Local Heroes: The Parable Team
Le’Ecia Farmer, Deatria Williams and LaKecia Farmer (left to right), comprise the Parable Team. As proud owners of Parable, their business is a Black/LGBTQIA/family/woman-owned local small business that promotes community building, education, mentorship and advocacy.
Parable sells books, plants, records, artisan products and art from local, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, women and transgender individuals. More than just mixed retail, Parable was created based on knowing that something else is possible.
The dynamic trio wanted to offer their neighborhood a place that would center those with marginalized identities. They wanted people – kids, young adults, families, elders – to walk into their shop and feel like they had stepped into their grandma’s living room. They wanted them to walk into a place where they felt they belonged. A place where they could just be and feel inspired to build a better world.
(Inter)National Hero: Kelvin Doe
Young engineer Kelvin Doe was born in 1996 in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Kelvin taught himself engineering at the age of 12 and built his own radio station to provide music, information and entertainment for his village.
In 2012, Kelvin became the youngest person in history to be invited to the Visiting Practitioner’s Program at MIT in the United States. In 2019, Kelvin also won the MTV Europe Music Generation Change Award.
Kelvin now lives in Canada, where he established the Kelvin Doe Foundation to support underserved youth by connecting them to STEM opportunities.
