TITLE: "ROOTS OF GREATNESS" 🎓 In the heart of New Orleans, where the streets buzzed with the sounds of jazz and the smell of Cajun spices filled the air, lived a boy named Malik Johnson. He was the youngest of three siblings, raised by a single mother, Lorraine, who worked two jobs—cleaning houses during the day and waiting tables at night. Their home was a two-room apartment in the Magnolia Projects, with peeling paint and unreliable heat, but it was filled with love, resilience, and dreams bigger than the bayou sky. From a young age, Malik was different. He had a curious mind, always asking questions about how things worked. He would sit for hours with broken radios and old watches, taking them apart and trying to put them back together. He didn’t have toys like other kids, but give him a screwdriver and an old appliance, and he’d be entertained for days. His mother noticed his gift early. Despite their struggles, Lorraine saved up for secondhand books from thrift stores and encouraged Malik to study hard. "We may not have much, baby," she would say, stroking his head, "but no one can take your mind from you." School was tough. The underfunded public system didn’t have the resources for a kid like Malik. But one teacher, Mrs. Parker, saw something in him. She stayed after class to teach him algebra and introduced him to the world of science fairs. Malik, with his makeshift inventions—built from scrap—began winning small competitions. He made a hand-powered fan from a soda can and built a water filter using charcoal and plastic bottles. By high school, Malik had earned a scholarship to a STEM-focused summer camp at Tulane University. It was his first real exposure to a college campus, and he was in awe. There, he met mentors—professors and graduate students—who showed him the possibilities beyond his neighborhood. But success didn’t come without setbacks. During his junior year, his older brother was arrested, and Malik almost dropped out to help his mother. It was Mrs. Parker again who stepped in, helping the family find legal aid and reminding Malik of the dreams he was born to chase. He pushed through, graduating at the top of his class and earning a full ride to MIT. Leaving New Orleans was hard, but Malik carried his roots with him—along with every lesson his mother taught him and every hardship he turned into fuel. At MIT, he majored in electrical engineering and computer science. He faced imposter syndrome, racial isolation, and rigorous coursework. But he also found his tribe: a group of Black and Latino engineers who formed a club called “CodeRoots” to support each other. After college, Malik founded a tech startup focused on affordable smart home systems for low-income families—technology that could reduce energy costs and improve safety in underserved communities. Within five years, his company was valued in the hundreds of millions, and Malik made sure to reinvest profits into scholarships, mentorship programs, and STEM camps back in New Orleans. One day, standing on stage at a tech summit, he looked out at the crowd and said, “Success didn’t start with a silver spoon. It started with a screwdriver, a single mom, and a dream too stubborn to die.” And in the front row, tears in her eyes, sat Lorraine, clapping the loudest. #storytelling #BLACK