By Jessica L. Dupree
“We wanted to make sure that we honored everybody and that we come together as sisters and we just love each other. It’s one thing to go after your dream but it’s another thing to help your kids go after theirs”
Multi-hyphenate Entertainment Executive, Poet, and Real Estate Agent Markeisha Darden has many reasons to celebrate her accomplishments in life, her career, and motherhood. As a manager for Jayla Darden, Tay B and management team for Andra Day, Head of Client Relations for The Purple Agency and Co-Founder of the 1st Annual Inaugural Mom Honors – Darden lives up to her motto “Faith Moves Only, No Fear.”
Roughly one year ago, Darden, alongside her business partner Phylicia Fant joined forces with Simone King of the modern moms club to help curate a brunch to celebrate Moms in Music. The two of them said to themselves, “You know what, what about all the other moms, the auntie moms, the everyday moms, the executive moms, the regular moms – all the moms that just work hard period.” Fast-forward one year later, the two executed the 1st Annual Inaugural Mom Honors event. A distinguished event that they co-founded to celebrate the joys of Motherhood.
Held at The Sun Rose at the Pendry Hotel, attendees included Whitney Alford (wife of Pulitzer-prize winning rapper Kendrick Lamar), Adrienne Banfield-Norris (mother of Jada Pinkett), Singer-songwriter Andra Day, Fashion Consultant and Entertainment Executive Eula Smith and many more.
The prestigious celebration highlighted the remarkable achievements of mothers in the industry, gathering influential members of both the community and the industry alongside fellow moms and friends to honor and appreciate their outstanding contributions. Going beyond being a memorable occasion, the Mom’s Honors serves as a platform to express gratitude and admiration for the incredible mothers who inspire us with their journeys and accomplishments.
The crowd cheered enthusiastically as she approached the stage in her purple two-piece outfit. She gracefully spoke on the subject matter of Motherhood while expressing gratitude and thanksgiving for her tribe over and throughout the years. “It takes a whole village to raise kids. Trust and believe me, I know. I’m thankful for my village,” she told the audience.
“… we wanted to make sure that we honored everybody and that we come together as sisters and we just love each other. It’s one thing to go after your dream but it’s another thing to help your kids go after theirs and I know this for sure because I used to do Open Mike nights in Detroit where I’m from. I used to do Open Mic Nights, I used to do poetry all the time, I used to write all the time and then I started investing in my daughters’ dreams – Jeniyah and Jayla,” she shared.
As a mother of two talented and highly educated daughters, one of her greatest accomplishments is having raised children who are hard-working, loving, and living out their lives with the faith and inspiration she instilled in them. Her first-born daughter Jayla Darden is a Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, producer and engineer while her second born daughter Janiya Crumbley is set to graduate this summer with a Bachelor’s degree in Education – this will be her third degree. “I’m so proud of them,” she told the audience with deep gratitude and joy.”
She admits that it took a lot for her to put herself back to invest in them [her daughters] but these days she’s getting back to writing a little herself. The poet who once headlined Open Mic Nights did not leave the podium without orating a powerful poem that she wrote to inspire every mother and woman in the audience. “I wrote something for all you beautiful ladies that’s here today,” she said before she delivered the powerful, inspirational poem titled Mom Honors.
“We choose this day to honor you/ Not only for being a mom but for being a super human too/ From IVF treatments to surrogates/ To having a baby naturally/ From C-Sections to adoptions to vaginal deliveries/ From carrying a child to term to loving one as an auntie with mommy concerns/ We honor you/ From miscarriages to stillbirths/ From never being pregnant but raising kids to know their worth/ We honor you…”
For more information about Markeisha Darden, Follow her on IG @inspire1st.
