*PUREST Academy for Kids held their 5th annual white Rose Awards on Sunday November4. The awards were held to honor those giving back and making an impact on their community. Founder of the academy, Nicole Austin, started the awards 5 years ago when she wanted to honor a friend of hers that was very helpful and instrumental in Nicole opening her very first Pre-School.
She decided to have an award ceremony to honor her friend, during that ceremony Nicole realized she wanted to continue to acknowledge those who help others with little to no recognition. Some of this year’s honorees were Daisha Graf (dancer, actor, humanitarian), Robin Ayers (motivational speaker, author), Melvin Jackson Jr. (actor), Koran Bolden (Entrepreneur, motivational speaker) and Tiffany Cambridge (educator, author).
Nicole shared with us how and why she chose the honorees she did for this year’s awards. “They are some incredible people. I actually was working with her (referring to Dashia Gfaf) we were volunteering at the Union rescue mission. She was very hands on with the kids.”
After meeting Dashia, Nicole noticed her on social media and saw how involved she is in community service. We spoke with Dashia about her feelings on being honored. “I was surprised, it’s so great I’m so excited I take community service very seriously.” While Dashia’s influence is more on community service some of the other honorees focus on helping others with their mental health.
Author Robin Ayers spoke about how she’s used her power of belief to turn her life around and make her life what she wants it to be. She became an author and motivational speaker to spread that message to help other people.
Entrepreneur Koran Bolden spoke about his upcoming book “The Greatest Year Ever” which will focus on the mental health struggles one can endure while becoming an entrepreneur. “In my opinion there is a pressure that’s put on you through entrepreneurship and you got to know how to handle it.” Tiffany Cambridge who is the author of a children’s book titled “The Little Girl Who Lost Her Smile” gave advice to parents who may be dealing with mental health issues.
“Any type of emotional struggle, emotional distress that you have children pick that up. A lot of times black people in our community don’t like to go to counseling, but sometimes you need someone to sit down and talk to…so that your issues don’t become your children’s issues.”
As you can see all of the honorees have impacted their communities in a positive and motivating way and were all grateful to Nicole Austin for recognizing them.
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