Terrell Wright

Andre T. Wright is a Professional Life Coach, Community Activist, and Co-Founder of Thinking Black Men Of Providence, LLC. who lives in Providence, Rhode Island with his wife and two children.

Early Life:

Andre was born on January 10, 1982; one of the coldest days on record in Chicago, Illinois history to father Clifford Wright and mother Diane Smith (Wright). They later wed on the same day in 1983.

Andre's life started out in the least desirable ways. At the age of 2, Andre’s father who had a history of domestic violence & a documented history of psychotic mental illnesses decided to take him away from his mother who had her own history of using crack cocaine. It was later discovered that Andre has two older brothers whom his mother had from a previous relationship, who took witness to the dramatic experience that separated them.

Andre’s father in a fit of anger, proceed to pistol-whip his two older brothers after an argument with their mother. During the chaos, Andre’s father took hold of him and held a loaded pistol to Andre’s head as his mother screamed in fear that he would kill him if she didn’t follow his directive. Andre’s mother and 2 brothers left the home to call for help at a neighbor's house. When police arrived at the scene, Andre’s father had left the home with him, which would be the last and final encounter between Andre and his mother as she passed away on May 21, 2007. His father filed for divorce in 1985 and was awarded full custody.

Childhood:

Andre spent the next several years with his father as they bounced around from home to home, staying with different women and family members. His father wed a total of 3 times during this, which each ending with him filing for divorce. In 1987, his father would go on to have a relationship with a woman who was a lunch monitor for Chicago Public Schools. In 1988, his father moved him, the girlfriend and two of her daughters to the rural township of Pullman, Michigan. Up until the move, Andre had a great relationship with the girlfriend but once the move was complete, she became very abusive to him both verbally and physically. This continued until Andre was taking away from his father by Allegan County Children Services. Andre later found out that her years of abuse to him was due to his father chose not to bring along her oldest daughter when they relocated to Pullman. As Andre had to now deal with the abuse from father’s girlfriend, his father's abuse became unmanageable.

Childhood Abuse:

Andre’s father would wake him in the middle of the night with beatings with extension cords and 4x4 pieces of wood as a small child. The worst of his father's abuse came when Andre was just 8 years old. After feeling competently desperate and wanting to escape the abuse at home, in the Spring of 1990, Andre went to school and stole money from his teacher's wallet. His reasons were not known to anyone at the time but 28 years later after being reunited with that teacher, Andre reviled his reason which was to buy a Greyhound bus ticket to escape his father and step mother’s abuse. Andre was caught red-handed and the money was returned, but Andre knew the worst was yet to come.

Later that night, his father gave Andre the worst of his beating by repeatedly hitting him with a socket wrench and an industrial electric cord. Andre suffered a broken arm, bruised ribs and had multiple lacerations all over his body. Andre's eyes where also both black and swollen. His father gave a story that Andre fell out of a tree. The story was not believable to doctors or social workers and without Andre knowing, a child abuse and neglect case was opened against his father.

Adolescent Teenage Years:

The next 3 years got worst as Andre started to run away from home. Before school would let out, Andre would ask to go to the bathroom so he would have a head start to run before the buses came to pick up students. It was later found out that school teachers knew what Andre was doing but not being able to intervene legally, they all felt it was better for him to run away then have to be abused by his parents. When Andre was not at school, Andre spent most of his time in the woods where he often had to sleep and surviving off fruit from local farms that he would ride his bike to miles away, just so he could eat at night. In 1994, the Pullman Elementary School principal and teachers had seen enough and that Fall, Andre was removed from his father and placed into Foster Care.

Being placed into Foster Care did not make life better for him. Andre went through a total of 27 foster homes, 2 detention centers and 4 group homes within a span of 7 years, all across Michigan. Andre was released from foster care at 18 years old. In the year 2001, after receiving an Honorary Certificate Of Completion from Albion High School in Albion, Michigan, Andre dual-enrolled in Lansing Community College & Michigan State University on a grant provided to foster children in Michigan and as well as receiving a partial Track & Field Scholarship from Lansing Community College. At the end of Andre’s 3rd year of college, Andre lost the grant after not being able to keep a 3.5 GPA.

The Big Move To Massachusetts:

After being forced to leave college, Andre was homeless for over an 8 month period. With no family or friends to lean on, Andre stayed nightly in local shelters in Detroit and Battle Creek Michigan while searching for a job.

