Salone - Part 2 - A Generation Without Labels

My last post spoke of labels placed on individuals simply because of a general impression of their demographic. “I meet a vanguard of people who see labels as other people’s problems.  These individuals baffle the label makers, leaving them in a guilt-tinged quandary... and sounding rather mechanical.”   

My family and I came to know Salone completely by chance.  My daughter, Aijalon, and I were sitting in a coffee shop.  I tried to have some quality daughter father time but all Aijalon talked about was someone using a particular video editing application and everything being done with it.  I could not figure out just how Aijalon saw all that detail through the glare.  A lot of light came through 20 to 30 linear feet of glass on 2 sides of the shop.  Finally I said. “Stop staring.  Go ask.”   Salone sat diagonally from us on the far side of the shop. The next thing I know, I was loading equipment and stands in the back of my Tahoe in preparation for a video shoot.   

She gave us a blue business card that read Property Management not film editor.  There were no negatives in the fact that she pursued seemingly divergent areas.  Her long term business goal remains to own a production company.  Entrepreneurial sense, eye for talent, running multiple enterprises simultaneously, building business relationships beyond her “demographic” environment, and just down right push, just like every other person, Salone labels herself by her actions. 

That label is entrepreneur – business woman, performer, fitness trainer.  Her entrepreneurial path came through her family, particularly, her father and grandmother.  She grew up in Savannah Georgia.  Much her time was spent around Anderson Street near downtown.

Both of her parents worked and family provided daycare for Salone and her youngest sister.  “Dad always had a 9-5 and another business.”  Her father drove a truck after his “day” job.   He came in for sleep and went back out to work for Chatham Area Transit.  He physically could not do it anymore after many years.  But, there were other endeavors.  This included a real estate partnership with Salone. 

Her grandmother was a business woman and sheer force of nature.  She owned a store that sold peanuts on Martin Luther King Blvd. in Savannah, Georgia. The store became a bit of a hangout for family members.   The grandkids bagged the peanut.  At one point, she went mobile of the “peanut trail” and sold products out of a station wagon.  Grandmother paid the kids.  $20 dollars in the early to mid 90s for 7 or 8 year old, “That was a lot of money to me!”          

Salone, now 29, sought her first business loan at 22 years old.  Her first attempt was denied.  Currently, her main business is SalFit and Associates which provides personal training, fitness products, nutritional guidance, and other dance oriented fitness like Zumba.   She is developing a web-based fitness platform as well.

As we spoke about all of this and her current path, her face helped tell her story.  It moved from one smile to the next.  Her eyes rarely diverted.  I wondered about her path.  With her family’s businesses and early entry onto the business world by choice, how did performing arts come about?  So I asked.  From the photos below, what do you think she said?

Read Part 3

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