Guest Writer: Jade Ware

Hello Valued Readers!

The Great Change is honored to introduce it's first Guest Writer, Jade Ware. Ms. Ware is an intern for PeopleFund. She majors in Exercise Science at University of Texas at Austin. Other qualifications of Ms. Ware are Student Ambassador for UT Office of Admissions, Black Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneurship Officer and CEO of The Origin Brand Clothing & Apparel. Aside from these accolades, Jade is a dear friend of mine. Below is her piece that she has given for enlightenment.

The Proof is in the Pudding

Two years ago I was sitting in my freshman college dorm room plotting with my friends a way to make a pile of cash before we graduated from college. How would we take what we learned in the classroom and translate that into currency? Being black and only four percent of the population at a PWI in the state of Texas, we are expected to succeed at every corner of opportunity. To prove that affirmative action is no hand out and that we deserve access to the same types of educational opportunities. Reflecting back on my eighteen year old self I realize every part of my existence was monetary or material with no true concept of reality. Before I received the conscious message of what it means to be black or brown in this country, it soon struck me that my efforts to change the world would require wealth outside of dollars and cents. I started to study and dig for the history of my people before we were packed on ships and sold into bondage; I wanted to understand the secrets of capitalism and why it has such a captivating hold on the economic security of people who look like me. I wanted answers. I wanted the truth. I soon began listening to the teachings of Marcus Garvey and The Black Star Line, W.E.B. Du Bois and his efforts to educate black people. From the movers and shakers who came before me I understood that I needed to know how to effectively paint with all the colors of the rainbow to create a picture clear enough for my people to see. International travel was the only answer to my findings. For myself to blaze the trails my ancestors once traveled, to experience people in other countries underneath the surface. I traveled to Europe when I was sixteen and at the time it was just a cool experience that awoke in me the desire to travel but it didn’t quite unravel the need for me to understand the history of black people before neocolonism. As a senior in college I understand how important it is for me to experience the world NOW with my head on straight. To document my experiences about the food, culture, cuisine, politics, socialism, and etc... in the countries I visit; and for me to be a walking gallery of human interaction and truth. I aspire to touch and heal lives, to be an entrepreneur of social good, and to change the international perspective of my people one photo, one story, and one country at a time.

For Contact Information Jade Ware can be reached at TheOrginBrand@gmail.com