MOMentum Moms: Sherry Bryant

By Stacy Nicolau

Talking to July’s MOMentum Mom, Sherry Bryant, we realized that we have a lot in common. We both are raising teenagers. We both like helping our community. We both got college degrees in helping professions. We both just survived remote learning and working from home while quarantining with our families.

How we got to this point in our lives couldn’t be more different. I was raised in the south as a daughter of white Jewish Americans. Sherry was raised in South Florida as a daughter of Black Haitian immigrants. I have followed a life path that was very much expected of me: college, career, family, and achieve a lifestyle similar to or better than my parents’. The same was expected of Sherry. 12 She considers herself blessed that, with her parents guidance, she has managed to be the first in her family to reach these goals.

Sherry met her high school sweetheart Stanley Bryant in 2000 while they were both students at Naples High School. They married in 2002 and started building a family while both studied at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. They returned to Naples in 2006 to move closer to family after having their second child and so that Stanley could accept the position offer as a Naples High School teacher and coach.

After spending several years as a social worker, Sherry chose to take a step back and do both paid and volunteer work for local nonprofits so she could spend more time raising her sons. Her first volunteer opportunity was with Project Help Naples, followed by NCH, and then Hope for Haiti after she lost family members in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Sherry and Stanley (now a Collier County Public Schools assistant principal) live in Naples with their sons, Stanley III (16) and Isaiah (14), along with their Maltese dog Chanel. The boys currently attend their parent’s alma mater, Naples High School. She laughs that they have been blessed with another son, due to be born in October.

Sherry also has started her own digital lifestyle platform called GirlTalkTV and the nonprofit Girl Talk Project, currently awaiting 501(c)(3) status.

We met up with the Bryant family on Father’s Day weekend between a fishing excursion and a family golf outing. Even though the weekend was all about Dad, the men dutifully dressed in coordinating outfits for the photos, no doubt out of respect for their mother’s wishes. They teased her about their upcoming golf game and whether she would be able to swing a golf club with her growing baby belly bump, now 24 weeks along. They waited patiently while we took photos of Sherry alone and while she talked to us. Obviously proud of her family, Sherry was beaming.

Tell us about growing up in Florida.

I was born and raised in the harder parts of Broward County. Both parents are immigrants from Haiti, who each worked two jobs. My father worked in construction and my mother worked service jobs. Their work ethic continues to inspire my younger brother and me. In 1996, my freshman year of high school, my father got a promotion within his job and purchased a home in Naples. This was a monumental point in our lives. We went from living in the ghetto, moving from apartment to apartment every few months, to Golden Gate City in Naples.

Tell us about your experience growing up in South Florida compared to SWFL.

Growing up in the ghetto of South Florida our neighborhood was tough, filled with gang violence and poverty. There was a constant struggle for my parents to provide, but my neighborhood also consisted of strong Caribbean men and women with a strong sense of culture, pride, and community. My parents often reminded us where they came from, their struggles to get to America and to provide for us, and their dreams for us to break the cycle of poverty and obtain a higher education. We were also reminded how some white people viewed us or treated us because of the color of our skin, and not to allow that treatment to deter us from achieving success.

Tell us about your community involvement and GirlTalkTV.

I majored in social work because I wanted to help people overcome difficult challenges in their life. My first volunteer job was with Hope for Haiti after I lost family members in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. I started GirlTalkTV as a lifestyle brand to not only talk about fashion, beauty, health, etc., but also to curate fun local events, partnering with local charities to fundraise for important community causes. In the past I’ve curated events benefiting local nonprofits such as Make-a-Wish SWFL, Left: July MOMentum Mom Sherry Bryant is six months pregnant, and due with her third son in October. Above: The Bryant Family (L-R), Stanley Jr., Sherry, Stanley III, and Isaiah. Photos by Lisette Morales.

Top photo: July MOMentum Mom Sherry Bryant is six months pregnant, and due with her third son in October. Above: The Bryant Family (L-R), Stanley Jr., Sherry, Stanley III, and Isaiah.

Photos by Lisette Morales

Bosom Buddies, Dress for Success, PACE, and most recently created a scholarship for a deserving Naples High School student, through my soon-to-be nonprofit The GirlTalk Project.

