Jessica Rivera | One Year Later

Video Credit: Kevyn Tapia

Meet Jessica Rivera! Jessica began her journey at TFD in Spring of 2021, the very first mentorship! She has always had an interest in photography, which is a skill she began to greatly develop during her mentorship. Jessica continues to do photography and work on her creative skill sets through her church and has some big opportunities coming up! We are so excited to see how she has grown over this past year and for the great things ahead!

Photo Credit: Jasmine Lopez

Building A Brand

Everyone knows of someone who owns their own brand but have you ever thought about how they formed it? We just started our fifth week of mentorship that all about branding. Our board President Deon Bonaparte of Agency Evolve, led his 4th workshop with TFD on “How To Build A Brand".” Deon went over the steps on how to build your brand with three steps: build the foundation, brand strategy, and a business plan. The most important information that our mentees learned was to clearly articulate what they want their brand to be, look like, and feel. Deon left the mentees with a quote from Walt Disney. “Walt Disney was asked, “How do you feel on your deathbed knowing that you will not be able to see Disney world come to life?” Walt Disney replied “I already have”. You need to understand your brand before you start it.” We are so appreciative of our Board president and cannot wait to welcome him back during our Summer mentorship!

Photo Credit: Mariah

A Day Full Of Creatives

Today was an eventful day at TFD! We had two past mentees come back to lead worships for our new mentees, and it was amazing to welcome them back.

In the morning, Amanda from Amanda Leon Calligraphy came in to lead a calligraphy workshop. She provided the mentees with hand-written packets designed by herself! They used markers to trace and draw their own letters. Everyone was involved and engaged during her workshop and they loved having Amanda here!

Afterwards, Dulce came in for a Procreate 101 workshop. She taught mentees how to create a design in the app, Procreate. Everyone then played a game where each team came up with 3 words, then they passed the iPad throughout their group. Without talking, each person added to the drawing. Jordynne and Jocelyn won unanimously for their National Women’s Month drawing! Sandra then taught everyone how to digitize the drawings they created. It was a fun and eventful day and we are so grateful for everything accomplished so far!

A Trip To ReUse Depot

Don’t you just hate how building supplies get tossed into landfills? ReUse Depot prevents this from happening. We recently visited ReUse Depot once again for our mentees to practice their photography skills! It was amazing to see our mentees put all that they have learned about photography to use, as well as meeting the store cats! We also learned about Maywood’s original Firetruck. The Firetruck pictured above was a World War II Firetruck that was donated to Maywood. This means that at some point between 1943-1980’s this Firetruck was in our Firehouse! We love learning about the history of our community, especially about our Firehouse. We can’t wait to visit again!

Photo credit: @mariah_julianna_

Photoshoots & Fun

In today’s mentorship, our mentees held photoshoots for their products! They accomplished so much in a short period of time and are nearing the end. This is another big step in the process. The mentees took their own headshots and product photos for their websites. Some mentees even brought in models to showcase their hard work. All of the photos are turning out great and creative! There’s still a bit more to get done before the brands and websites are completed but it will be done before they know it! We are so proud of our mentees here at TFD and all they have accomplished in their time here!

Photo Credit: Mya Rose