Aspiring to
Greatness by Trenace' K. Carter
There is more than meets the eye to seventeenyear-old Ramon Pitts of St. Louis, Missouri. Ramon is the youngest of three children and the only boy born to Rhonda McALister. Speaking to him was like speaking to an old soul. This senior in high school, is ready for the sweet fruits of his innovative labor to come to fruition. Ramon is what I would call a “creative”, he is talented and phenomenal in everything that he sets out to do. Creatives are always up to something. In Ramon’s case, he is up to everything. He is going to live the dream that he has been speaking of since he was three years old. “I am going to be a billionaire and have a butler when I grow up,” Mom indicates she heard these word s time and time again coming from her son. Hearing him speak, I can see that vision happening, and a whole lot more! In speaking to his mother, Rhonda describes her son as a success story. Ramon was diagnosed in 2019 with some mental health issues. Dealing with Ramon’s mental health diagnosis, which includes Major Depression, Rhonda and her son have been faced with some challenges. The challenges do not limit Ramon’s future as a bright and stellar entrepreneur. Together they have found avenues of growth, improvement, and selfcare that diminish the stigma that often comes along with such diagnosis. Rhonda has been an entrepreneur since 2004 and undoubtedly plays an inspiring role in her youngest son’s endeavors to succeed in business ownership. All three of Rhonda’s children are business owners. Ramon established E-Fly in 2019, a brand designated to be the parent company of several businesses that will be launched in the near future. The first business to be launched under the E-Fly brand is Hebi’kuma, a clothing line that he is partnering with another teen to develop. The line will include trendy streetwear that includes shirts, pants, shorts, ski masks, bonnets, jackets, hats, 49