‘As a Black female business leader, I’ve learned the keys to success consist of networking, research, perseverance and resilience.’

Sharon Solomon, Baldwin

“My inspiration is my dad. He successfully migrated from Liberia and obtained a PhD in chemistry from Columbia University. He started Devonque in a small warehouse in Jamaica, Queens in 1972. He developed scents for brands such as Tide, Close-Up toothpaste and a cologne for Muhammad Ali.

“I grew up in a laboratory, and it inspires me to do what I do today with candles. My dad taught me the power of scent. An aroma can elicit memories, enhance moods or set a tone, depending on the occasion. It revitalizes our senses and makes us remember a time when we were happy. Candles and fragrance creation are my passion.

“My dad was always about family and community as well. As an immigrant, he kept our doors open for family members who came here for opportunity too. My love of fragrances and natural products runs deep in our company DNA for generations.

Looking for a way to help, I developed a specific candle line, Candles of Hope, that donates half the proceeds of the sale to charity.

“In 2022, we developed a platform using our candles that helps solve the problem with grassroots and nonprofit organizations lacking funding to do the great work they accomplish. Along with leading my family business, I’m the program coordinator for the runaway homeless youth shelter in Nassau County for the Family & Children’s Association. Time and again, the needs outweigh the funding. Organizations that do great work are constantly fundraising to provide services.

“Looking for a way to help, I developed a specific candle line, Candles of Hope, that donates half the proceeds of the sale to charity. It’s 100% virtual. All the organizations have to do is go to the website and sign up.

“I’ve been lucky enough to partner with over 200 organizations. It makes me feel good to know that I’m bridging a gap between funding and the work these programs do. We feel our platform will continue its rapid growth.

“As a Black female business leader, I have learned the keys to success consist of networking, research, perseverance and resilience. There are many resources available that can really take your business to the next level. You have to do your research. Knowing my dad is looking down on me while others look up to me pushes me to keep our legacy going.”

Interviewed by Liza N. Burby

‘I had low self-esteem as a child. Because I wasn’t confident, I was determined to help others, particularly children.’

Baldwin

“I had low self-esteem as a child. Because I wasn’t confident, I was determined to help others, particularly children. My husband, a lawyer and public defender, gave me the gift of his love and support. His parents, who fought for human rights, served as role models for me. They met and fell in love when Michael was organizing the men’s laundry workers and Rose was organizing the women’s laundry workers!

“I chose a career in early childhood education and had the joy of working with the youngest of children as both a teacher and administrator. I focused on making them feel special, important and loved. I carried this into my adulthood and looked for opportunities to help others whenever I could. Over the years, my husband and I have opened our homes to over 100 people: victims of abuse, students, even strangers who were stranded at Kennedy Airport in 2010 because of the volcanoes in Iceland!

I hope to continue helping others gain confidence and be successful!

“Our children have made us proud: Grey, being nonbinary, is a champion for the LBGTQ+ community; Joanna works with autistic children; her husband, Josh, also is a caring teacher; my granddaughter, Allison, 11, sold homemade magnets and keychains and gave the proceeds to the Innocence Project.

“A turning point for me came on the day a friend invited me to join the National Council of Jewish Women. We developed the Back 2 School Store for economically challenged families, and I’ve been honored to be the coordinator since its inception in 2012. Each summer, the children come to a venue, separate from their parents/guardians, and choose new and free winter coats, sneakers, socks, underwear, T-shirts, pants, hoodies, books, school supplies, stuffed animals, and toothbrushes and toothpaste. They are escorted through the ‘store’ by their own personal shopper, one of our 300 volunteers. We empower children to make decisions. It makes them feel important.

“The reactions are precious. One little girl said, ‘I am so happy with my new shirt that my feet are dancing.’ Another child was so enamored with her new clothes that, despite the heat outside, she refused to take off her winter coat, hoodie and hat. I hope to continue helping others gain confidence and be successful!”

Interviewed by Saul Schachter

‘I didn’t have anything. How could I even talk to a psychologist or therapist without insurance? They turned me away.’

Baldwin

“I was a very angry teenager. I was a magnet for fights and being in the wrong environments and choosing the wrong things. I was always really good at school and even skipped a grade and was put into a special program, but then I started to skip classes and started self-sabotaging. I spiraled into a realm of darkness, and in my last year of college, I got pregnant with my daughter. I didn’t have a job at that time. I didn’t have insurance. I didn’t have anything. How could I even talk to a psychologist or therapist without insurance? I was on the subway coming back from school; I was in such a dark place that I made that call to the psychologist. They turned me away. That phone call was so detrimental because I couldn’t see a way out, and I just wanted help. I even called a suicide hotline, and guess what: I was put on hold.

