Voices that Inspire

What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. My name's Royal King. I am the Executive Director and Founder of the Omega Lamplighter's Young Minnes Mentoring Program. So I was a part of two really big and impactful mentoring programs in my younger life when I was getting right into that teen stage. One was called the Omega Sparks through Omega Sci-Fi fraternity, Inc. to which my father was a member. And the other was the Dallas Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators which is a chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. Between those two programs, when I got to college, I just was super thankful that they had taken the time to pour in the meat out of that birth that desired me just like of thankfulness. But then also like I have to involve myself and give back even if it's in a small way what was given to me because of the support of those people where I am today. I always said I wanted to start my own program and it would be me kind of honoring that sacrifice. But then also making it a little more of that teen experience that I knew I wanted to have that we weren't having. Sometimes I forget about myself but what re-energizes me is the growth I see in the kids. Somebody will remind me of the purpose of what I'm doing and the impact that it's had on them. And they may or may not know me but they know somebody who's benefited from the program. And that's kind of where I get my energy and remembering that I was one of those kids and no one got tired on me, no one stopped whether they wanted to or they didn't. They were always there in some capacity so you're building something for other people that will hopefully one day go on the change the world. So I just remind myself it's bigger than you and you've got a purpose that's stronger than yourself. So take a hour now do what you need to do and you got to give back to work. I am Royal King the second and I am the executive director and founder of the Omega Blighters Young Men's Mentoring Program. You're listening to Voices That Inspire.