In 2005, Andre would apply for a job at the Battle Creek Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. It was here he would meet his then mentor, Kevin Tarpley, a former Alderman Of Somerville, Massachusetts who was working there as Program Director. What should have been a 10-minute interview turned into a 2-hour talk session as Mr. Tarpley was very concerned about Andre's living situation. Mr. Tarpley told Andre that he would never have to worry about a place to live as long as he was in his life. He then extended his home to Andre and mentored Andre in politics, public speaking, and showed him the ins and outs about Non-Profit Programming.

in 2006, Andre was presented with the opportunity to move to Massachusetts by Mr. Tarpley. Without second-guessing it, Andre decided to take this offer and packed up and went along for the journey.

Life In Massachusetts:

With the newfound opportunity, Andre settled in fast and soon started working for Children Services of Roxbury, Massachusetts where he served as a ¨House Parent¨ to aging out young teens of the Massachusetts foster care system. Andre excelled at this job and later took on a second job within the organization to work at a Roxbury local homeless shelter where he assisted with the daily up keeping of the shelter and also lead group meetings.

In 2007, Andre switched jobs and became a Head Organizer for the Association Of Community Organization For Reform Now (ACCORN) in Dorchester, Massachusetts. This would be a challenge for Andre as he was now in charge and a voice for the unjust CORI System in Massachusetts. Andre worked very closely with local politicians and then governor, Deval Patrick, which lead to a huge reform for the CORI system in Massachusetts. ACCORN would later file for bankruptcy and closed its doors in 2010.

In 2009, Andre received an opportunity to become an intern for a local Boston radio station, Touch 106.1. Andre started out answering phones and learning the soundboard. Within 2 weeks of working as an intern, Andre was given the opportunity to co-host with another native from Michigan as they filled the airwaves on Saturday nights. Andre later went on to create his own show, “The Midnight Train Express” and gave himself a new radio name, Dartavius The Love Doctor. This gave Andre an opportunity to show his roots of spending a great deal of time in foster care in Detroit, Michigan and listening to Motown R&B. While keeping his love for radio going, in 2010, Andre relocated to Orlando, FL but returned back to Massachusetts in 2013.

Reuniting with Father:

While now settling back into Massachusetts after moving back from Orlando, Andre decided in 2014 that he wanted to become a Professional Life Coach and became certified within that year. In 2015, Andre’s life changed when he was reunited with his father, Clifford Wright who had now become ill and was living as a patient in the VA Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Also to Andres's surprise, he learned he had 9 brothers and sisters that he never knew about.

Andre went to visit his father with his then-girlfriend, Elisa Sequeira (Wright), a Roxbury native and a Boston Public School 2nd grade SEI Teacher, who was also pregnant with their daughter. Andre was able to spend a great deal of time talking with his father that wasn’t laced with fear or anger. Andre and Elisa spent a week in Memphis as well as Blytheville, Arkansas; meeting family on both his father and mother's side. After returning back to Boston after meeting everyone, Andre had made plans to come back next summer but plans changed as his father, Clifford Wright died March 20, 2016.

While it was bittersweet for Andre, with the help of Elisa, Andre was able to let go of things his father had done to him by writing a letter and leaving it in his father's suit jacket that he was buried in. Clifford Wright was buried on March 30, 2016.

Life After Father:

The next 3 years after his father's death, Andre became more motivated to do more for children and families in the inner city of Boston. Andre has created men’s groups, became certified as a personal fitness trainer & yoga instructor, has taken the lead in creating events for local entertainment venues in Boston & surrounding cities. Andre also spent 1 year serving as Vice- President for Boston Charter School, Davis Leadership Academy which at the time was a majority African American student school. Andre & Elisa tied the knot on August 25, 2017, and they now have 2 children. Andre has also become a self-published author and has released two books, The Myths of Single Parenting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. and “Odd-Fish Out! A Guide To Dealing With Toxic People” that are both are on Amazon for purchase

Current Day Living:

Andre continues to serve as a Professional Life Coach & Community Activist and has also transitioned to becoming an Entrepreneur. Andre and his wife and children now live in Providence, Rhode Island. Andre plans on becoming a living example that no matter how hard your past was, you can overcome ANYTHING by putting people in your life that love you, cherish you, and only want to see you do what makes you happy. Along with his wife and children, all serve as owners of several businesses that include, Thinking Black Men Of Providence, Sistas United, and an online streaming radio station; “Full Of Soul Radio” which is Rhode Island’s 1st African American owned and operated station in the State.