Today we’d like to introduce you to Ernest Morris III.
Hi Ernest, I’m so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I am a Memphian through and through, and just like many of our residents, I have had my share of obstacles, adversities, and traumas that I have had to overcome to become who I am today. I was a witness to and experienced domestic violence and abuse at a very young age. Violence, verbal abuse, and the lack of stability were oh too familiar growing up. After my parents divorced, my life became a reflection of brokenness, and my parental relationships started to dwindle almost immediately. To my mom, I was a reflection of my father, and their problems began to shape my experience as a son to her. It didn’t take long for her to lose patience and a desire to have me around, as I got kicked out of the house at eleven.
I spent most of my adolescent years angry, hurt, and insecure. I also sought love from the wrong outlets, and because I was never taught how to channel or manage my emotions, they often overtook me and led to me causing more trouble for myself. There was a seven-year span of my life where I struggled with sobriety, emotional regulations, parental relationships, loss of opportunity, lack of support, run-ins with the law, and seeing another way of life outside of my experiences that had seemed to have me bound at the time.
At the age of nineteen, something clicked in me. I grew tired of being the total of what happened to me and started to believe that I could be more than what I had experienced. I felt like God had visited and spoken new to me, even though everything was broken and in shambles. I decided to believe what God was showing me and started to pursue him and a new way of living and thinking. Of course, it was more challenging than I had imagined and wasn’t an overnight process. I sometimes failed and struggled in others, but I was desperate for a change. During that time, I didn’t have others who believed in me like I did. I decided I wouldn’t let that hinder me, and I continued pursuing the person I desired to be.
Today, I am proud to say that I have become that person I believed God showed me I could be, plus more. I have overcome my past experiences, faults, failures, and bad choices. I am thankful because it all helped me. What I once felt was unfair was simply a part of the recipe necessary to create the person I am today. It’s just like the bible says when it states what was meant for evil will turn out for your good. The same things that had me trapped, bound, and feeling hopeless are the same things that make me effective in what I do.
My life has been a complete 360-degree turnaround. I am a proud husband and father of three, a college graduate, a former educator and coach, and a proud author and business owner. My company is Elite Engagement Solutions LLC, and my book is “The Art of Engaging with Urban Youth.” Through both, I offer consulting, coaching, and professional development to those working with urban youth in all capacities. I spend my days now advocating for youth who come from similar paths, such as myself, and educating those who serve in youth services positions on ways to connect, engage, and build relationships with the youth they serve. My heart is in this work because if I can take my life and personal and professional experiences to empower someone else and help create safer spaces for youth to grow and become all that God has created them to be, then I feel like my life has served its purpose.
It is fantastic to have been blessed to become such an influence, whether personal or professional, in the lives of youth and those working in youth services. I don’t despise my journey at all because it was what made me. I live my life trying to spread the same love, joy, empathy, and patience I know is needed so that our youth can be awarded the chance to overcome and outlive their traumas and experiences that try to keep them captive and the people who may try to hold them to low standards.
I want to leave a legacy of impacting the lives of others in a life-changing way. I love to help others break free from the limits placed upon them and triumph into becoming all God has called them to be.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When I think of obstacles/challenges, I am reminded of the late great author Langston Hughes when he wrote, and I quote, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.”
I can celebrate who I am today and acknowledge my accomplishments. The truth is, they have yet to come easy or well-supported. I remember when I was nineteen, I started feeling like I could be more than who I was, and I didn’t have to be controlled or limited by my experiences; most of the people around me didn’t believe in me and thought that I would fail before I even tried. I had more hope and determination than support, but it was enough. Of course, unlearning to learn a new way is difficult, so I often struggled, but I eventually found my footing. I remember trying to become eligible again for financial aid in college while, at the same time, trying to weather the storm of a legal case that I had gotten myself into. By the grace of God, I was able to accomplish both. I can recall my reaction when I knew I had to go to jail while everyone in the country was planning to go to Black Beach in Florida. My classmates were rushing through their exams to pack while I was taking my precious time because I was not in a rush to experience a cavity check. I can look back at that time and celebrate graduating with my bachelor’s degree and working hard to pull my GPA up from 1.2 to graduating with a 3.0.
I can go on and on about my challenges, whether parental, emotional, personal, relational, etc. No one was as challenging and promising as when I graduated college, but I couldn’t find employment because I couldn’t pass a background check. I thought my degree would wash away the dirt of my past. It didn’t, but eventually, things turned in my favor and led me to my purpose. At the age of twenty, I was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon. I was toeing the line of difficulty of trying to change while surviving my current situation. Where I struggled to draw a hard line in the sand, one was drawn for me.
