- Good evening and welcome to Courageous Conversations.

My name is Pastor Phillip Davis and I'm your host.

Today on Courageous Conversations, I'm blessed to have Kevin Greene with me.

He's the COO of Faces International and the vice president of the Cleveland School of Cannabis.

Don't go anywhere.

We'll be right back with this dynamic community leader.

Well, I'm excited to have this conversation with Kevin Greene.

You know, he's a community leader and the Faces organization is just doing tremendous work here in the Valley and outside of the Valley.

So, Kevin, welcome to the show, man, glad to have you.

- It's always great to sit down with you guys.

- It's your second trip back.

Last time you were in Cleveland when I talked to you, you guys were building out the Cleveland School of Cannabis and just continuing to do that.

So let's talk a little bit about Faces.

But before we get there, let's talk about Kevin Greene, man.

Who's Kevin?

I mean, how did you, how did you end up here in the Valley?

And the work that you guys are doing is pretty tremendous.

- So, you know, I think like, you know, like a decent amount of individuals in the Valley right now, I'm a transplant as well.

- OK. - Born in Jamaica, raised in Jersey and came out to PA, it was one of those things where, you know, when you live in New Jersey, you got this bias against Pennsylvania.

- You do - farmland, right?

- And all that.

So then I ended up here.

- OK. - So, you know, now, you know, being in Pennsylvania for going on 15 years, you know, it's really given me the opportunity, you know, met so many great people, met my wife here as well.

You know, my son, my son was born here.

- And you're newly married too.

- Newly married, yeah.

- How long?

- We are going on five months, six months.

- That's good, that's good.

Always remember, if somebody asks you, you got to be able to kick that off.

No, that's amazing, man.

And you know, I've had the opportunity to watch the work that Faces has done.

So tell us a little bit about the organization.

How did it come about?

And we'll get into some of the things that you guys are doing right now.

- Yeah.

So, you know, Faces really started with a collection of guys that came together that was really looking at, how do we go ahead and make the, you know, the impact that we were looking for, not only on our community and things, but truthfully for ourselves.

- Wow.

- You know, coming out of school, working our professional careers that we were at that point, just not really feeling that that was it and that was everything.

And that was always...

I think all of us had this kind of drive to say this is something more.

- Yeah.

- And we kind of wanted to do things our own way, to be honest with you.

- Right, right.

- So, you know, we came together, you know, in 2011 and then in 2012 we really started, you know, really pushing our company and moving forward.

And we started doing a lot of like social events at first, we were bringing, you know, professionals together and really diverse professionals together all over the Valley and bring them into some new spaces, that really we weren't seeing for ourselves.

So it was these professional spaces, but they still had a little swag and fun to them.

That was kind of our thing and how we did things.

So, you know, we were really excited about that.

And at that point, you know, we were...

It was a great way not only to be able to showcase what we can do and build our brand, because none of us are from the Valley, so we had to really figure out how to build the brand, and we always said instead of, you know, chasing every event, when you created good events, everybody wanted to come to you.

- Absolutely.

- So we got a real good chance to meet a lot of people.

We got a chance to network a lot of people, and it really helped us catapult the rest of our business, which was the marketing side, the staff development side, which is what a lot of people know is for now, is the work that we do in marketing and staff development.

- So there's marketing, there's staff development, there's web development.

You guys are almost like a development company.

You develop people and you train people.

You equip people.

- Yeah.

Develop businesses all through.

We always called ourselves a one-stop shop, so we work with you from your ID and all your strategies to creating all the content that supports that and then implementing that.

And then we work internally with you.

So we work on team development.

We do a ton of diversity, equity and inclusion work in the space in the Valley and outside of the Valley as well.

You know, we've always believed that your best marketing arm that you have, and PR, is your staff.

You know, if your staff is not bought into your culture and they're not really in a team dynamic that they feel a sense of belonging, you know, we always talk about, hey, they might say everything great in the meeting, but if they go in the elevator and start talking about all the negative things, they're definitely not going to be a part of helping you recruit other great talent.

Right?

They're going to tell people to stay away.

So we always saw that synergy.

And it took almost eight years for individuals to see why would a marketing firm have staff development.

But truthfully, truthfully, that interpersonal development gives us the skills to understand how to market through people.

