The molecular entity most ALL humans share! Albino? No? Then you have melanin too!
Meet our round table!
Sharon Florita McCreary DeMars
Sharon was born in April 4, 1964 to James LeNard and Shirley Joyce Northcutt McCreary, the youngest of seven siblings. To this day, she absolutely loves being the babygirl! Now she says, she is a 57 year old babygirl!
Sharon attended Scripps Elementary School and the new pilot programmed middle school, Whitney Young. She tested into and graduated from Cass Technical College Preparatory High School, all in her native home town, the Motor City/Detroit! Sharon spent three and a half years at Oakland University, enjoying her love of French, physics and engineering and discovering new loves like child psychology and linguistics. Ever the dreamer, Sharon knew her path from chemical engineering at Cass Tech to computer engineering at Oakland still wasn’t quite hitting the spot. So, SharonStyle, she set off on new adventures.
Post college careers were incredibly life changing for Sharon and each one enhanced her very Sanguine personality and lifestyle. She has very fond memories working with the developmentally disabled, being the office manager and children’s choir instructor at the New Creation Christian Center & Academy where she penned and taught the children original songs as well as incredible classics that they would minister during Sunday morning services once a month.
Summoned to a new life in Virginia by her eldest brother, Micah, who felt God wanted her in Virginia… and after a few years letting that marinate while still in Detroit, working, teaching, ministering and penning her first novel, Sharon finally felt led to venture to Virginia and her awakening /journey continued! She says that she found herself in Virginia… composing original music by the scores, writing poetry and musings, becoming a radio/on-air personality, starting her own publishing company (published 6 authors in one year) and finding her love of marketing via advertising sales for the Contract Companies, under her 3rd millionaire-boss, Frank Livelli, who deeply impacted Sharon with his deep kindness and care for so many, including his 150 employees.
Unforgettable. It was Frank who introduced Sharon to Destin. He would visit the area and go down the coast to Marco Island and bring trinkets back for Sharon and his staff. She Googled Destin while living in Virginia Beach and had a picture of the incredibly clear emerald blue and green water on her desk years before she ever laid eyes on it in person!
After Frank passed away, valiantly fighting cancer til the very end, Sharon found herself first running her own marketing and promotions firm before joining Cox Communications for 8 months. Once again, feeling boxed in and that life just offered to many adventures to stay at Cox, Sharon turned in her two weeks notice, packed up her apartment and headed to Destin, sight-unseen!
Destin! How beautiful. Sharon fondly recalls driving into Destin the Sunday before Thanksgiving, 2008 and feeling like she was driving through a fairy tale. By 2010 Sharon joined the ranks of Harmony Beach Vacations where she brought a myriad of talents and helped profits soar, guests feel so well taken care of and property owners feel comforted that their babies were in good hands. To this day, Sharon counts many of them as her very dear friends and extended family.
In 2016, Harmony extended it’s services as a full time real estate brokerage as well as rentals and Sharon was their very first licensed Realtor! Another amazing journey that has just helped Sharon round out and fine tune her skillset. She continues as a Realtor to this day, with Ben Acock as her Broker. Ben is very special indeed to Sharon. He invited her to join the Leadership Development program when Sharon was hamming it up at the Realtor’s convention in Orlando Florida. Ben also had the honor of marrying Sharon and Basil twice! Once in Cancun while on a real estate cruise and two weeks later at Camp Helen just east of Inlet Beach! Basil. That is a whole new chapter in Sharon’s life… Black and White together. Both former Mensa students, both with huge hearts, both experiencing life as a mixed race couple… both determined to help the world be a better place.
It was the journey from Detroit, to Oakland University to Richmond, Virginia that exposed Sharon to all different kinds of racism. Sharon and her siblings were raised by a very loving mother. She instilled so much faith, caring, love and promise in each of them. Nothing was too much to conquer and everyday was an adventure!
Melanin was born as a movement in Sharon’s heart while living in Richmond and working at the Contract Companies. Her whole life she was baffled by folk who treated her differently because of the color of her skin. It became more pronounced the deeper south Sharon lived.
Finally, one day in Destin, on Sharon’s way to work as a Realtor and Business Development Manager for Harmony, Sharon stopped to grab items for lunch at Publix grocery store in the 30A area. A Caucasian man was in line behind Sharon. He seemed totally off put by her presence. He wouldn’t come up to the register nor put any of his items on the counter until Sharon was totally done, removed her bags and began walking away. Sharon looked back. This was one of many such wild and bewildering incidents Sharon had experienced, and it was the final straw.
When Sharon got to her office, she sat down, fuming, opened her laptop to VistaPrints and created a quick business card of sorts that talked about Melanin... That talked about it being a shared molecular entity between all humans except Albino’s. Sharon had learned that fact after grilling her favorite doctor in Virginia, Dr. Christopher Asuncion who explained that very premise.
This card was cute, pointed and communicated Sharon’s passion to educate the masses in the hopes of eliminating such awful experiences based on a misconception… that somehow folks with melanin fully coursing through their bodies are somehow different. We all bleed red. That was a line in Sharon’s first Melanin poem.
Fast forward a few more years… Sharon felt called to work with Davis Watkins Funeral Homes and Crematory as a Family Services Ambassador. She says it has been one of the greatest honors of her life, to assist families at those very tender moments in preparing to say a final farewell on this side of Glory to a loved one. Sharon began her career with Davis Watkins just before burying her own brother, Timothy Cordell McCreary.
