A Life Devoted to Purpose and People

I never planned to create a national nonprofit. What I wanted was to live with purpose. But life has a way of forcing you into your assignment — even when you don't see it coming.

In 1994, I began my career in law enforcement with New York State. For over two decades, I served in one of the toughest systems in America — courtrooms, crisis calls, and yes, running across rooftops in pursuit of individuals who had violated their conditions. It was dangerous work, but I believed that people deserve dignity, accountability, and second chances. That work came at a cost. I sustained a serious injury that required multiple medical procedures, and through each recovery I braced my body and my spirit and kept showing up — because I had a family, and responsibility doesn't pause just because you're hurting. What I didn't know was that God was already preparing me for a different assignment.

While still working and navigating my injury, I began volunteering as a wig stylist with the American Cancer Society's "Look Good, Feel Better" program, styling women who had lost their hair to cancer treatment. There I noticed something troubling: there were almost no wigs that truly matched women of color. The textures, the tones, the cultural identity — missing. Then came the question I couldn't ignore: if a national organization struggles to serve women of color, what about the children?

So in 2012 — still on the job, still injured — I stepped out on faith and founded Butterflies By Blaq Inc. (Butterflies BBI), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing free custom hair replacements to children experiencing medical hair loss, with a focus on underserved Black and Brown communities. No blueprint. No funding. No guarantees. Just the unshakable belief that no child should suffer invisibly.

In 2015, I was officially retired from the State due to my medical condition. I was pushed out of one system — and chose to build another, grounded in softness, service, and soul.

What started at my living room coffee table became a movement: families served for over 14 years, hospital partnerships with NYU Langone and NewYork-Presbyterian, hair donors across 45+ states, and a hair donation pipeline reaching the UK, the UAE, and Trinidad. Along the way I founded Blaq Butterflies Wellness Boutique, a luxury wellness brand where every purchase funds a child's hair replacement journey, and wrote You Can't Pour From an Empty Champagne Flute: The Caregiver's Guide to Luxury Self-Care — born from my own life as an active caregiver who had to learn that you cannot pour from empty.

"I didn't come from wealth. I didn't have connections. But I had conviction. I had faith. I had a calling. And I said yes."