Chance meeting could spell success for many
Sunny was not expecting a chance encounter a few months ago while enjoying a summer afternoon on his daughter’s front porch on Leona Avenue. Located in a small urban pocket in Columbus’ Milo-Grogran neighborhood, Leona Avenue is not fancy, and it’s probably not a place where someone would immediately look for a budding entrepreneur.
C. Sunny Martin is the founder of Who’s Who Publishing Company, a firm he led for 25 years, and his many accolades include being named the 2006 Ohio Businessman of Year by the National Republican Congressional Committee and being recognized by former President Barack Obama for showcasing “the positive achievements of AfricanAmericans nationwide.”
On that summer day, Sunny had been thinking about his friends encouraging him to open a formal training facility to mentor start-up entrepreneurs and small-business professionals in Columbus. He’d prayed about it too, asking God for guidance with such a notable undertaking.
While Sunny was contemplating this mentoring role, a young man named Terry “Nunnie” Green was going door-to-door handing out flyers for a stop-theviolence youth summit at the Milo-Grogan Recreation Center. Upon seeing Terry, a 20-something black male whose neck was decorated with tattoos, Sunny instantly assumed he was a thug or a drug dealer.
As Terry began to walk toward the front-porch steps, Sunny thought about his daughter and went into his protective-father mode, sternly telling Terry that he wasn’t interested in anything he was selling. Well, Terry actually was selling something. It was the vision for his organization Think Make Live, which he started in order to counsel “opportunity youth” in the community — those between 16 and 24 years old who aren’t working or in school — about positive life choices, workforce development, and social-justice advocacy.
See, Terry had actually lived the thug life. As soon as his mother was incarcerated, he moved in with his best friend Chaz and his grandmother who was a foster parent. Terry dropped out of high school in the 10th grade and got involved in drug activities to make money for everyday survival. Approximately six months after Chaz was murdered by gun violence, Terry was sentenced to serve a four-year prison term from 2009 to 2013 for drug trafficking and drug possession.
At the age of 20, he walked in the prison gates of Southeastern Correctional Complex without a highschool diploma but with the determination to make a change and live a better life.
Terry shared his testimony with Sunny about refusing to be mentally incarcerated, how he’d received his GED, earned college credits from Hocking College and Ohio State University’s Inside-Out prison exchange program, and returned back to his church home at Refuge Temple Church of Christ. Upon hearing all that Terry had overcome, Sunny made a commitment that day to mentor him and provide him with successful marketing strategies as a solid foundation for Think Make Live.
“What I realized was that most young urban adults are not exposed to many entrepreneur success stories other than those in the entertainment or athletic fields,” says Sunny. “I’ve decided to open an Urban Entrepreneurship Academy in Columbus and house Think Make Live so that Terry can aid the center in recruitment of millennials seeking knowledge to start small businesses.”
With Sunny’s backing, Terry has wasted no time in building professional contacts with community organizations, correctional facilities and universities, and Think Make Live is developing a job-recruitment service that will connect “opportunity” youths to career prospects. Terry has been honored at the local and national level for his work and was recently the keynote speaker at the 6th Annual Restored Citizen Summit, where he was recognized by Gov. John Kasich and the Columbus City Council.
Knowing how it feels to be restored and given a second chance, Terry told his audience that “the greatest quote and wisdom I’ve learned from my mentor C. Sunny Martin is the true definition of L.U.C.K, which is Labor Under Correct Knowledge. You have to work hard under experts who will guide you to the correct knowledge that will lead you into success.”
Terry’s luck was elevated through that chance encounter on Leona Avenue.