My paver was supposed to be engraved in memory of my grandmother, Telitha Francis, who nurtured and believed in my talent from a very young age.
As a small child, she used to make me recite the stories of the Bible to her, as she laid across the couch, smoking a cigarette. When I would mumble, or speak quietly, she would bark out in her husky smooth voice, "Enunicate and project!" She made me tell the story; feel the story, and instilled a love of performing in me.
I went to SMU for Acting, and she supported me pursuing that dream. She passed away the summer before my senior year, and never got to see me graduate. I was her first of many grandchildren to earn a college degree, and I know she would have been so proud of all of us.
Even though I no longer perform, and have moved to the creating content for television, all of her lessons about clarity of language and projection of creative ideas will live on in every series and film I help bring to the small screen.