Q. How did you get off into health in general?
A. Believe it or not these things happen in your life and eventually you revisit things wondering, “how could these have played a role in my life”.
When I was growing up, even though we were financially poor, my mother and father were still very conscious of what we put into our mouths. We couldn’t just eat anything. It wasnt fast food this, it was a half a cup of juice and after that it was just water. We just thought that it was rationed and unfair. But it was teaching us to not only be conscious of what we put into our mouths, but also quantity control. I remember when I graduated from high School. My
mother said, “You need to go into nursing or engineering... those two professions will always stick around”. I didn’t want to go to college, but I felt like it was the only thing that I could give to her. So um I chose IT because some friends were doing it, but I had no true love for computers. Got into it, got into a little trouble, got kicked out of college then packed the car and went to Texas. Life kind of made me grow up... and as I grew up, I found myself…not only chasing job after job, but also chasing where I fit in. My Purpose. Uh why I was here on earth. Every day can’t be just, get up, work, go to sleep.
I actually went to school for early education, because I love children. I was soon to be a father and then I said, “One of these personalities has to match my child, therefore, ill be better prepared”. I taught early education…and…it’s like, the politics, it kind of put a bad taste in my mouth. It’s like the children werent really important. It was the business of grooming children, rather than allow them to express themselves and learn themselves and be their best selves. I didn’t want part of it. So I jumped into nursing as I watched my great grandmother transition. She was in St. Louis and I was going back and forth because, she only took to me. So to get her to take medication and food... she took to me and I kind of felt helpless…and I said if anybody else gets into this position, I am going to be better prepared. And for that, thats why I jumped into nursing.
Q. When did you figure out where your passion lied and where your self was really at?
A. When I grew up, my Mother said, “Anything you do, do it your best. You pick up trash, do it your best”. I kind of incorporated that with everything and then it was also paired with…”If you dont know what it is, just keep going”.
"Lessons come to those who work. And that was to just keep moving ahead."
I really never knew where I fit in, and I understand that I have been able to come to understand that a lot of men of color walk aimlessly because of their lack of connection to purpose. And it’s the reason why I got into a lot of trouble...because I didn’t have a purpose to aim at. And so with that I just kept going. I didnt care if it was another job, trade or skill, I kept going. A lot of my buddies say, “Yo dude you live like Master P’s life”. We got a million professions, but I just knew. I knew there was more that I wanted. There’s always more that I knew I was supposed to get…you know I’d be damned if god put me on this earth to go to school and get good grades, to go to a good college. Pay all of this money to get a good education so that I can get a good job, buy some of these things that I consider good and spend the rest of my life stressing about losing them. I said that’s not an existence to me. And somewhere in there, you learn a little more about your self, a little more but you’re equipped to do what scares you, what challenges you, what you embrace, what you like so on and so forth and where you fit. And um, sometimes where you fit, is where you didnt initially fit. It’s where you carved out a way, and thats why as a nurse, I found a niche in retail and became one of the founders of Bklear.
Catch Mahdi’s Full Interview Premiere
Wed. Feb 1st
@7pm CST via The Creative
To Purchase your case of Bklear visit
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