Honestly, that arrest scared me. It wasn’t my first encounter or arrest, but it happened when I wanted to improve, and I thought I would lose the opportunity. I was crushed, devastated, and distraught. I am blessed to say that God had other plans, and I was given the chance I needed to make the changes I desired. It was more complicated, though. I made the change, but the shadow followed me for years and would be like a gloomy rain cloud swarming above me every time I pursued an opportunity to better myself. Fast forward a couple of years, and now I am a struggling husband and father trying to provide for my family, but I am still dealing with a ghost from my past, and my family is feeling the effects. Things changed for me in 2019 when the gun laws changed in my state. I became eligible for expungement, and immediately after enduring that process, I was thrust into purpose. I became a teacher, and my life and its challenges immediately started to make sense. All my questions for God became apparent when I started working with you. The challenges I survived became a superpower because it gave me insight into their lives without them telling me. Now, I have a company and product that shares those same powers with others to empower them and advocate for the youth they serve.
Thanks for sharing that. You could tell us more about your business.
My professional background is in education, as I am a former Memphis Shelby County Schools educator. I taught English for four and a half years with the district before starting my consulting firm. I am a full-time educational and youth services consultant specializing in building relationships and increasing engagement with youth, specifically urban youth. My top product, The Art of Engaging with Urban Youth, comes in professional development: direct coaching, program assistance, keynote presentation, seminar, and written form. I created The Art of Engaging with Urban Youth to stand in the gap for the youth who look like me and share some of the same experiences as I do so they could be awarded safe spaces to learn, grow, recover, and become all that God has created them to be. Also, it serves as a tool of empowerment and awareness for educators and other youth service providers. As an educator, the best attribute that allowed me to garner success in my classroom was my ability to relate, provide a safe space, and create a community within each class. I was most noted for the response I garnered from students, the relationships I could foster, and the high level of engagement in my classes. I realized that what came naturally to me wasn’t so natural nor always easy for others, and I wanted to provide a solution for both the service provider and the youth receiving the services. In The Art of Engaging with Urban Youth, I offer seven competencies designed to help build and foster better relationships and increase engagement and buy-in. Through the seven competencies, I address cultural misconceptions, advocate for youth culture and how to relate, the power of the service provider, and how to break through the walls that create distance between us. The Art of Engaging with Urban Youth is my way of assisting in the fight for a promising future for our youth.
When I am not working with adults in youth services organizations, I am working with youth and young adults in the areas of personal and professional development. I offer two different programs one that is non-gender specific , and another that is for young men only. Both consist of a series of topics to take participants through a transformational view and approach to life and development. My last program just wrapped up. I was working alongside of the Career Services Director at LeMoyne Owen College. I was a consultant that came in monthly to work with their students.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
When I think about taking risks, I am reminded of the scripture that states, “Faith without work is dead.” The scripture itself is speaking to taking risks. Sometimes, your faith is the risk and the work you put into something that only you can see or believe at the time. I have started to live by a saying I created and teach others. The saying is, “It’s better to learn how to recover than live with regret. I would instead take a risk on something I believe in and fail than never have tried and be stuck wondering what if. One thing I have learned about taking a risk is that you only really succeed if you stop. If you continue, you will keep getting better and eventually succeed. As far as personal risk, other than the fact of stepping out on faith by leaving a job that I was great at and was consistently paid, to follow my heart and create a consultant company taking those same skills that made me individually great to share with other hoping they would pay lol. My whole life has been about taking risks. It takes when you decide to pursue growth beyond what you were once known for and defy family habits, all because you believe and desire something else for yourself. Love is taking a risk. Pursuing anything that doesn’t come naturally or is uncomfortable is a risk. My advice to anyone would be to go for what you believe and what burns within you. God will not give you a purpose or back it up with a plan and path to bring you into promise. Stay committed to the faith behind your risk. Challenges will occur, but they shouldn’t have the power to break your stride. Remember, it’s better to learn to recover than live in regret!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ernestmorrislll.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/_emthree_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ernest.morrisiii.1
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ernest-t-morris-iii-a383a0296
Image Credits
Telvin Johnson @Say Telvin Production, Neil Stoudemire @Neil LaVon Stoudemire & Lavelz Media Group