You know, it's very, very important.

We're more than just our facade on the outside.

People are built up of multiple layers and to speak to them, to get to them, you know, to be able to position your product, your service, your industry, whatever it is, you know, in this day and age, people expect a little bit more and you've got to do a little bit more than just toss out a bunch of ads on TV.

- Yeah, it's almost the human resource, right?

A lot of times we hear the terminology human resource, but the greatest resource that we have are the humans, right?

That work, and the staff that we integrate into our business model.

You all have done some tremendous stuff.

I think it was First Fridays that you created.

Talk a little bit about that.

I mean, because that was really at the genesis.

- Yeah.

- As you guys were getting off the ground and up and running.

- Yeah.

So, you know, the First Fridays for us was to combine these networking social events for business professionals, as I said in the beginning, had a little swag to it.

We, you know, we were young, I was 26 at this point, you know, so, you know, we were like, how do we come in fresh in suits but still go ahead, you know, throwing some hip-hop on.

And still, you know, creating this dynamic.

And a big part of that was changing the perception, right?

Because the perception is, you know, especially for black professionals, is that we don't belong here or even individuals that have multiple layers to us, right?

I'm a professional.

And also, yeah, I'm a Jamaican immigrant, African American as well.

And I have multiple layers to me.

So interacting with a lot of negative experiences in the Lehigh Valley, especially when we were looking at as black professionals going to certain places and being kind of like demonized or segregated or positioned in a negative way because of having a chain on or having something of that sort, and not understanding that the work that we were doing, we were just in, you know, Lehigh University holding this big seminar.

Now we're having a problem because we're trying to step into a place to have some fun.

- Sure.

- So we really wanted to change this perception of the fact that, especially that we felt that this lack of understanding of socialization, especially for black and brown communities, and a lot of the negative things that have been associated with that.

So we were getting, everyone was getting that.

We have...

There's negative experiences in every culture all over the world, right?

But continuously it gets.

we get demonized, people of color, you know, especially in any type of social gathering at night-time.

So we were very adamant about changing that.

So we did a lot of our events in most of the high-end places all over the Lehigh Valley, bringing in black professionals and diverse professionals and all different walks of life, and having fun and showcasing that we can do this type of thing.

- Yeah, I mean, watching, watching the evolution of Faces, right, starting with some of the events that you all were doing, and, you know, as the older generation, we're like, "Who are these guys?"

Right?

But what they're doing, they're doing well, right?

And I think changing the narrative, because we know that the narrative has been negative, right?

It has been less than supportive, and watching what you all were able to do and really integrate, but also impact, right, cultures that were outside of the African American culture, but also bring the level up for us as black folks and black business folks in our community was tremendous.

And now, I mean, you're doing DEI work with some of the largest nonprofits here in Lehigh Valley.

Can you talk a little bit about that and why that's important to your work?

- Yeah.

So, you know, for us it's always been a part of our ecosystem, is what we call it, right?

Because an ecosystem is the fact that no matter how big or small, everything is important to the entire process, for us all to get to the level of happiness and community that we're looking for.

- Right.

- So, you know, for us, we work with some of the largest nonprofits in the area and also some of the largest - profit companies as well.

- For profits, yeah.

- You know, it's quite... it is a good feeling.

You know, sometimes when you're walking around the Lehigh Valley and you're seeing all the tags on the buildings and you're like, you know, these used to be our aspiration for where we wanted to be.

And now to look at, you know, these are the buildings that we're walking into and these are the CEOs and the top executives that we're working with daily, you know, the boards that we sit on as well.

But for us, it's so important because it's a part of the process, right?

So when we think about events, what we were doing is like how do we create a social space for people to be able to be their authentic selves and still have high expectations in the sense of what they should be interacting with.

Now, what we're doing, you know, especially in the work that we do with our development is the other part of that, is how do we go ahead and continue to work with individuals that again, you know, our organizations, our systems are built up of people.

How do we help people be better so these organizations and these systems can be better that are so crucially important to how our neighborhoods actualize, how our systems actualize, right?

Our community resources actualize.

And change the perception in multiple different ways so we can actually create some real equity, not only in the Lehigh Valley, but I think the Lehigh Valley has an opportunity to be a good example because it's one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas.

- Absolutely.

