Meet Kamelah Clark

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

Kamelah, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

My optimism comes from the young people I work with every day. Seeing their resilience, creativity, and capacity to heal reminds me that transformation is always possible. I’ve spent over 25 years working in trauma-informed care, community advocacy, and program development, and one thing has become clear: even in the midst of the most challenging circumstances, young people have an incredible ability to grow when they are given safe, supportive spaces.

I’m also inspired by the power of creativity—music, art, culinary arts, storytelling—as tools for healing. Witnessing a young person rediscover their voice through creative expression is a constant reminder that hope and change are real and tangible.

At the same time, my optimism is rooted in lived experience. My childhood was filled with traumatic moments, and I wish I could have had access to mentorship and guidance at a younger age. We are never too old—or too young—to heal, but the first step is making the choice to seek it. That belief drives everything I do, and it’s why I continue to create programs and opportunities that empower young people to reclaim their voice, their confidence, and their lives.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Thank you for the opportunity to share my story. My name is Kamelah Clark, and I am the Founder and Executive Director of Envision Youth Services, Inc., a nonprofit corporation dedicated to supporting young people and young adults impacted by trauma, social injustice, and mental health challenges.

My work is rooted in my upbringing. My mother was an educator and my father a self-taught musician, and from them I learned the power of advocacy, creativity, and expression. Growing up, I also learned a common phrase many households pass down: “What happens in this house stays in this house.” That message teaches young people—especially those experiencing trauma—that there is no outlet, no safe space to express pain. But what happens when you carry that trauma into adulthood? That question has guided so much of my work and fuels my commitment to creating healing-centered spaces where young people no longer have to suffer in silence.

Professionally, I have over 25 years of experience in trauma-informed care and community advocacy, working in residential crisis facilities, psychiatric hospitals, gang prevention programs, and social justice initiatives. Over the years, I saw a major gap in mental health services: many programs weren’t designed with cultural relevance, creativity, or real-life lived experience in mind. So I began creating my own programs—healing-centered spaces that blend mental health education with creative outlets young people actually connect with.

Today, I have developed and authored three original 12-week curriculums:

Mental Health Through Music Development (ages 13–25), partnered with Raw Suga Shack Studios

Mental Health Through Culinary Arts (ages 10–17), in partnership with I’NJoy Catering

Playbook for the Mind – Mental Resilience for Athletes (ages 13–25), in collaboration with the L.A. Watts Summer Games

Each program reflects a core belief: when young people are given tools for expression and emotional awareness, healing becomes possible.

I hold a Licensed Program Administrator certification, I am a Professional Crisis Management Instructor, and I recently became a certified MBSAT Facilitator—Mindfulness-Based Self Awareness Trainer. I’m also a creative writer and storyteller currently producing a docuseries exploring how mental health, music, and art can be used as powerful tools for healing.

I’ve been honored by the Cities of Long Beach, Compton, and Los Angeles, as well as local media, but the most meaningful part of my work is witnessing transformation. Watching a young person who once felt voiceless begin to create, express, and reclaim their identity is the heart of why I do this work.

At the end of the day, my mission remains simple:
Impact the lives of young people without a voice—without judgment—through mental health, music, and art.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back on my journey, the three qualities that have had the biggest impact on my growth are resilience, emotional awareness, and the ability to create from pain.

1. Resilience
I learned resilience through real life — through challenges, trauma, and experiences that could have broken me but instead built my strength. Working in crisis units, psychiatric hospitals, gang prevention, and with young people who have lived through deep pain taught me that resilience isn’t about “being tough.” It’s about choosing to stand back up, choosing to keep going, and choosing to heal.
My advice:
Be patient with yourself. Resilience isn’t something you wake up with — it’s something you strengthen over time by facing hard moments instead of avoiding them. Give yourself grace while you grow.

2. Emotional Awareness
I learned emotional awareness through unlearning the message many of us grew up hearing: “What happens in this house stays in this house.” That mindset teaches you to bury emotions, even trauma, and carry it into adulthood. My healing work — and later becoming an MBSAT Mindfulness-Based Self Awareness Trainer — taught me that acknowledging your emotions isn’t weakness; it’s freedom.
My advice:
Start by simply being honest with yourself about what you feel. Journaling, mindfulness, and talking to safe people can help you understand your own reactions, triggers, and patterns. Awareness is the first step to healing.

3. Using Creativity as a Tool for Healing
I learned the power of creative expression from my father’s music, from storytelling, and from watching young people soften as soon as they’re given a safe space to create. Creativity has been the foundation of every curriculum I’ve built — music, culinary arts, athletic resilience — all rooted in the idea that healing doesn’t have to be clinical. It can be expressive. It can be art.
My advice:
Don’t be afraid to turn to creativity as part of your process. You don’t have to be an artist — you just need a willingness to express. Whether it’s music, writing, cooking, or movement, creativity opens a door to healing that words sometimes can’t reach.

Ultimately, my journey has taught me this:
Your life experiences, even the painful ones, can become your greatest qualifications. You just have to give yourself permission to grow through them instead of hiding from them.

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?

Absolutely. Collaboration is essential to the impact we’re working to create. At Envision Youth Services, Inc., we are actively seeking partnerships with organizations that serve young creatives ages 14–25—especially those committed to transforming how young people heal, grow, and express themselves.

Our mission is to make a powerful, measurable impact by expanding healing-centered mental health programs that use creativity, music, art, storytelling, and self-expression as pathways to emotional wellness. The need is greater than ever, and we know that real change happens when organizations come together with a shared vision.

We are looking to collaborate with:

Creative studios, art programs, and music-based organizations

Schools, youth programs, and community centers

Mental health agencies and wellness practitioners

Athletic programs serving youth and young adults

Funders, donors, and partners who believe in healing through creativity

Right now, one of our biggest goals is to grow our funding capacity so we can reach more young people who deserve access to safe, culturally rooted, healing-centered spaces. Every partnership—whether programmatic, financial, or collaborative—helps us expand our reach and deepen our impact.

If you’re reading this and feel aligned with our mission, we would love to connect and explore how we can work together to transform lives through creativity and mental health.

You can reach us at [email protected]
or visit envisionyouthservices.org.

Together, we can change the way young people heal.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://envisionyouthservices.org
• Instagram: envisionyouthservices
• Facebook: envisionyouthservices

Image Credits

Video Credits
Music Studio: Raw Suga Shack Studio
Music Production: Mike Mann – Mann O Mann Productions
Camera Work & Editing: Paul Rodriguez