Today we’d like to introduce you to Derrick Payne.
Derrick, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It was all a dream… I knew earlier than many people that I wanted to be a leader and affect change, and that the key to that was effective communication. so i learned to communicate with a variety of people in a variety of ways. I never imagined that i would be utilizing those skills daily, but here we are.
I am a Communication professor at the El Centro campus of Dallas College. This is my 16th year with Dallas County Community College District and my 21st year in the classroom. I reflect on how teaching at a community college has made me a much stronger instructor. My students range in ages from 15-75 years old and have a multitude of backgrounds and experiences, expectations, talents, and goals-as well as challenges. I had eleven students from Nepal last semester! How they got all the way to El Centro college, I’m not sure, but we made it work!
My responsibility is to synthesize the group in front of me and make sure that everyone leaves with marketable communication skills, but more importantly to me, leaves with a sense of pride in themselves, a understanding of their responsibility to utilize every bit of talent within them, and an unbreakable spirit. Teaching online through a pandemic is a unique challenge, but it is what we have to work with. It feels like we showed up at a baseball game to find out that the game would be played on an ice rink. As the “manager” or “coach” in this situation, I first acknowledge that we played on grass wearing cleats in every other game before today, but that we are about to all put on ice skates -including me- and go out there and try to win! I expect excellence regardless of the circumstances!
That kind of explains my personal philosophy. I am a first generation college graduate from a small family in the inner city of North St Louis. I didn’t know we were poor until I started seeing books and documentaries about the community that birthed me. My family was full of loving people who supported everything I did in an amazing way; I don’t know how we were able to accomplish some of the things we did, except God smiled on us; I use the term “we”: because I believe in collective work and responsibility.
I went to college at Howard University (you know!) at an amazing time and learned from a group of men who were like the academic version of the Avengers to me…Dr. Walters, Dr McCormick, Dr Thornton, Dr. Boykin, Dr. Levitt, Dr. Morris-these men were role models, mentors, and taught me so much more than a textbook could convey; I became an adult, a leader, and a teacher through imitating them!
I earned a BA in Political Science and a BS in Economics at Howard , then moved to Baton Rouge Louisiana to attend Southern University. Once I got over the HARDCORE switch to rural country living, I was able to earn a Masters degree in Communications with an emphasis on Engineering! I returned to my hometown of St Louis. and after a foray to Atlanta, wound up teaching at Cardinal Ritter College Prep for 3 years; Ritter Prep was and is deeply respected in the community as a place where ALL the kids there are expected to learn and thrive. Again I found mentors-Leon Henderson, Preston Thomas and Carmele Hall- that showed me how to creatively get the best out of young people, many of whom had not learned that the key to peace and productivity is self-love. my successes at Ritter lead me to getting a job offer from Arlington ISD to teach and coach-at twice the salary! i was living in Arlington 8 days later!
When you learn to listen to yourself, there is a clarity that often leads you to unexpected higher heights. For YEARS I had been speaking publicly to any and everybody that would gather. “Brother Derrick, can you come talk to the young men at the rec center?” “Hey, can I put you on the program for our church luncheon?” “I would love for you to do a workshop for our staff development..” I did HUNDREDS of presentations over the years without ever tying together that there were a set of needs being unmet by masses of people and that I should be responsible for establishing an organization where not only could people get those resources for their organization, but that I could simultaneously mentor and develop a group of people to meet those needs. That’s where LMJ Creative Communications was born- at the intersection of me helping people tell their own stories and make a difference in their communities-and me having access as a speech/communications educator to dozens of people who could share their stories, experiences, and viewpoints with people they may not otherwise encounter. I’m blessed to be a blessing in both directions!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There are no shortcuts anywhere worth going is an attitude that has helped me. “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” as the poet Langston Hughes noted. The fascinating thing is that often “struggle” is a contextual criminal- one person’s “struggle” is another person’s learning opportunity.
I have had some hard times, like every other person I know; I didn’t always eat every day; I have had financial issues almost perpetually; my health took a plunge about 20 years ago, and not one doctor treating me expected me to walk out of that hospital. I have experienced devastating heartbreak, and wrestled with deep depression. Professionally, I have seen attacks on my character and competence come from every direction, and I remain convinced that my employer has tried to break my sense of pride and purpose, and ultimately break me. Family members have passed away, leaving deeply painful wounds. So many times I couldn’t see forward because the position I was standing in was dark and bleak…
But in EVERY single instance I survived. Not some of the time, but EVERY time. The worst has hit me over and over, but nothing has taken me out. I have survived every single attack on my physical being, my emotions, and my spirit. I decided to remove the word struggle from my attitude and my vocabulary, and its worked wonders. I’m a winner, and I’m from a family tree of winners with deep, deep roots. I smile while I’m going through it-and I’m still going through it, because nobody is exempt. I don’t look like what I’ve been through, and I am so proud of that.
LMJ Creative Communications – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
So what and why is LMJ creative communications a thing: I start with the name:
LMJ
My family roots lead to western Africa- Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Because we emphasize communication across cultural barriers, I wanted to be able to express the direction of the company in terms that made sense to my brothers and sisters on the continent. so in the Swahili language
LUMBA: to talk or speak
MAANDIKO: a written, carefully prepared document
JENGA: to build or construct
LMJ Creative Communications provides partners with an opportunity to reach across cultural divides and embrace the 21st century world in a positive way. We help individuals, organizations, and institutions grow in the direction of the future by powerfully developing their ability to talk, write, and build toward their dreams.
Because I am unapologetically Black and this has and will shape my experiences during my journey through this “yet to Be United States”, I reflect often on the experiences of my elders and their intellectual treasures to which i am REQUIRED to add:
LANGSTON HUGHES
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR
JOHN HENRIK CLARKE
LMJ Creative Communications calls on the energy of the elders. Communication increases dramatically with study and deep roots produce much stronger trees. LMJ Creative Communications brings the character, intellect, and passion of previous generations into a contemporary context. The experiences and sacrifices of our forefathers are not put away, but utilized to create affirmative change.
and the powerful part for me- my own roots:
LADORIS PAYNE
MATTIE MOORE
JOYCE DAVENPORT
My Mother, Great Grandmother, and Grandmother are my source of pride, perseverance, and positivity that guide the vision and operations of an organization dedicated to winning with integrity. LMJ Creative Communications is their legacy.
So what do we do? organizations, small businesses hoping to become large businesses, non profits, ministries, and people needing honest assessments of how to push their lives to another level reach out to us, and we have resources and people to connect them to. We provide industry specific training, presentations, workshops, visual marketing, social media awareness campaigns, and video conferencing, as well as virtual life coaching. What’s different about us is that we deeply and sincerely want everyone to win and we wrap our vision and values into everything we do.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Accomplishments are something that I tend to downplay; I am motivated by the success of others. My goals were and are to be a faithful servant, a good person, an leader, a father to the fatherless, and an inspiration for future generations. I am proud that I’m still standing and live a life or purpose without one shred of fear. I’m proud of how I reacted to negative situations. I’m proud to have demonstrably helped others see their dreams, and that I remain trusted and respected by many that I have interacted with. I have a lot of work to do to get to my proudest moment-I’m 100% sure that it’s in front of me, not behind me!
I am reachable quickly at derrickpayne@yahoo.com, and my Twitter feed is @dpayneonline. please feel free to text me at 469-441-7429 to set up a consultation. I promise I can help!
Contact Info:
- Email: derrickpayne@yahoo.com
- Phone: 469-441-7429
- Twitter: @dpayneonline
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