- Which is what we're seeing all across the country.

These smaller metropolitan areas are becoming very, very popular compared to, you know, our major top six or seven cities across the United States.

- Yeah, that's pretty amazing.

Thinking about the fact that you all are a BIPOC organization, right, and for my viewers who don't know what that means, that's Black, Indigenous, People Of Color.

It's a terminology.

Um...

It sends a very strong message about capacity and ability that, again, has not been the normative message that's been out there about our community.

And you all have really impacted the Valley.

Why is being a BIPOC organization important to you all and what's the message that you're trying to send as you're doing your work?

Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, we're probably lining up against the biggest narrative, right?

A bunch of young black men coming together, doing professional work, right?

- Absolutely, yeah.

Working with some of the top corporations, sitting on some of the top boards, you know, across the Valley and doing the work that we do.

So our whole entire thing was about changing the culture.

- Yeah.

- You know, we have videos, we always say, we have the time stamp.

You know, when we said this pre, you know, most of the development that's going on in Lehigh Valley right now, we were sitting there talking about how we were going to make an impression on the culture and change the culture.

And that's why it's so important.

You know, it's certain things that happened, especially like the word of, you know, you're so articulate when you come out of it, and... - You get that too?

- Yeah, of course, right?

- You speak so well!

- You speak so well, right?

And it's all because of the lack of expectations that they have when we walk in the room.

So our whole thing was any room that we're in, we speak, and we speak our truth and we go ahead and hold our integrity and we continue to do our work.

And over time and consistency, things are going to go ahead and help us really change the culture.

And that's where we really are right now.

It's that evolution of that.

So everything that we've done for how we do our work, to all the social events, to the work that we do behind the scenes that people don't see, to how we spend our money, our resources, to who we hire, to who we help in the background, in the sense of who we outsource to, we're very, very, very intentional about the work in the sense of that, and we're making sure that looks through everything that we do and it's not just what people see on the outside.

A lot of the work is, what they don't see, as you know.

- Absolutely right.

What happens behind the scenes, right, and the work and the planning that you all put into the work that you're doing.

It almost seems like you guys have become a philanthropic organization now, right?

There's been some large donations that you all have given.

I saw a post not too long ago about changing the narrative.

Can you talk a little bit about that and your investment back into the community, why that's so important and what you are hoping to accomplish?

- So, you know, when we talk about narratives, right, there has been this narrative about black philanthropy, right?

But when you really look at the history of it, the African American community and the communities of color, black and brown, have always been about philanthropy in the sense that if we think about traditionally, in the sense of the church, right, some of the individuals that come from black and brown churches, they're coming from some of the lowest socioeconomic situation, but giving was always a part of their culture.

- Absolutely.

- You know, that was something that we did every single Sunday.

So that's actually been bred into us, in a sense.

So there's been a shift that's happened in the sense of what we see, in the sense of the promotion of who philanthropy...

Individuals that provide philanthropy is, right?

And that is what we're trying to break with, and for us, we've always been a part of giving our time, giving our brainpower in the sense of that.

And we said the second that we were in the financial situation as a company, Faces international, that we were now going to go ahead and step up.

And we want to be in the same places as the other individuals that are giving money.

But we want to be, again, just like all of our other work, very intentional.

So we've slotted $100,000 that we're going to give over the next five years, and 50,000 of that is going to the James Lawson Freedom School that's run by Pastor Gregory Edwards and I know you as well... - Yeah, we're launching this summer.

Absolutely.

Yeah, we'll be an extension.

- Yeah.

It's all about how do we go ahead and give to the organizations that we know that can make collective impact on the work that we're overall trying to do, because that's what philanthropy is all about.

It's something that you believe in and you want to support it physically, mentally, but also financially.

And now that we're in that position to be able to do that, what we hope to be able to do at this point is to really start to change the narrative around that and get more people engaged in seeing and investing in the actual realization of the community that they actually want instead of sitting on the sidelines.

- Sure.

I think it's exemplary in that more people can see the value of being able to sow resources into spaces.

You know, I was telling someone the other day, last year, our church gave away about $100,000 to individuals that were struggling with rent, mortgages, right, utilities, all that kind of thing.

And what happened was the county of Northampton got wind of what we were doing and this Erap program came up, which is, you know, helping folks who are homeless and folks who are behind on their rent and maybe getting put out.

