All It Takes Is One Person To Believe In You...

Authored by Destiny Evans-Ellis (2025 Phoebes In Philanthropy Scholarship Winner)

In my life, I have had more than one Phoebe, but there is one woman who stands out above the rest. She came into my life when I did not even know I needed saving. Her name is Aunt Keisha, and while she is not my biological aunt, she became family in every sense of the word. She is the woman who helped me find my voice when the world tried to silence it. She is the reason I stepped on my first stage, wrote my first script, and believed that my stories were worth telling.

Aunt Keisha joined our church back in the 90s. She was a college student, only twenty-one at the time, but full of light and boldness. She created the church’s drama and arts department, and that was where I was first introduced to the performing arts. While many kids shied away from the stage, I leaned in. And she saw that in me. She nurtured it. She pushed me when I wanted to shrink. She clapped the loudest when I performed. She spoke life into me, reminding me that I had something special long before I ever believed it myself.

Her presence changed the trajectory of my life. Because of her, I began to write, direct, and teach others to express themselves through art. And even as I have walked through some of life’s most difficult seasons, single motherhood, financial hardship, separation and heartbreak, she has been one of the people who reminded me that I still had a purpose.

As a woman over 30 returning to school, I now understand how rare it is to have someone who not only sees your potential but also walks beside you while you pursue it. I am currently studying Film and Media at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College. I was once months away from graduating at the Art Institute of Atlanta before it closed, forcing me to start over. But women like Aunt Keisha inspired me to get back up, apply again, and believe that it is never too late to begin again.

If I am awarded this scholarship, it would not only help me continue my education it would help me pour into the next generation of women, artists, and dreamers. My dream is to open a performing arts academy and launch a production company focused on storytelling that heals and empowers. I want to mentor girls who feel unseen, single mothers who are rediscovering themselves, and youth with disabilities who need a space to create and be celebrated. I am already making an impact in small ways through community events, actor coaching, and youth mentorship. But this scholarship would allow me to go further, do more, and create something lasting. It would help me become someone else’s Phoebe a woman who shows up, believes in others, and helps them see the light within themselves.

I am proof that all it takes is one person to believe in you at the right time. Aunt Keisha was mine. Now I want to become that for someone else.