A Special Mother's Day Tribute to Dr. Verla Vaughan on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations, leaders, and volunteers who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations, leaders, and volunteers embody "Be the change you want to see in the world".

On Saturday, May 4, 2013 tune in to hear Dr. Verla M. Vaughan daughters (Kim, Tracey, and Harriet) honor their mother with a special Mother's Day tribute to her life and legacy. Hear the Vaughan girls share about "Mommy" and the lessons she instilled in them by being an example to them and countless others. Hear them talk about Dr. Vaughan; the educator, a servant leader, a community Shero and a friend.

Listen to her daughters talk about their beloved mother's passion for being an advocate for the voiceless and the medically undeserved in the community. Dr. Vaughan's areas of research included HIV, diabetes, geriatrics, and cancer survivorship. Her last study, before her untimely death, was studying elderly African-Americans with diabetes who suffered with depression. Her daughters will share about the number of health care professionals Dr. Vaughan influenced while teaching at Tennessee State University's School of Nursing, through her research, editorials, and numerous lectures given around the country.

The Vaughan sisters will address their mother's battle with cancer and her heart to continue to teach, even as a patient, to medical students and health care professionals. Many of the nurses who cared for Dr. Vaughan were her former students. Because of Dr. Vaughan's strong commitment to community service,  her daughters will share their plans to keep her legacy burning brightly with several projects that will involve community engagement, nursing, education, and patient advocacy.

Join us as we continue to bring people and causes to the airwaves that are "Living and Giving" throughout the year. This show will empower, inspire, and motivate you to live your BEST life while helping others and celebrating the Mothers, Mommies, Moms, Mamas and women role models that are in our lives. 

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.

More About Dr. Verla Vaughan 

Colleagues and former students of Dr. Verla Marie Williams Vaughan will remember the longtime educator and administrator as an excellent role model, scholar, mentor and a very caring person who pushed her students to achieve at their highest potential.

Vaughan, a tenured professor of Nursing,  died Feb. 23 at age 64, taught at Tennessee State University for more than 36 years over which time she developed a reputation for being devoted to her job and her students.

Dr. Kathy Martin, Associate Dean in the College of Health Sciences and Executive Director of Nursing, with whom Vaughan worked for many years, called the late educator a leader in fostering excellence in education within the nursing profession.

“Throughout her career as a nurse educator, Dr. Vaughan served as a role model, scholar and mentor for nursing students and colleagues across all levels,” Dr. Martin said. “She exemplified the vital role that nurses play in improving the health of others especially in the area of diabetes management and improving health care disparities.”

Dr. Vaughan joined the faculty in the Division of Nursing in the former School of Nursing at TSU in 1977. In addition to teaching, she served in many capacities including coordinator of the RN-BSN degree-completion program, and interim director of the BSN program – all while serving in different nursing capacities at local hospitals.

Dr. Vaughan also served as the chair of the Christine Sharpe Lectureship series, an annual program that provides TSU nursing students and community leaders the opportunity to dialogue and exchange ideas with key nursing leaders from around the country.


Dr. Vaughan, who earned a B.S. degree in Psychology from TSU, received a master’s degree in Nursing from Vanderbilt University, and a Ph.D., also in Nursing, from Texas Woman’s University.

 She was married to Harry L. Vaughan, whom she met while the two were students at TSU. Her children are Sydney Kevin Aldridge, Jr., Tracey Dixon, Kimberly Vaughan and Harriet Wallace. She is also survived by three grandchildren, including Kayla Vaughan, Amber Quarles and Taniya Dixon.

Click to read more about Dr. Verla Vaughan click here.

"Friends of Bridgett" on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations, leaders, and volunteers who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations, leaders, and volunteers embody "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Bridgett Evans O'Lannerghty with her daughter, Laura

On Saturday, April 27, 2013, tune in to hear from two friends on a journey to beat cancer. Listen as Bridgett Evans O'Lannerghty share with listeners her on going battle with cancer.  Bridgett, who has worked in the entertainment industry for over 33 years, was diagnosed with Stage 3 Inflammatory Breast Cancer in March 2012. After twelve rounds of chemo, a single mastectomy, additional chemo, and radiation she was pronounced free of cancer in November 2012. However, in January of 2013, cancer reared its ugly head once again as Stage 4 cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes.

Bridgett has many family, friends, and legions of fans who are praying for her to kick cancer's butt. Listen to one of her closest friends, Lisa Florian, share about the fundraiser, sponsored by hope-4-health, that will help raise money to defray the staggering cost of Bridgett's medical bills.