Tell us about quarantine in the Bryant home.

Before quarantine I was planning a fashion show with local partners to showcase local businesses and to raise funds for a scholarship to benefit a Naples High student. We canceled the event due to COVID-19 so I spent the first half of my quarantine issuing refunds while still fundraising. My boys are competitive by nature so naturally when e-learning began they were eager to outdo one another. Most days my oldest son got the best of my youngest by getting up by 7 a.m. The toughest part of their quarantine was not doing their team sports. We also run a tight ship, even more so now with Principal Bryant at home. The rule was no video games until school, chores, and at-home physical workouts were done.

What is it like being pregnant during a pandemic?

It’s scary. I’m very much quarantined and cringe when I have to go out, especially to the grocery store. My husband does much of the shopping and errands. As far as cleanliness, I’ve always had a strict hand-washing and shoes-off routine in my home. No germs or viruses allowed in the Bryant household.

How have you talked to your children about racism and what has been happening since George Floyd's death?

Most Black parents have race discussions with their children starting at a young age to prepare them for the realities of the world we live in today. Black parents have to prepare their kids for possibilities such as that they may have to behave differently than a white person when pulled over by a police officer, that they may be treated differently in schools, that they may be bullied because of the color of their skin, or may be discriminated against. Black parents have to prepare their children to deal with social settings such as schools and jobs differently. The conversation is ongoing in many Black homes probably more so now with what is happening, and my teenage boys are fully aware.

How did your parents talk to your brother and you about racism when you were growing up?

My parents educated us on racism through their life experiences and always answered whatever questions we had growing up. They taught us to stay focused on the bigger picture when dealing with racism. For our home, that bigger picture – ingrained in me daily as the oldest child – was getting a higher education. There was a time my mother sent me to a public Catholic school because then she believed that it was the best education, and I was bullied for being darker, Haitian, and having an accent. When incidents occurred, my mom would respond by asking me: “Do you still have your teeth; did you learn anything today?” Or “What prayers did you learn today? If you can take the punch and it doesn’t kill you, fight back a better way.”

What conversation did you have with your oldest son when he got his driver’s license?

To be respectful to law enforcement if pulled over, call us instantly, pin drop your location, and then start to record with your phone. Video recording has been a key factor in exposing racist or otherwise inappropriate law enforcement behavior. There are many wonderful police officers in the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, some that I have the honor of calling friends. But history has also shown there are police officers that do not demonstrate proper police ethics.

Explain how you have supported the BLM movement.

The Black Lives Matter organization was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, an adult white male who was on trial for killing Trayvon Martin, a Black teenage boy. The organization’s purpose is to fight for equality and justice. While I’m not an official member of the organization, I share the mission. The hashtag and phrase “Black Lives Matter” was created to help further the purpose and bring awareness to racial injustices and to make the point that the lives of Black people are just as valuable as other races. For more than 400 years Black people have not been treated equally. The BLM movement is the result of today’s generation of young people standing together and exclaiming that “enough is enough.” I’ve been extremely proud of people of different races who have joined the movement to help with changing how Black people are treated in America. To be a part of the movement, I’ve used my GirlTalkTV platform for social media activism, including social media posts and hosting live interactive conversations. The response has been tremendously supportive. One of the most important things that this has done is allow people from various backgrounds to have a conversation and listen to one another in a nonjudgmental environment.

How do you respond after seeing your social media friends and followers post racist or anti-BLM comments?

The beauty of social media is the ability to hit the unfollow button. That’s what I’ve done in many cases when I have come across social media friends who post racist comments or anti-BLM comments. Those whom I consider to be my closest friends, I have initiated talking with them about understanding racism, BLM, and the protests.

Are you hopeful that things will change in regard to racism, inequality, and social justice?

Yes, I’m extremely hopeful. Back people in America are not asking for the impossible. We’re all taught at a young age to do what is right, treat others as you want to be treated, respect your peers, and to be fair. We’re beginning to see significant change in policy, which is a major factor for sustaining change. Hopefully we’ll continue to see change. More white people are listening, learning, and uniting in the fight for equality. We want our boys to be given the same opportunities, and as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, to “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”