Yep! It’s REALITY alright! Meet some of the REAL WOMEN who comprise the core staff of my girls mentoring program in Chicago, Polished Pebbles. In this portion of our own REALITY TV, a couple of our facilitators, Ivory Duncan and Brittney Shepherd share some of their greatest lessons learned while working with girls in our program!
Hey! I’m not Spike Lee or a film maker, but I hope you can feel the love and energy we work to infuse into our practice. And, don’t miss the BLOOPERS at the end of the video!
A Couple Who Shares Their Love Through Volunteering
Erika Jones-Purvis is an event planner and founder of A Social Life, a party planning and event design company specializing in intimate gatherings. Keith Purvis is a writer, director, and producer of film, as well as founder of The Junction Group LLC., a new media production company.
Together, this power couple spend their time giving back to the community by supporting youth mentoring groups, such as Polished Pebbles. Erika has been a volunteer mentor with our girls in Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program since our beginning days. She specializes in teaching our girls about social etiquette, including basic table settings, eating out a new restaurants, and how to create a wonderful social ambiance in your own home and community. Here’s some pictures of Erika at work.
Keith has volunteered with us during our Polished Pebbles Men’s Month festivities serving on open forum panels with our girls giving them opportunities to interact with positive male role models. And, he’s also assisted with producing some of our videos. Such as this one,
Keith just directed and produced a documentary on unfair housing practices in Chicago and Martin Luther King participation in the Chicago Freedom Movement for the MLK Fair Housing Exhibit Center on the Westside of Chicago. Currently, Keith is in preproduction for his first feature film Travis & Tabitha. When circumstances turn two lost people into roommates, their makeshift relationship forces them to make profound decisions on what they want to do with the rest of their life. The film is being made in Chicago starting in May of 2014. Like the Travis and Tabitha page (https://www.facebook.com/TravisAndTabitha?ref=hl) for updates.
I just wanted to honor Keith and Erika’s dedication to each other, and volunteering by using their skills sets to support youth mentoring! As we always want to emphasize there’s so many ways each of us can support the growth of youth mentoring efforts! For more information about Erika & Keith’s company’s click on their logos below:
Kelly Fair
Urban Youth Mentoring Practitioner
Interested In Creating Your Own Youth Mentoring Program? Learn How With Her Live Webinar April 19, 2014 Experience Creating Signature Career Mentoring Initiatives With National Brands! Register & Learn To:
Develop your passion into a unique, marketable & sustainable program. Distinguish your program mission and objectives & present them to critical stake holders.
Form partnerships to make your program a reality.
Get your individual questions answered and more!
“Harriet Tubman, never lost a passenger, but on our own watch it’s seems like we are losing many.. black girls”
–KellyFairTheMentor
Check out my acceptance speech from a couple of weeks ago when I was awarded the Margaret Burroughs Trailblazer Award from the Women’s Board of The DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago. I speak to the need for more mentoring support for black girls, and the need for increased awareness of the pressures of growing up as an African American girl in today’s inner cities!
Kelly Fair The Mentor 