A Little About Me
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I was born and raised in the East Harlem section of New York City. My parents both worked outside of the home, my dad worked for the Metropolitan Transit Authority and my mom worked in a Head Start Center (she eventually became the Director after she graduated from college, a year before I did). I am the third of their four children. My mother was a Southerner and my father a New Yorker, so I learned to navigate different cultures at an early age.
I loved growing up in New York with all of its diversity. There were people speaking different languages, who ate different foods, celebrated different holidays. I learned to love our differences and not fear them. I also gained an early sense of independence as I did not need a car or drivers license to go places. That too stays with me. I was raised as a Muslim which imbued me with an ontological security in who I was an African American. Eventually I found Islam’s tent too small, and I searched for a new faith home. It would take me 30 years to find Unitarian Universalism. I still keep some of the practices from my faith background, I pray 5 times a day, or more, and I don’t eat pork. After graduating college, I began a career in technology, primarily on Wall Street. Working in corporate America gave me the ability to help my family financially, and I gained analytical and managerial skills. It was a good career for 25 years, but eventually I felt a call to serve humanity and my God, through Unitarian Universalist ministry. In 2004 I graduated from Union Theological Seminary in New York and was the recipient of the Maxwell Fellowship for the promise of Excellence in Ministry. Shortly before I graduated I met Elizabeth and we have been together ever since. For four years I served as the Assistant Minister at the Unitarian Church of All Souls of New York and for the past thirteen, I have been the solo Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Wilmington. Elizabeth and I live with two cats, Ntohzake and Octavia. We are both very close to our families of origin and our families by choice. For fun we love to travel, see movies and play miniature golf. I am also a die hard baseball fan of the New York Yankees. |