Meet Brian Smith

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brian Smith. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brian below.

Brian, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I honestly developed my work ethic from my mom. As a single-parent I remember my mom working 2 jobs to provide for me and my sister, and still had enough energy to cook dinner, help us with our school-work, and get us ready for school, so I give credit to my loving mom Ms. Ann Smith-Mccall. Even in her spare time she made goodie-bags for the prisoners locked up in Julia Tutwiler prison. At a young age watching her do that, and on top of that provide for me and my sister, it’s a no-brainer that my work-ethic comes from my mom.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m from Montgomery, Alabama. I came from a single parent household where it was just me, my sister, and my mom. We didn’t have everything, but my mom made sure that we had what we needed to survive. My mom would donate care packages to prisoners and take me with her while doing it. That taught me that, no matter how hard life gets, always be there to lend a hand to a person in need. I made a promise to myself that if we ever get out of this situation that were in, I’m going to dedicate my life, time and efforts into helping those families less fortunate. As I got older I formed The BlueHeart Foundation 334, which helps low income families here in the Montgomery area. I created this foundation to help families, mentor kids and also inspire others to be great. I describes myself as “a miracle baby” because I was born close to death and managed to survive.
Over the years, my work to donate to those in need grew into school supply giveaways, surprise grocery donations and more through The Blue Heart Foundation 334. My support for band students in Montgomery Public Schools evolved from marching in The Alabama State University Marching Band which has helped more kids escape their troubles and pursue a love of music. Now, I go back to mentor current students at Carver Senior High School Marching Band and keep them focused on the positives. I even serve as the voice of the Marching Wolverine Band during halftime shows.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My 3 qualities that were most important in my journey were to,

1. Never Give Up
2. Give It Your All
3. Think Big

My advice I have for folks who are early in their journey is to always focus on what needs to be done, and keep God first. You have to always,
1. Think Big
2. Dream Big
3. Believe in your Dream
4. Dare to be Different.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I would love to collaborate more with all the HBCUs, and continue to work with my group, The A.E.A.O.N.M.S HBCU Department, to help strengthen and support all of our HBCUs. I’m a proud member of The Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order New Mystic Shrine (Prince Hall Shriners) and we raise funds for all of our HBCU’s across the United States. With me being involved in this group and working with different Colleges and Universities, the work that we do is very important and satisfying because we not only help our Black Colleges, we help the students who attend these colleges. That’s why I look up to people like Dr. Kevin James President of Morris Brown College, Dr. Quinton Ross President of Alabama State University, and Rickey Smiley Comedian/ Philanthropist. These men promote HBCUs on a daily basis, and nobody has to tell them to do it, and that what makes me want to collaborate with them, because these are men who have love not just for there HBCUs but for all HBCUs.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Shaaban Temple No. 103 Oasis of Montgomery Desert of Alabama The A.E.A.O.N.M.S Imperial HBCU Department Taseti Temple No. 253 & Taseti Court No. 234 Oasis of Dothan, Desert of Alabama The Blueheart Foundation 334

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