The average engineering student at Howard probably spends most of their time inside the buildings historically dubbed “Money Row” working towards their inevitably popping careers (Shoutout to Black people in STEM). Howard senior Breyonna Pinkney is doing just that and running a non-profit organization. The Mechanical Engineering major officially launched The Pinkney Promise Foundation in April of 2017 after months of running a blog under the same name.
Breyonna has since hosted several events to promote mental health wellness in the Black community, including a Hike for Health and canned food drive. This weekend, Breyonna will host “True to Self,” a self- healing and writing workshop.
Her Campus at Howard got the opportunity to chat with Breyonna about her journey as an engineering student and entrepreneur, and about “True to Self.” Check it out:
What inspired you to start Pinkney Promise?
My sophomore year I was very depressed. I didn’t have any way to cope with some of the things I was going through. I would try to talk to my friends, but it was one of those things where I was so sad and so frustrated and I tried to explain it to people but they just didn’t understand. I started writing in my prayer journal to God every single day. After going through the death of my mother and homelessness and depression, I felt like I needed to do something to give back. So, November 13, God gave me an idea to start a nonprofit organization about mental health wellness to give back to people who want to be spiritually aligned with God, who want to practice healthy coping, who want to find their true purpose.
How do you balance being a college student and an entrepreneur?
It’s so hard. During my leisure time, I’m planning events. The time when everyone’s going out and having fun I’m like “Okay, let me just do what I need to do for my business first. Then I can have my time to go out.” My first four months, when I started planning everything for my business, I had to literally go on a fast. I stopped dating, I stopped eating certain things, I stopped going out. I just got focused on my business planning and really just got in alignment with God so that I could do the things I needed to do for my business first before I thought about going out and having fun.
What has been the most rewarding part of your journey with Pinkney Promise thus far?
Just having people have a space to just release. We have happy hours, we have parties, but you don’t go to a lot of parties where it’s just for healing. To have an event, like “True to Self”, there’s going to be bottomless mimosas, it’s going to be fun, but it’s also a writing therapy event. It’ll give people the opportunity to do something they’ve never done before. I had someone contact me recently from Oregon telling me that they quit their job because they were unhappy. They wanted to quit their job and they were inspired by one of my events and they wanted to do what they were put on Earth to do, but they didn’t want to work in a corporate company. They were jumping out on faith because of me, and it really showed me my work has power and that God has me here for a purpose.
What has been the most challenging part thus far?
All of the things that I speak about at my events are things that I actually have to go through. For example, I’m having this “True to Self” event, a self-love event, right? It’s really because in this last season it’s been something that I’ve been battling with. God has to put me through these seasons, but then He’ll be like “Okay Breyonna, have an event about it!” But before I have an event and go up there and talk to people about how I feel, I have to go through the real, authentic emotions. So last week, and the week before, and the week before, I’ve been going through this tough battle of trying to get back in alignment with myself. With starting school back up, it’s not the summertime anymore, so I’m trying to rebalance my life. So when I speak at [events] it can be an authentic message but in order for it to be that, God has to restart my healing process so I can help other people and bring somebody else back up.
What keeps you motivated to continue working towards your dreams?
Knowing that I’m here for a bigger purpose and that it’s not about me. We get so caught up it “Woe is me. I have school work and all these things going on and this boy is getting on my nerves,” but it’s not about us. Ultimately we’re here to do God’s work and He has a plan for our lives. There’s a purpose in every single day. There’s somebody you’re supposed to touch and inspire every single day, so I need to get out of bed. I can’t just be depressed and lay in bed and be frustrated and worried about the woes of yesterday. I have to be willing to start my day with a fresh start. You have to be ready to be used by God and you don’t want to let your feelings and emotions distract you from what God has for you. I was watching a sermon and it was saying “[God] doesn’t care about your personality.” I used to say I’m shy! No God I don’t want to talk I’m shy!” but He has a message for me to give to people, He doesn’t want to hear that I’m shy! I have to take my feelings, my personality traits and all of the excuses and let them go so I can do God’s work.
Can you talk a little bit about the “True to Self” event coming up this Sunday?
“True to Self” is a self-love event. It’s a writing therapy and healing event with bottomless mimosas. We’re going to just have different writing prompts, move around the room a little bit and mingle. There will be Daniel Caesar, H.E.R., Bryson Tiller, India.Arie…very in your zone. We’re going to do a letter to yourself, a letter to God, positive affirmations, and poetry.
What other projects or events can we look forward to in the future?
See, that’s the thing. I kind of plan my events with the seasons so I’m hoping this next season is for all women. I want to do a Zumba class for women so we can dance, talk, and just have a positive outlook on our bodies and really talk about self-love.
Make sure to stay connected with Breyonna and The Pinkney Promise Foundation on Instagram!