The Anthony Reeves Experience

  When I was growing up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas during the 1970s, I literally had no clue of the legacy I was living through.   In my world, an integrated society was the norm but there were remnants of Jim Crow that were still in existence that I had no idea was even there. For instance, in 1981, I attended Southeast Middle School.  At the time, it was for 7th graders only and all of the kids who attended a variety of different elementary schools in Pine Bluff attended this school before being split to two 8th/9th grade schools (Belair and Dial).  As a kid, I was excited about attending middle school and meeting all of these new and different kids. I was aware that Southeast Middle School used to be an ALL BLACK High School.  However, it wasn’t until roughly 28 years later that I appreciated the significance of the school.   According to my mother (Who attended Southeast in the 60s), Pine Bluff had a population surge of African American students....

Back in the mid 1990s, one of my best friends started his own production label.  During that time, he had a female artist he was developing named Crystal.  At the time he was promoting her, he had this great opportunity to enter her into a talent contest.   In an effort to create a ‘look’ for her, he decided she would need some back up dancers.  He knew that I was a ‘stepmaster’ for my fraternity so he asked me to get 4 of my brothers in order to perform as her back up dancers.    Now, in my mind, I had stepped HUNDREDS of times in front of audiences big and small.  I had led shows.  I had taught shows. I had created shows.   I truly felt being a ‘stepmaster’ was natural for me.  However, the idea of being a choreographer for backup dancers for an artist trying to get a record deal was terrifying.  I did it because I wanted to help support my ‘brother from another mother’ in his pursuit.  However, I will admit that I wante...

Have you ever played a card game with a group of people who are ruthless? That was my first experience when I was in my fraternity back in college. I had the opportunity to play cards with my frat brothers and these brothers did not care. They were ruthless. They would shred you psychologically and verbally and did not care about the consequences. But it wasn’t just limited to your opponents. Your partners were also equally ruthless because they expected you not to make any mistakes. And this was my introduction to the thickening of my skin. I’m always amazed by people who keep making references to people who have thin skin because my first thought is that they could never be a part of my organization. But then as I went through and interacted with other friends and other organizations, i.e. other fraternities and sororities, I realized that this was not an uncommon situation. They all experience the same level of brutality and their organizations. And then I started realizing that a l...

Easy but NOT so Easy: Transitioning from business owner to employee 08/16 by The Honorable Anthony Reeves | Work : If you are used to running your own business, going back to being an employee again can be traumatic. In this post, I talk about the trials and tribulations of transitioning back into the workforce. https://theanthonyreevesexperience.blogspot.com/2021/08/dont-abandon-your-brand.html

Back when I was running my own business, I didn’t realize I had a brand.   I had an active website, blog, podcast, Facebook, twitter, and youtube site with all kinds of good information.  I was in a place where I was getting a fairly consistent amount of business from my social media efforts and my digital presence. However, when I decided to close my business, I didn’t realize that I couldn’t just close my brand.  My business had been in digital and real world space for almost 10 years.  What was even more profound was the brandI had created for myself.  I started my blog when I was working for someone.  I started all of my other activities as soon as I started my business. To my surprise, even though I was no longer running my business, I found quite a few people curious about what my next actions were going to be.  In my mind, I thought merely closing my doors to my business meant closing the chapters of my life.  However, I truly underestimate...

  I never viewed myself as a mentor.   I have a notorious habit of keeping information as well as my network of friends and colleagues to myself.  I don’t do this because I am being selfish.  I do this because I have never really believed that I have done anything that warranted any insight.  As such, I have this notorious habit of believing that there is nothing I can contribute because, in my mind, I don’t believe I have done anything special. However, a few years ago, I started having these weird conversations.  I would get these ‘can I pick your brain’ phone calls.  They almost always started the same way.  I would get a text, an instant message or an e-mail asking me if they could run something by me.  In my mind, I’m thinking “Don’t know why you are asking me but ok”.   And then almost EVERY phone call would start off with “I know you’re really busy, thank you for taking the time to talk to me”.   Again, I’m thinking “Dude....

  In the summer of 1989 (the summer after I pledged Alpha Phi Alpha), I returned home to Pine Bluff, Arkansas.   During my youth, every 4th of July, my Grandparents would host a Bar B Q at their home.   During that time, my cousin (and my sister from another Mister as well as AKA soror and one of the coolest persons I know), Latitia, noticed a distinct difference in my personality.   I had always been loud but this summer, I was displaying a greater degree of confidence.   To my surprise, she said to me: “I can see that pledging Alpha was good for you.  You are starting to break out of your shell.” At first, I didn’t know what she was talking about but as I thought about it, she was right. As much as I pride myself in being loud and country, I was very insecure (even though I did a pretty good job of hiding it).   However, pledging Alpha at a different university put me in a very different place.  It forced me to interact with brothers I did not k...

I am often amazed by how easily people want to define what they believe is mentally tough. There are a litany of different things that we get exposed to on a regular basis that we have to make decisions that require us to have to endure certain things. And since we are all built differently and we are all equipped to handle things differently, I’m always a little concerned that it is way too easy to want to vilify someone who does not display a level of toughness at the level that the person believes they should. That’s why I hate the phrase, mentally tough. When I hear the phrase mentally tough, I often wonder if there are some people out there who literally think that that means mentally indestructible. Each of us is unique and how we handle things, view things, and deal with them is equally unique. However, for whatever reason, we live in a world where it is very easy for people to draw an opinion about how someone should handle a particular situation. What’s even more concerning is...