Today, we’d like to introduce you to Damon Tyler.
Hi Damon, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Mystory begins as an 8-year-old boy being moved away from his place of birth and separated from his family and his hometown.
A little boy who lost his familial connection with his great-grandfather & great-grandmother, granddaddy & grandma, father, aunties, uncles, cousins, sisters & brothers. My disconnection from my family of birth led to my experiencing homelessness, witnessing domestic violence, and growing up as an impoverished child. As a child, I experienced the positives & negatives of moving multiple times.
Being a child of a transient family teaches you many lessons about disconnecting emotionally from people, places, and things. I can remember my mother moving my little brother & me from one state to another at some of the most important transitional moments in a child’s life. I mean. I was forced to move to a different state/city after finishing middle school and headed to high school. As I said, the most important transitional moments meant starting all over. After living in 4 different states before my 9th grade year, I was forever changed, never to be the same again.
By the time I make it to college, I will begin repeating the same patterns as my mom in my own life. I attended 3 different universities as an undergrad & lived in 4 different states by the time I finished graduate school. I finally realized that the one thing I missed out on with all the moving around was the opportunity to develop & build my relationship with a specific place.
I was losing out on having a place where I could dig my roots and create a solid foundation on which to build a family community. The decision to relocate to Dallas, Texas, was born out of that need. I will say, I’ve been here almost 21 years and I have deep roots in the DFW community providing nutrients for the Youth. Sharing mystery with the Youth has been a catalyst of inspiration and a changing force in their lives.
We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Of course the road has been anything but smooth, however going against the current status quo never is.
I have struggled with the system of White Supremacy & systemic racist practices the entire way. I’ve suffered setbacks from racism, classism, sexism with a significant dose of religious discrimination & the new age genderism. To say the least, the struggle is real.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe you can tell us more about your work next?
My work is quite specialized and requires a very unique experience & expertise that equips me with a special skill set. As a child of poverty, the things that I have experienced have provided me with the wisdom necessary to navigate the trappings of impoverished communities.
My educational studies provide me with the knowledge necessary to educate & teach those skills to the youth. With the educational understanding I provide through mentorship, apprenticeship, sponsorship & entrepreneurship, the youth can envision a pathway out of poverty.
What matters most to you?
Eradicating cyclical poverty for Foundational Black Americans Indigenous Human Beings living in impoverished communities matters most to me because, as marginalized peoples, we have had our land, language, customs, and wealth birthrates stolen from us and deserve reparations, restorations, and reclamations due.
Pricing:
- EYES Program 10-weeks $10,000
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: Damon Tyler
Image Credits
Fathers of The Hood Young Mens Leadership Academy, Chess Club Vision Boards with Yolunda The Educating Youth Empowerment Systems with Isom & Cassandra, Makayla Gordon at Ascension Studios, Roosevelt High School with Ms. Toni Senator, Royce West Leadership Academy, EYES Leadership, Building Cohort UNT-Dallas Mental Health, and Symposium Dr. Cornell West The State of The Black Man
