"Hi Precious" Scholarship
We're helping to break down social, racial, and political barriers and offer female and transgender individuals the opportunity to gain advanced technical training and management skills in funeral service.
In 2018 NXT Generation Mortuary Support was featured on the cover of American Funeral Director Magazine. This was the proudest moment of my career. Shortly after this cover story ran I began to receive hate mail in my inbox from a group of so-called “professionals.” The hate mail and derogatory instant messages in my Facebook messenger were followed by a two-month-long cyberbullying attack in professional chat rooms. The harassment didn’t stop there. My business eventually began to suffer as this group of “haters” attempted to discredit my life’s work and also harass one of my business partners. The harassment became so much so that my business partner was being harassed in the middle of the night and threatened. It was a humiliating experience for me as I was also being sexually harassed online and threats were made against my well being. I felt so threatened that I choose not to attend our year’s largest funeral convention which I was lucky enough to win a free registration to. I was terrified of the threats I was receiving and feared that I may be harmed or have my drink poisoned. One man went so far as to sexually harass me in a public chat room. So much attention was brought to the harassment that the image of me he used was highlighted on a death industry podcast.
Many of my colleagues that witnessed the harassment urged me to fight back and many were affected by my experience. The podcast did shed some light on how women in funeral service are exposed to sexual harassment in a male-dominated field, however, I decided to take action my own way by seeking legal counsel and by founding this powerful declaration that embodies the empowerment of women and people who face discrimination and harassment. The man who sexually harassed me addressed me as “Hi Precious.” Instead of engaging with the cyberbullies, I set up this scholarship to help other minorities in funeral service reach a high level of success. To date with the donations, we have raised to battle sexual harassment, racism, political and social barriers have offered over 70 women (many of color) opportunities for advanced education giving them personal self-worth, technical skills, and management training. To this day I have no idea why I was harassed and my business was attacked. The only thing I can assume is that the attacks were due to my race and gender. If you support our efforts, please, I urge you to donate any amount to the scholarship. Thank you!
Apply to our Scholarship
You must be a student of an accredited college of mortuary science, hold an active intern license or hold an active Embalmers/Funeral Director’s license, and be actively employed in the funeral industry. Female funeral home owners and managers are encouraged to apply.