Join us as we continue to bring people and causes to the airwaves that are "Living and Giving" throughout the year.This show will empower, inspire, and motivate you to live your BEST life while helping others as well. 

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.

More About Bridgett's Financial Needs

After the loss of her job due a downturn in the economy, God blessed Bridgett with a new job shortly before her first diagnosis. This provided much needed income and health insurance just in time!

While health insurance covers a large portion of the medical expenses, the deductible and uncovered co-pays mounted into thousands of dollars over the first diagnosis before she was hit with the second diagnosis.

Additionally, being a single mother with two children in college is a struggle in and of itself.  Her employers have been very generous with her treatment schedule and are going far above and beyond what would be expected to assist her, but she has had to miss a lot of work due to treatment and hospital admissions, which is very stressful for her.

Her need for treatment is great, and her friends have rallied around her to form “Friends of Bridgett” to help with the medical costs. The motto of Friends of Bridgett is: 

Call it a clan, call it a network,

call it a tribe, call it a family.

Whatever you call it, whoever you are,

you need one.

~Jane Howard

The first official fundraiser, sponsored by hope-4-health, began this week and runs through the end of May.

Bridgett's children:

Evan is a Junior at University of TN, Chattanooga and Laura Brennan is a Sophomore at St Louis University.

H.O.P.E. Scholarship Initiative on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

 Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations and leaders who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations and leaders embody "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Throughout 2013 listeners will hear from presidents of organizations who are global change agents. We will also hear from CEOs of social enterprise businesses who are changing communities and college educators who are taking their students out of the classroom and into surrounding neighborhoods to learn and serve others.

Join us on Saturday, April 20, 2013, as we continue the count down to the Inaugural HBCUstory Symposium count down by hearing from Michelle Janaye, co-founder of The H.O.P.E. Scholarship Initiative. H.O.P.E.'s (Helping Others Pursue Education) co-founder will share how she and Jefferey Chance decided to serve their community by raising money to give deserving students $1,000 scholarships. Listen as Michelle Janaye share why she did not wait until she found "success" to give back to others. Michelle Janaye and Jeffrey Chance, Howard University Alums, started paying it forward as graduate students.

Hear Michelle talk about the harshness of being without money while in college and not wanting anyone else to find feel what she felt. She will share why she believes strongly in leading by serving. We will also hear from Nikkia Echols, the H.O.P.E. Scholarship Initiative first award recipient. Nikkia, a 2012 Howard University will share how her H.O.P.E Scholarship made it possible for her to graduate last year.

Michelle and Nikkia will empower, inspire, and motivate you to reach back and help others pursue their education...one H.O.P.E. scholarship at a time.

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.

More About H.O.P.E. Scholarship Initiative

Michelle Janaye

 The H.O.P.E. Scholarship Initiative, a Washington-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization designed to empower high-achieving students facing financial hardships. In three years, HOPE has given away five scholarships to deserving students in need. Michelle Janaye, co founder and assistant director, serves alongside of H.O.P.E Scholarship Director Jeffrey Chance, Marketing Director Teneasha Pierson, Partnerships Director LaToya Archibald and Fundraising Chair Brandy Jackson.

 Since their inception in 2010, The H.O.P.E. Scholarship team has worked diligently to lighten the financial burden on college students by providing need-based scholarships. With the assistance of HBCU alumni and supporter, grassroots fundraising and sponsorships, H.O.P.E has raised nearly $10,000 and awarded five scholarships.
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 As former students, they understand the challenges of paying for tuition, looking for scholarships and working part-time jobs, all while maintaining an impressive GPA.
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 The team as an organization have resolved to be HOPE DEALERS, individuals committed to sustaining historically black colleges and universities by empowering the students who attend them financially, physically and emotionally.

To learn more about supporting the mission of The H.O.P.E. Scholarship click here.


Meet Nikkia Echols

One day, while on in the car with her mom a little girl pointed at the radio and exclaimed, "Mommy, THAT'S what I wanna be when I grow up!" "A DJ? Or a Radio Personality? Is that what you mean?" replied her mom. "Yeah. That!" The girl sat wide-eyed with a big grin on her face. Thus, a dream began.

Born in Baltimore, MD to a single-mother, Nikkia was always taught to dream big. Academics were always of importance but never a chore; she loved to learn. After beginning a college career at Morgan State University, Nikkia knew she wanted to venture outside of Baltimore.