And they called us and they said, listen, we'd love for you all to oversee this program.

We know that you've got a history, a background.

So when you give, right, we believe this is a biblical principle, it comes back to you, but it doesn't come back to you to enrich you.

It comes back to you so you can give more.

And what you all are doing is tremendous.

How do folks have an opportunity to participate in the philanthropy that's happening with Faces?

- Yeah.

So there's some things that are going to be launching out in the next couple of weeks because, you know, one thing that we want to do and you know, I guess all puns, all puns intended, is really showcasing the new faces of philanthropy.

- Nice.

OK. - So myself, my business partner Tyrone Russell, and Dr Hasshan Batts, who as well have become Toqueville donors for United Way, which are also designated funds between a couple of organizations, we'll be, again, giving some more money to Freedom School, be giving some money as well to Promise Neighborhoods, Lehigh Valley.

And what we're really looking to do is really to call out to say, who else can we go ahead and bring together to start to go ahead and build this network of philanthropy and giving to the organizations that we believe in.

So you'll definitely be getting a call from me in the sense of this, as this thing starts to move forward.

- Yeah.

- And it's really trying to figure out as well, right, where are the organizations?

Because not as... As important as it us for us to give it is also, what we're hoping to do is to be able to highlight these organizations all across the Valley that support the mission that is so important to our young BIPOC kids that are here in the Valley, that are looking for inspiration, looking for an opportunity to be able to be developed their whole self.

It's more...

It's so important, especially for our community, to develop their whole self.

You know, they're dealing with so many different struggles and there's not enough organizations that have the ability, the skill set, the lived experiences to really be able to go ahead and cater to that.

I think it's important for us to come together.

So, you know, we're really going to be pushing this year for the future in the sense of how do we go ahead and build this collective impact with all areas of philanthropy to really go ahead and heighten and grow and help scale and make these organizations more effective for our community?

Because it's a return on investment - for all of us.

- Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think when one is hungry, we're really all hungry collectively, in a way that when folks are suffering, right, we should feel their pain.

And I think a lot of times that's not the case.

It's let me get mine and keep going.

I'm excited about the work you all are doing, but I'm also excited about the example that you're setting with Faces and all of the folks that are involved in your organization have carried themselves in a way that represents black excellence.

Why is that black excellence so important?

I know we talked a little bit about the narrative, but why is that black excellence so important to you and to your organization?

- You know, for us, it's again, right, I guess using the word change the narrative always is kind of really changing the culture, you know?

But it's so important because the lack of expectations I feel like I've had on me the entire lives, or the boxes I've been put in, right?

- Sure, yeah.

- You know, when I was an athlete, that was the expectation, right?

When I wanted to do other things, it seemed like there was a lack of support in the sense of being able to expand, to nurture, nurture me and nurture my mind, nurture my experiences that allowed me to be a more comfortable, capable man at the end of the day, with the things that I have to do to navigate the world.

Right?

So, you know, I think it's so, so important because also as well, I think it really gives a space for us to start to demand more from ourselves and the ones around us, right?

- Right.

- You know, when you're in crisis and things of that sort, you kind of normalize it because you kind of have to normalize it to somewhat stay sane in that situation.

But that's kind of what our problem is, that we've been able to normalize crisis, right?

I think it's given us intangible skill sets, but now is the time for us to really start to say, how can we do better, be better, and be willing to take the mentorship and the process of growing yourself.

Because at the end of the day, I wouldn't be here, you know, without individuals like yourself, individuals like Pastor Gregory Edwards, Camilla Greene, Sharon Fraser, Phyllis Alexander.

Individuals that have shown me the way of how do you do things?

How do you keep interrogating all the work that you're doing to give a status of excellence before the word black excellence was a hashtag on social media, right?

- Sure, sure, sure.

- So, you know, so understanding that, you know, we're really just going ahead and passing the torch, and that reign's long before us, you know, at the end of the day, long before the individuals.

It's always been that level and what we're hoping to do is to be able to go ahead and continue to heighten that awareness, heighten that bar, set new standards.

So, again, you know, the kid that was just like myself, that's a little rough around the edges, a little wild and things of that sort, but was just a little bit lost and needed something to be able to hold themselves steady and hold on to and be focused and then have people pour into me to be able to allow me to be the person that I am right now and hopefully the person that I can continue to evolve into.

