People who know me know I work in IT. I fix networks, I set up systems, I make sure things run the way they're supposed to. That's what I do professionally.
On my business card, my title isn't Owner. It's Infrastructure Specialist. I chose that deliberately. Because that's actually what I am.
But I realized something about myself that goes deeper than that. It's not just how I work. It's how I live.
I am an infrastructure specialist in everything I do.
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I'm on the board of the Bowen High School Alumni Association. My goal there isn't just to plan events or keep an organization running. I want to bring alumni together — people who walked those same halls — and connect them back to the students who are there right now. I want to build a tech after-school program for those kids. Give them something real. Something they can use. Nobody handed that to me, and I want to be part of making sure they don't have to figure it out alone either.
On the commercial district, I want to use my business to help other business owners grow. Not because there's something in it for me. Because a stronger block means a stronger community, and that matters more to me than any individual win.
At my church, I help with the technology so the minister and pastor can deliver the word without interruption. They had some issues with the internet and I gave them some suggestions they used and the next week everything was running smoother. Sometimes I sit in church working on something I saw to let them know of an improvement I see.
With my friends, I show up. I listen. I help them get to where they're going and where they want to be. Not halfway. All the way.
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I don't do any of this for acclaim.
Let me give you an example of what I mean by that. I met a young lady some years ago and gave her some advice. I moved on. I didn't think much of it. Then one day I saw an Instagram post, and I was tagged and mentioned as one of the people who helped her get to where she is. I was happy that my suggestion helped her down the path to success.
I wasn't looking for that. But when I saw it, I was genuinely happy — not for myself, but for her. Because she made it. That's the whole point.
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That's what infrastructure is. It's the thing underneath everything else that makes it possible for other things to work. You don't always see it. You don't always know it's there. But when it's gone, everything falls apart.
I've always been that person. In technology, yes — but also in my community, in my church, in my friendships, in my neighborhood on the Southeast Side of Chicago.
I realized this about myself and I wanted to say it out loud.
This is who I am.
