What is "Real Talk" ?

The Real Talk program consists of a three black males that grew up in tough urban communities in Northern New Jersey and now reside in Newport News Virginia. The program talks about how we were able to overcome the adversity of single family households, drugs, gangs, and choosing the right friendships. The intention of the program is to provide an outlet for young children in urban communities that don’t have any young black role models to look up to. Over the past three years Damien Eastman (25), Tommy Jones (23), and Todd Smith (24) have talked to thousands of young kids, by earning their own seminar at the Black College Expo called “Real Talk College Life.” Furthermore, we have been featured on BET and in many local newspaper articles in the seven cities area for the work in the community that we were involved in. We have also started a marketing company called Supply and Demand LLC, which provides marketing and CD/DVD materials for up and coming music artist. Damien Eastman, a recent graduate of Hampton University is now a Doctor of Pharmacy; he discusses the importance of education and how to use the power of networking to increase your opportunity in life. Tommy Jones dyslexic as a young child, and also a Graduate of Hampton University and currently working on his master degree (business administration) provides a powerful insight on how to be successful and not let anybody hold you back. Todd Smith, a recent graduate of ECPI (Computer Network Tech.) talks about the road blocks in his path that he had to overcome in order to become a leader and a stand out individual. His message provides inspiration to those who may not know what they want to do in life.
The definitive goal of the program is to begin speaking to the local area high school and middle school students where society might call “problem areas.” Recently, we were watching the news and people are starting to complain about gang violence in the Virginia Beach and Norfolk area, this is do partly to the lack on role models in our urban communities. One of the comments made was “ We need more leaders in the community to step up and challenge these kids, the drug dealers and gang member are more of a role model then people in the community. “Who do you expect these kids to look up to?” This is a short statement, but very powerful and true.
In closing, we are just reaching out to the leaders and the communities challenging them to help us spread a positive message to our urban youth. If there is anybody you may know that can help us out please guide them in our direction. If there is any information that you my need about anyone of us feel free to contact us at sndrealtalk@yahoo.com or (Tommy) 757-342-0431 or (Damien) 757-639-8533.