“Everything was catching up to me. On the outside, I was always smiling and laughing. I seemed like such a happy person. My friends called me ‘Giggles,’ but deep down, it was such a tough pain – it became a physical pain. Only after I made myself a better person and faced my darkness did the smiles and laughter become real. I decided to try and help myself in any way I could. I went to the library and got self-help books and tried self-diagnosing myself. I was going to college for psychology, so I tried applying the things I was learning to myself.

“Mental health is so important, and I realized that I was hiding from what happened. I never faced the darkness. The darkest part of my life was from 5 years to 8 years old, I was sexually molested multiple times. I kept the guilt and didn’t say anything because I was told not to. I was told I would get in trouble if I spoke up. It followed me and I carried that with me. I was angry. I was an angry teenager at my parents because I felt like they should have done a better job to protect me. My daughter took me out of the darkness. Once I understood what happened to me, I wanted to make sure that never happens with her. That was the biggest turning point for me. I needed to be a better person for her so she could have a good role model. I had to be the strength that she needed. She saved me.

I want people to never give up on their dreams. It is possible. You have the ability to fly, just by different means. Maybe you can’t be Superman, but you can be a pilot.

“Eventually, after having my daughter and getting insurance, I was able to find a therapist. I still have moments, but they’re not so dark anymore. Now I realize I’m allowed to have a bad moment because I’m human. Knowing how to get out of that moment and situation is so important. If what happened to me didn’t happen, then I wouldn’t be equipped with the knowledge that I have now to share with not only my daughter, but everyone. Life happens for you, not to you.

“Since then, I have been doing as much as I can to try and help others. I wrote a children’s book called ‘Superhero Within Me.’ My daughter, Isabella, had such a large part in this story and truly inspired it. She would ask me to read bedtime stories, and then I started making up my own, but I incorporated this one superhero that she would pretend to be with my niece. She would ask me to keep telling her the same story, so I started writing it down until it turned into a book. I couldn’t find an illustrator that I connected with and as my daughter got older. I realized she loved drawing, so she ended up illustrating the entire book. She was so passionate about it, and it was a great bonding experience for us.

“The book is about the abilities we have within ourselves. It follows a character that my daughter created and used to pretend to be. The character, Uni, has a passion for being a superhero and eventually becomes an FBI agent. I want people to never give up on their dreams. It is possible. You have the ability to fly, just by different means. Maybe you can’t be Superman, but you can be a pilot. I really hope people don’t ever give up on their dreams. Even as adults, we all have that little child within ourselves and those passions we’ve carried. We should never give up on things we enjoy, like dancing or singing, or anything that makes us happy and gives us joy. We need to hold on to that. The combination of being a mom and finding something that I loved, photography, has helped me along the way.

There is always hope and a gleam of light. When you find it, hold on to it because it gets a little bit brighter the more you focus on it.

“I have nieces and nephews who come to me when they need to talk, and I love making other people happy. If I can make someone happy or change their life, then that’s literally priceless. Whenever someone talks to me about their problems, I know I was put there at that moment for a reason – to be that person that I didn’t have when I needed it. I want to be that hope for someone else. The first thing I did after healing is that I called the suicide hotline again. This time, I volunteered with them. Having those kinds of conversations with people who needed my help was my way of giving back and to not hold it against the hotline. I understood why they weren’t there for me and why they couldn’t answer my call – they didn’t have enough volunteers.

“It’s just a broken system, not enough people to help. And if you are able to find help, if you don’t have insurance, you can’t get it. I recently created GoSinergy, which is a place where students can get mentored and get direction on their life and career goals. It focuses on academics, but it’s also just a place for them to talk about anything they want with a mentor. I want them to provide a safe space to help guide students.

“About a year ago, I had to explain to my daughter why I didn’t want her sleeping over at people’s houses. I am very protective of Isabella, and I do let her hang out with her friends, but I don’t allow sleepovers. I didn’t tell her my full story, but I wanted her to be aware that bad things can happen. She’s still young, but it’s important to have open conversations and I hope parents take that from my story.