Howard University seemed to be the perfect fit. With its rich history and popular radio station, WHUR 96.3, all signs lead there. It is at Howard that Nikkia began to hone her skills in Broadcast. Within a year of transferring to Howard, Nikkia successfully auditioned for her first show at the student-run station, WHBC Howard University. Taking on the name "Echo" this eventually lead to three years of hosting shows in the popular Tuesday/Thursday 8pm to 10pm timeslot.

Majoring in Radio/TV/Film, Nikkia also interned and did sit-ins with various radio stations in the DC metropolitan area including HOT 99.5 and WPGC 95.5. Upon graduation from Howard in May 2012, Nikkia was hired with CBS Radio, Baltimore where she currently works. It is her hope that this is just the beginning to a long and successful career.

My HBCUstory Carlos McCormick on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations and leaders who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations and leaders embody "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Throughout 2013 listeners will hear from presidents of organizations who are global change agents. We will also hear from CEOs of social enterprise businesses who are changing communities and college educators who are taking their students out of the classroom and into surrounding neighborhoods to learn and serve others.

Join us on Saturday, April 13, 2013  as we continue the countdown to the Inaugural  HBCUstory Symposium with Carlos McCormick, an honor student athlete who attends Tennessee State University.  Listen to Carlos share his powerful journey from an orphanage in Mexico to West Virgina School for the Blind to attending college in Tennessee while training to run for the Paralympics. 

Carlos will share about the educational struggles but he graduated from high school with a 4.0. He will share how he dreamed of going to college and how colleges are adapting to a growing population of students who are vision impaired. He will also share how technology plays a major role in his pursuit of a college degree. Carlos speaks often to students at  the Tennessee School for the Blind, agencies that advocate for children with disabilities. He also addresses adoption and foster care issues. Carols is an aspiring author and has a book written about his life.

Carols is mentored and coached by Franz Holmes who HBCUstory can be found here. Carlos' HBCUstory of overcoming many personal trials and how is desire to go to college against all odds will leave you empowered, inspired, and motivated to live your BEST life.

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.


More About Carlos McCormick



· 1995- Abandoned at Villa Hogar, an orphanage in Toluca, Mexico. He can’t remember anything about his parents or where he lived before the orphanage. Presumed to be three years old, but doesn’t even know when his birthday is. Was assigned a birthday by the orphanage.

· 1998- Along with his older brother Eric, he was adopted by Stephen and Carolanne Dougherty from Philadelphia. He lived with the Doughertys and their four daughters for two years before being mysteriously left for adoption by another family.


· 2000- Moved in with and was later adopted by Henry and Diane McCormick from Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. Lived on a small farm there for six years and suffered cruel neglect and punishment before finally being removed from the home by the West Virginia DHHR.

· 2006- Removed from the McCormick home and placed in a series of temporary foster homes before finally settling with Deyerle and Etta Miller from Mathias, WV, a tiny rural village in Hardy County. He also started attending school for the first time in five years when he enrolled at the West Virginia School for the Blind in Romney.

· 2008-Attended the Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, where his love of running and his passion for competition led him to set his sights on becoming a Paralympian himself.

· 2010- Moved into the home of Donna and Larry See of Romney and began splitting his education between Hampshire High School and WVSB. Completed against public schools, which enabled his running to reach a new level.

· 2012- Graduated from Hampshire High School, achieving a perfect 4.0 grade point average his senior year.

· 2012- Enrolled at Tennessee State University and began training under the watchful eye of assistant track coach Franz Holmes.


More About IPC 

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. Its purpose is to organize the summer and winter Paralympic Games and act as the International Federation for nine sports, supervising and coordinating World Championships and other competitions.

The vision of the IPC, run by 200 members, is ‘To enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world.’

Enable - Creating conditions for athlete empowerment
Paralympic Athletes - The primary focus, from initiation to elite level
Achieve - Sporting excellence is the goal of a sport centred organization
Inspire & Excite - Touch the heart of all people for a more equitable society

Founded on 22 September 1989 as a non-profit organization, it is based in Bonn, Germany and aims to develop sports opportunities for all people with an impairment from the beginner to elite level.
It employs nearly 50 people from 17 countries and is composed of a General Assembly (highest decision making body), a Governing Board (executive body), a Management Team and various Standing Committees and Councils.

Aspiration:

Athletes and the Paralympic Games are at the heart of our Movement. Their performances and incredible stories teach the values of acceptance and appreciation for people with a disability. The Paralympic Movement builds a bridge which links sport with social awareness thus contributing to the development of a more equitable society with respect and equal opportunities for all individuals.

HBCUstory Part 2 on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations and leaders who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations and leaders embody "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Throughout 2013 listeners will hear from presidents of organizations who are global change agents. We will also hear from CEOs of social enterprise businesses who are changing communities and college educators who are taking their students out of the classroom and into surrounding neighborhoods to learn and serve others.

