The greatest love we can offer the world is hope. Fayetta Blake, known as Faye to many, has plenty of love to give. As the co-founder of Pathways to Success, she has embarked on her mission to provide hope and love to youth and share this future with the world.
Her story started long before Pathways. With a turbulent, harsh home life as a child, Faye wondered about her purpose. She recalls how she felt then and her doubts. “It was hard for me to understand that I should even love myself,” Faye says. Louder than her self-doubt, Faye’s grandmother’s voice called, a beam of light. She told Faye about the power of knowledge and, more importantly, that she believed Faye was smart enough to learn more. Even through her darkest moments, Faye pushed through, knowing she had more to accomplish.
Faye lived a successful life. To many, her job in a well-paying banking position was enviable. But after supporting her kids and slowing down at work, she wanted more. “I knew I wanted to give back. There are times in your life when while you are climbing up a particular rung, you still don’t have a good feeling about who you are. You just know there is something else you should be doing.”
A new chapter began for Faye. She had weathered her trauma but not forgotten its dark roots. She knew she wanted to change that fate for others. She decided to co-found Pathways to Success, an organization working with youths in settings similar to hers.
This is how her path crossed with Matt Haley. She met him through a friend who connected them because of the work she did. When she first met Matt, she didn’t realize it was a business meeting and instead wanted him to be genuine when he spoke to her Pathways kids. Faye laughs as she remembers how Matt laughed. She was meeting with someone who could engineer remarkable benefits and she asked him to be genuine. Their stories intertwined further. He played a strong role at Pathways, was part of the kids’ lives there and visited often. Faye says that after winning a major award in his field, Matt turned down interviews and meetings that night to hang out with the kids instead.
Faye believes that her contribution will leave the world a better place, a goal she shared with Matt. She thinks about the change she has fostered and remembers her youth. Youngsters who are lost yearn to be seen and loved. Faye recalls her hard childhood and wants to change that for youth through Pathways. She has created an opportunity to be seen and valued. She reached into the lives of the youths she works with and told them that they were enough for her. This echoes her advice as she reminds people who want to find their spark, to pursue something bigger than they are, “The world could very well be changed by whatever you have given in your sphere.”
