused my pain, fears, disappointments and struggles to strengthen me, give me hope, a vision and a purpose. I discovered this greater part of me on the battlefield of life through grief, ambition, poor choices, creativity, conflict, loss and persevering no matter what adversity came my way.
My childhood presented some very unfavorable circumstances and hard blows that turned many years of my life into a world of trauma, dolls, poverty, compassion and broken crayons in need of repair. But nothing made me more desperate to know, experience and share the Love of God than learning how much damage I could do to myself if I kept living in fear of more failure, loss and pain. God gave me everything I needed to use my pain and my joy to do some good in the world. In their own way, my grandparents, my mom, my sister, my mentor and so many others handled God’s business concerning my creativity while enduring their own hopes, trials and pain. Now I’m in the business of serving God’s children. It is my best effort to honor God for His faithfulness to me and my greatest desire to do that same work for every child I can possibly reach. I’ll close my story with a quote by author and humorist Erma Bombeck. I would say this quote is the total sum and value of my life, business and testimony…
“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I do not have a bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used EVERYTHING you gave me.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://everythingcre8tv.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/you_create_dreams/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fub146BUeL8
Image Credits
ACE Dream Team