 On Saturday, April 6, 2013 we will continue the dialogue with Dr. Crystal deGregory, founding editor of HBCUstory. Listen as the lively discussion from last week pick up where we left off. Updates on presenters, along with perspectives on open and closed campuses, the telling of the HBCUstory in places other than HBCU zoned areas of the community, and navigating the politics of higher education will be shared.

Hear why the HBCUstory Symposium will be an opportunity for young professors and doctoral candidates to gain value exposure for presenting their publications and a reminder for young academia to not become complacent in their careers as educators and mentors to the next generation.

Dr. deGregory will also share more insights from her dissertation: Raising a Nonviolent Army: Four Nashville Black Colleges and the Century Long Struggle for Civil Rights, 1830s-1930s, Vanderbilt University 2011.

Online registration can be found at HBCUstory Symposium.

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.

More About HBCUstory 

Founded in 2012, HBCUstory, Inc. is a nonprofit advocacy initiative,  preserving, presenting and promoting inspiring stories of the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) community’s past and present, for our future.

Each and everyday, the HBCU community is writing the HBCUstory. We have fond memories of administrators, faculty, staff and fellow alumni–of people who believed in us and made us believe in ourselves.

We who believe in the mission and vision of HBCUs must leverage our HBCU stories as more than mere memories. They serve as compelling evidence for the future of these’s educational, cultural and social treasures.

At HBCUstory, we’re making memories matter.

HBCUstory Keynote Speaker Michael Sorrell, President of Paul Quinn College

Micheal J. Sorrell is the 34th president of Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas and is the reigning “HBCU Male President of the Year.” Under his trans-formative leadership, Paul Quinn demolished fifteen abandoned buildings, achieved full accreditation with the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) and partnered with PepsiCo to transform its football field into the two-acre “WE Over Me Farm.” As Paul Quinn’s president, Sorrell is masterfully branding the college’s dynamic “Quinnite Nation,” which is experiencing one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of higher education.

More About HBCUstory's  Founding Editor, Crystal deGregory, Ph.d 

A native of Freeport, Bahamas, Dr. Crystal A. deGregory received her doctoral degree in history from Vanderbilt University in May 2011. Entitled "Raising a Nonviolent Army: Four Nashville Black Colleges and the Century-Long Struggle for Civil Rights, 1830s-1930s," her dissertation focuses on the role of American Baptist College, Fisk University, Meharry Medical College and Tennessee State University and their students in the struggle for equality, justice and civil rights in Nashville, Tennessee.

Crystal received her undergraduate training at the historic Fisk University. A proud Fiskite, the school's small but mighty faculty nurtured her love of history as both a passion and profession. In May 2005, she was awarded a master's degree from Vanderbilt for her thesis "The Color Divide in the Emergent Black Man's Party: The Political Strivings of the Bahamian Colored and Black Middle Class in the Progressive Liberal Party, 1953-1963."

A former fellow of the National Visionary Heritage Fellows Program of the National Visionary Leadership Project, her research on Drs. McDonald and Jamye Coleman Williams was included in the 2004 monograph, A Wealth of Wisdom: Legendary African American Elders Speak. In addition to being among the inaugural fellows of Vanderbilt's Center for Nashville Studies (in conjunction with Vanderbilt's College of Arts and Sciences), Crystal was the recipient of the Bahamas Government Graduate Scholarship and Lyford Cay Graduate Student awards. In 2010, she also won the alternate award for the TIAA-CREF Ruth Simms Hamilton Research Fellowship.

Crystal believes deeply in the unique mission of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and to this end, proudly serves on the faculty of Tennessee State University's department of history, geography and political science. A regular contributor to HBCU Digest, she is also the founder and executive editor of HBCUstory.com, an online advocacy center presenting inspiring stories of the HBCU community's past and present, for our future.

Her work has been published in Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture (2011), Tennessee Historical Quarterly (2010), Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience (2009), National African American Biography (2008), Notable Black American Men II (2007), and Encyclopedia of African American Business (2006). She has forthcoming works in The Tennessee State University Journal and in A Single Garment of Destiny: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Globalization of an Ethical Ideal, Lewis V. Baldwin and Paul Dekar, editors; she will also serve as editor for Emancipation and the Fight for Freedom, the sixth volume in the 12-part series, Tennessee in the Civil War: The Best of the Tennessee Historical Quarterly.

Photo credits: Genma Holmes, Paul Quinn College, and HBCUstory