MS. MAEVETTE ALLEN EDWARDS
Basics
What is your name?
Maevette Allen Edwards
When were you born?
December 30, 1975
Where are you from?
Southeast Side of Chicago
Where do you live now?
Dallas, Texas (North Dallas)
The Present Moment
Why are you happy?
I’m happy because I’m living my best life. I’m surrounded by family and friends. Some new, Some old, and I get to do what I love everyday. I’m grateful that I’ve been able to make connections in a new place ( a lot easier than I thought I would).
What is it that you love doing?
I am a professional Master loctician and hair educator with a specialty in loc repair.
What is bothering you now?
What’s bothering me is that every time I go to the airport I get asked “why do I need extra time boarding”? Now I have a silent disability. I have sensory issues, ADHD, and possible high functioning autism, but anyway I need extra time getting on the plane. I feel like I should have a way to say I have a medical issue without having to explain myself in great detail. So what really bothers me is people with invisible disabilities being put on the spot and not respected.
What are you going to do for yourself this week?
I’m going to throw myself a St. Patrick’s Day Party in my hotel room. Actually, one of the walls here is green, so I’m going to put on my green jumper that my friend Rose gave me and my glittery high heeled shoes and I’m going to facetime my husband and kids, put on some music, and dance.
What would you like to see change?
I would like to see people consistently be the change that they want to see.
Inspiration
What is your favorite quote?
“Where there is no change, There is no change” - Sound Wisdom
What is your favorite book?
When the Soul Cries- by Sound Wisdom and the Fearless Story Tellers
What is your Alias?
Sound Wisdom
What is the Theme Song for your life?
You’ve been so good
What’s your happy place?
Listening to my music and thinking of my favorite places to be like all cultural institutions, museums, aquariums, arboretums, planetariums, zoos, theme parks, so in my mind I would just visit those places and be okay.
What is your purpose now?
My purpose is to model acceptance and to honor the purpose in my life and the lives of others. Originally my purpose was to share acceptance, and so I would do a lot of advocating and talking and getting people to consider another way of thinking to be more tolerant of people who were different, and it felt like I was talking to walls. So then I switched it up and said what if I demonstrate what that looks like? Then maybe it would be more impactful, so I changed it to modeling acceptance.
How do you see yourself as a leader?
I see myself as a passionate creative administrator. So I try to address people in situations with care and concern and I can be a person that abides by rules and regulations, but also fly by the seat of my pants depending upon the situation.
Background
What is your story?
I grew up on the southeast side of Chicago, and I am the only girl and the baby of a two parent blended family. I had a good friend that went to church with me and I guess I was extra fidgety. I remember her sitting next to me redirecting me and stuff like that. So now that I’m older with my own blended family, five biological, I’m thinking that may have been what was going on with me back then. So through adversity and even though I grew up in a two parent household, I don’t feel like I was ready for life. My parents raised me with rose tinted glasses. They really didn’t allow me to experience pain and negativity. I didn’t see relatives who abused drugs or alcohol. They kept me from violence, you know, just pretty much kept me in a bubble. So as I got older I bumped my head a few times. I took care of my mom until death (heart failure), and my dad until death (Alzheimer's). So now here I am married for the third time around. I have five biological children and inherited four children through marriage. So now I’m a mom and wife of my own blended family. But through all of that I was able to find my passion and career and do things people told me I couldn’t do. So every time someone told me I couldn’t do something, I took it as a dare.
What is your hope for the future?
Is that everyone will get to experience true joy and a sense of self worth. The world’s problems are based on what we call insecurities and some thinking that they’re not going to get their fair share. If everyone realizes that the fact that they are here on the planet, means that they were born for a time such as this. That there was a problem that they needed to solve that nobody before them, at the same time as them, or after them would be able to solve. And that everyone is uniquely made and unique knitted for a purpose, regardless of background, regardless of gender, etc.. Everybody has a purpose to add and to not take away to this family that we call humanity.
Parting words
Moms put the oxygen mask on yourself first! Self care is very important and you do not have to do life alone. There’s a sister that you can call on that can be open minded. It may not be all the ladies in your group but there will be that one that doesn’t have to put her two cents into it. So cry if you must. Shout, vent, but don’t do it alone. Know that what’s happening to you, is not for you, but is happening through you so that you can help someone else.