One day, after the George Floyd debacle that cost his life, Sharon was at the Miramar Beach Davis Watkins office. One gentleman that Sharon was assisting stopped by to take care of matters. He and Sharon would talk for hours. This day was at least their second “communion” of sorts. He was from the Philly area. They talked about everything from his dad who had just passed, to his family, her family and then of course, George Floyd. This man, being Caucasian had such curiosity and Sharon had much to share. Incredibly, Sharon had begun carrying the Melanin cards again and shared one. This gentleman was so moved by it, exclaiming that Sharon must do something with them… change the fonts to make them more easy to read and put them on T-shirts after trade marking of course… that she could really help so many understand some of the very basics of humanity, that ALL are created equal!
Although Sharon’s ambitions went comatose after her eldest sister, Lydia Joyce McCreary Mann passed over 20 years ago, it was resurrected with her brother Tim passed. That was Christmas 2018. From that day til now, Sharon has been on a quest… seeking God’s face, prepared to make it happen, and as her marketing cards in Virginia used to say… “helping you make it happen, whatever your unique, divine IT may be…”
This, MelaninDot, is the beginning of Sharon’s divine IT. This project was resurrected the day Sharon talked to the gentle-man from Philly. It was reborn. It is one of Sharon’s Divine purposes. Right here, right now. MelaninDot.
Every experience, every job, every sermon, every mistake, every yucky incident based on skin color, from the race riots in Detroit when Sharon was only 3, having to hide in her bathtub with her youngest siblings, to being bricked on the way back to Oakland’s campus from a walk with friends to the local store, to the co-workers in Virginia who felt they were superior because they have less Melanin coursing through their bodies, to the man in the grocery store in the greater Destin area who wouldn’t approach the counter til Sharon was done… to so many others yucky experiences…
And more importantly, every loving person all over the world, especially those who have less Melanin but still took a knee for George Floyd… every person interested in unity from abolitionists to innocent children, to freedom fighters, to you dear reader… this is it!!!!
It’s time to unite!!! To spread love!!! To understand that we share a common thread… humanity. Red blood. Oxygen. Cells. Organs. DNA. And yes, Melanin!
Sharon’s quest is to help every person breathing understand this concept. That whether we have a tiny bit of Melanin and can barely tan without burning, or just one tiny freckle or age spot to those with so much Melanin that they are the most beautiful blue Black in skin tone, that we are all one. Human. Even the Melanin-less Albino’s are one with all!!!!!!!!!!!! They may be the ONLY humans without Melanin, which is why they are Albino, yet they too are one with us all! We are one. And Sharon is on a Melanin educating quest!!!
Ready? Let’s go!!!
Basil Neal DeMars
Basil. The name itself is as unique as the man. Sweet Basil. A consummate Gentle-man. Sharon often tells Basil he could write a book on what it really means to be a man. Loving. Kind. Gentle to the core. Fierce too. When pushed/prompted.
Basil was born in Odessa, Texas. He was the middle boy, with one older and one younger brother. Basil, always the curious child with an extremely high IQ would sit in class, reading a book during the lesson and would still pass with flying colors. A few of his teachers didn’t like it, most found it quite amusing, especially since he was always at the top of his class.
After a few career paths, the longest being as a professional painter for about 15 years, Basil found the desire to return to school and so he did! Basil enrolled at the University of Texas Arlington and completed his Bachelor’s in Physics. He loved unversity life so much that he accepted a position as an Asset Manager. His quiet, demeanor, attention to detail and ability to solve most any dilemma increased his responsibilities. Basil retired from the University in his early 60’s.
One of Basil’s greatest loves is the outdoors. He shared with Sharon that his favorite description of himself is as a “Rugged Individualist.” Sharon has added, “Rugged, Married Individualist.” This love for the outdoors took Basil on many journeys before joining the university as a student and then staff. One of his favorite places he ever lived is Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Basil will be introducing Sharon to the mountainous beauty of Colorado sometime in the future. His other favorite pastime is cruising and his favorite destination is Curacao. Although he plans to introduce Sharon to that part of the Caribbean too!
Basilpedia. That’s one of Sharon’s nicknames for Basil. His depth of knowledge is simply astounding. Basil is such an intricate part of bringing Sharon’s dreams to fruition. Not only does he oversee the technical and informational sides of operations, he will be the main point person for all logistics.
Like the Loving’s, an interracial couple threatened with jail for marrying each other long ago in Virginia, Basil has one line that Mr. Loving also shared to the Supreme Court Justices, “I love my wife.” Being married to a Black woman has opened Basil’s eyes even more to the injustices that exist over Melanin. He is passionate about educating the masses too!
Mr. DeMars. The ultimate gentleman. And the best husband and business partner a woman could ask for. If Sharon had her way, she would clone Basil, rename each clone and share them with very special women waiting for a very special man!
Dorcas McCreary
Dorcas McCreary was born into a family of professionals, educators, and business owners, in Detroit Michigan in the early 60s. A graduate of Detroit Public Schools and Wayne State University, Dorcas has a bachelors of science in business management and organizational sciences. She has also been certified by the State of Michigan to teach grades K-12 after successfully passing the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC).
Ms. McCreary has combined her love for business and education and has developed a nonprofit organization designed to introduce students to various career paths and opportunities. She has worked as executive assistant for General Motors for over 10 years, deputy manager for local municipalities with more than three years experience, and educator in inner-city schools for four.
Dorcas has the ability to assess academic, emotional and physical challenges and develop programs motivating students and clients beyond their expectations.
Lastly Ms. McCreary is the proud mother of a Detroit public school graduate and a proud grandmother of a five-year-old who was just accepted into an academically challenging program.
She is honored to work with siblings, relatives and friends including other organizations to make positive and lasting impacts.
Dorcas McCreary enjoys sports, chess, long walks, gardening and the waterfront - and
can be reached at mccreary247@yahoo.com.