“I want kids to know that if something bad ever happens, that it is never their fault, and they are never in the wrong. I hope people know that everything is momentary. I don’t want anyone who is going through a tough situation to think, ‘This is the end.’ There is always hope and a gleam of light. When you find it, hold on to it because it gets a little bit brighter the more you focus on it. My daughter is what pulled me through. Everything that I needed when I was younger, I put into the person I am today to be that for my daughter.”

‘I’m trying to break that bubble in the suburbs. Hip-hop culture. Graffiti culture. All that visual language. You don’t have to be afraid of that. That’s not going to make your neighborhood dangerous or anything.’

Baldwin

“I’m a Long Island guy. I don’t claim to be from anywhere else. I graduated from Baldwin and from a kid, ‘Subway Art’ and ‘Aerosol Art’ and all those books, when those came out, I literally just looked at them all day long and studied them.

“I never cut class or anything because I just would sit in class and draw. I didn’t take any notes, but I remembered everything. Even when I paint now, I don’t listen to music. I just put on a podcast, or I run a show over and over because I soak up everything while I’m drawing and painting.

“I went to art school and tried to get jobs after I graduated and just got really deflated. I felt very rejected because I didn’t do the right thing in school as far as the right internships and independent studies. I just did the classes and then I was out running around the city because it was something completely new to me.

“I’m trying to break that bubble in the suburbs. Hip-hop culture. Graffiti culture. All that visual language. You don’t have to be afraid of that. That’s not going to make your neighborhood dangerous or anything. Actually, it makes businesses thrive.

The stigma that comes with ‘graffiti art’ is because they hear the word ‘graffiti’ and don’t hear the word ‘art.’

“That word has a negative connotation because ‘graffiti’ is illegal, right? There are tons of graffiti-style stuff but those are productions. And there are a lot of illegal graffiti artists out there that do that too because they will evolve to that.

“I’m not a saint but I’m not a full-blown vandal. I like the funky or the prettier stuff. But the stigma that comes with ‘graffiti art’ is because they hear the word ‘graffiti’ and don’t hear the word ‘art.’ That’s the struggle to get the older generation to realize that if we introduce this to Long Island, your property value is not going to decline.

“People are commissioning me to paint more of my style and I don’t have to bend so much. I do it because I got to make a living and I love what I do. It’s the only thing I can do. I’m going to be painting for the rest of my life, but the goal is to eventually have full creative control.

“I feel like I’ve been on the cusp for the last couple of years. COVID surely threw a wrench into things. I’ve lost some people relatively close to me. That was difficult to deal with, but we stayed positive.”

‘My passion for ‘Harry Potter’ has helped me see the magic in everyday life. It has also allowed me to share that magic with my students, who now get to go on the same adventures.’

Baldwin

“I instantly connected with the ‘Harry Potter’ series because I loved the fantasy aspect of it. When I was 9, I picked up the first book and couldn’t put it down. It’s adventurous, plus I identified with Hermione. It escalated into something more when I was in high school. I would plan midnight showing parties of the films with my friends. I started listening to a Harry Potter podcast and would frequent Mugglenet.com. I found people online who would want to talk about the series, so we would chat on Skype.

“I started listening to cool Wizard Rock groups like Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys. I went to Terminus, my first Harry Potter convention, in 2008 in Chicago. (I brought my dad with me because I wasn’t old enough to be at the hotel by myself!) I also went to LeakyCon in Boston and the NYC Wizard Rock Festival in Brooklyn, which is exactly as dorky as you would imagine. A big theme throughout the books is the power of love and friendship, along with trying your best and not doubting your own abilities.

A big theme throughout the books is the power of love and friendship, along with trying your best and not doubting your own abilities. As an educator, I realize that those are values that can easily be transferred to the classroom.

“As an educator, I realize that those are values that can easily be transferred to the classroom. I love being able to introduce students to ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ because it obviously made an impact on my life. I have used Harry Potter as a behavior management system in my English classes. I have the four house flags and divide the students into houses. Participation and critical thinking allows them to earn points, while disruptions deduct points. Students encourage each other to behave and participate. I dress up and bring props like a Mirror of Erised and a mechanical sorting hat. I put students on a stool and they wear the hat to get sorted.

“When McGonagall gives her big speech, I wear a robe and practice my Scottish accent. I even have a small Harry Potter lightning bolt tattoo because it has had significant meaning to me for the past 20 years. My passion for ‘Harry Potter’ has helped me see the magic in everyday life. It has helped me make connections with people around the U.S. and find common ground with them. It has also allowed me to share that magic with my students, who now get to go on the same adventures.”