- That's powerful.

I mean, you all work with youth, a lot of youth in the Lehigh Valley.

You were able to do something that just made my heart glad.

You were able to bring Bart Cooper back to the Lehigh Valley, who is a kind of local kid, grew up here, worked here, and then went to California and launched an amazing career in the art world.

And of course, he has the series Heroes, and that is impacting educationally our kids, but also, African American kids, but also Caucasian kids and Latino kids are all going to get an opportunity to experience, you know, his art, but also the message that comes through his art.

Why was it important for you to bring him back?

And what were you guys hoping to accomplish with bringing Bart back to the Valley?

- So it's a two part for Bart.

- OK. - The first part was I never knew Bart, but I knew his sister.

- OK. Vicki.

- Yeah, I knew Vicky, right?

So knew Vicki, again, she's a professional in the area and you know, when you went to events and things of that sort.

So Ty and I are in Cleveland at an art show and we're like, what are you doing here?

We see his sister.

We're like, what are you doing in Cleveland?

You know, no-one goes to Cleveland.

You know, much love to Cleveland.

It's been a great experience working there.

And then she's like, I'm here for my brother.

So we meet, this is the first time I'm meeting Bart.

So of course, you know, it's impossible to see Bart's art and not be like, "Wow."

- Absolutely.

- And he does these big things, so it's like, you know, you're looking at something taller than you on the wall and you're like, wow, this is amazing.

And through that whole situation of changing the culture, what we were frustrated was, was the fact like, how do you have a kid that was growing up here and is doing these amazing things, now a grown man, doing all these amazing things and we're not championing this.

- Not highlighting it.

- And too many times what we've seen again when thinking about the athletes is that we definitely champion our black and brown athletes that leave this area and end up doing something big.

And we've had a few that have left this area, especially recently in the last ten years ago, you know, situation.

And one of them actually went to Bart's high school as well.

You know, when we think about Warwick, he went to Bart's high school.

They both went to Whitehall.

So, you know, he was brought back.

He was celebrated for his talents, which he should be.

He's a very talented Kenyan.

He's accomplished some great things in his young life, but so has Bart.

- So has Bart.

- So we said what we're going to make sure that we do is we're going to make sure that we highlight you on the biggest platform that we possibly can create for you.

The second thing was, when, you know, 2020 was happening... For me, 2020, what it did for me, especially when COVID hit, was it gave me the first time I could actually stop and think.

You know what I mean, I've been moving fast for about 11 years, so I had some time to think.

And I'm sitting here taking a look at the hero series that he did, because I seen him on the plane another time ago and he told me about the series, and I was thinking about what could we do to make some type of impact right now?

And I was looking at the ten women that he depicted, and I thought about my time in school and I was like, Well, there was only really one woman on here that was marketed to me in school and educated in, and it was Harriet Tubman, and it was just the facade of her story.

There wasn't really any depth to it.

- It was a whitewashed version of it.

- Exactly.

The whitewashed version of it, which made me think about, why don't I know all these other women in depth?

Obviously know Oprah, Because, again, the medium which she's done, but why don't I know these women in depth, right?

- Sure, sure.

- Know who Angela Davis is, but do I know her...?

Did I get a chance to know her in depth or did I know about her as I became an adult?

And I knew about most of these women as I became an adult, not as a youth.

So we felt at that point we're like, you know what?

This is an opportunity that we can use art as the bridge to be able to not only inspire and educate young black and brown kids, to say, like, you need to know who these people are because these people really hold true power, and what they've done to shape not black history, because black history is American history, and world history, you know, at the end of the day, but also when we talk about our white identity counterparts, for them to start to understand the narrative, because when we think about how biases arise, how they're conscious and unconscious, but also when we think about racism, how it's...in most cases it's taught, it's something that's provided to you in the sense of all these different ways, and visuals and what you see and what you know, the stories that are written, the stories that are told to you, the information in those textbooks are key in shaping a sense of how you see and perceive the world, you know?

So if we're only seeing that these black women, a lot of them have been demonized as being evil in the things that they've done.

- Or angry.

- Or angry.

- Absolutely.

Yeah.

