I am a son of Jackson. My roots run deep – cultivated over Sunday dinners at my grandmother’s house in Presidential Hills, life lessons in my mother’s salon on Bailey Avenue, visits to Fire Station 21 where my father worked and childhood adventures in Richwood Estates.
Jackson has never just been a place to me. It’s memory, rhythm and resilience. It’s where I first learned that community isn’t theoretical. It’s lived out daily through perseverance and love. I’ve always loved this city. But like many with ambition and vision, I left.
After graduating from high school and briefly attending community college, I enrolled in Mississippi State’s Building Construction Science program. That experience changed my trajectory. Through design studios, collaborative projects and field visits to cities like Miami and New York, my perspective expanded. I began to see what was possible beyond the bounds of Mississippi…