- And that narrative continues itself of black women being angry in all these other spaces that continues to this day.

How do we go ahead and change that by really telling the truth of these stories, right?

You know, the missing stories that really actually made this history.

So, you know, those combination of things of what we wanted to do by partnering with some of the top organizations in the Lehigh Valley like the United Way and ArtsQuest, you know, partnering with them was what we wanted to do.

So we're like, how do we raise the level of this and get this on the biggest stage that we can?

And then how do we go ahead and utilize this as a bridge to be able to go ahead and continue the conversations that we need to have, right?

So we're just a part of conversations that have been happening already, conversations that are going to continue to happen.

And we just want to make sure that we do our part.

And again, there's nothing like art to create a conversation because that's what it's supposed to do, right?

Create emotion, conversation.

We're not supposed to be on the same page because we all value it differently.

And I think that there's nothing more courageous than having tough dialog around something, especially when we're thinking about the misinformation or the lack of information that's been provided around what really made America the country that it is today.

And it's only going to be great with the continued stories of the individuals in all diverse backgrounds that make an imprint on what this country is all supposed to be about.

Yeah, I mean, I loved it in that, you know, it created a larger dialog.

It's going to last for a long time.

I started to talk to him about NFTs when I was talking to Bart, I said, That's forever, right?

Nobody can recreate it.

But the idea that that it will be long-lasting and have a generational impact on that.

What was your village like that helped to shape and form you as a man and helped to form you into the person that you are today?

- You know, definitely, you know, first off, you know, my family for sure.

- Yeah.

- You know, I always said they kept me...

I didn't get a chance to grow up in Jamaica.

My family is all Jamaican, man.

My mom was still slapping, you know, bananas on my ankles when I tore things up.

I was like... - I had some jerk chicken last night.

- Yeah.

I was like, I was like, ma, I was like, I don't think that works.

I was like, I think I got to go to the doctor.

- Right.

- You know, so, you know, my family's always been, you know, me understand who I am, what my culture is about, you know, I mean, where I come from, all those things.

That's what's been a part of that.

You know, I think, you know, truth is, well, sports has always been a big part of my life as well, helping me really kind of, you know, control my focus, my anger, really taught me how to work on teams as well.

- Yeah.

- And truthfully, you know, a lot of the family that I have here, you know, the family that I've made myself, and the individuals that I work with, you're definitely a part of that as well, has really helped me see how I can actualize the dreams that I had, right, because all of this started with a dream.

I always said I wanted to be a businessman and I wanted to just travel the world and I wanted to do these cool things.

I didn't know how I was going to do that, right?

And I got to take a chance...

I got a chance to see all these different parties and all these individuals that look like me as well, doing these great things, and I got a chance to be in those rooms, you know, have these deep conversations, have this guidance through that process.

It's really, really helped me be able to really evolve into the person.

But also, you know, a lot of individuals has given me an opportunity to try some things, you know, and that's, I think that's the best thing about my village, is that individuals have given me opportunity to make mistakes.

And through those mistakes is where I've been able to fail forward and learn, which is the only reason why I'm able to sit across from you today talking about the work that we're doing today is because I had that space to be myself, to make mistakes, to learn from those things and be able to still have an opportunity to be in the game the next day, you know, and without that village, you know what I mean?

I don't...

It would be impossible to be successful.

So we're doing everything that we can to create these villages and support the villages that support so many people, young and old, to be able to actualize, you know, their dreams and hopes and just a better way of living and, you know, try to get some joy and happiness and what they classify as happiness and joy and success for themselves.

- That's cool.

Well, Kevin, you know, I'm honored to have you on the show.

This is the last show of our third season, believe it or not.

- Awesome.

Third season.

- Yeah, I can't believe it.

Three seasons have gone by so quickly.

- And a ton of suits.

And you're doing a good job.

- Well, thank you.

I got to thank my wife for that.

But I want to thank you for taking the time to come out and the work that Faces does, and you and Tyrone and the whole team represent our community very well.

And we pray the blessings of God on you and continue to expand and impact the community in the way that you do.

To all of our viewing audience, thank you.

It's been a great ride this third season and thank you for taking the time to hang out with us.

We pray God's blessings on you as well.

So on behalf of everyone here at PBS39, God bless, may Heaven smile upon you.