Today we’d like to introduce you to C’erra Eddington.
Hi C’erra, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
How I started begins with the first relationship I’ve had, my parents. I was born and raised on the Eastside of Detroit to parents, Neil and Keena Eddington. My mother was from the westside and my father was from the Northend. A Pershing Doughboy basketball player married a Cody Comet beauty pageant girl; birthing me, a beautiful woman from both sides of the coin.
Raised in a loving family, grounded by spirit, education, strength, music, art, discovery, laughter and dancing. In a home where the mantra was “exposure is education”, my mother’s encouragement to “just BE”, all nestled in the stability of my father’s love is how I’ve arrived at this point in life, stitched by the foundation of relationships.
My father grew up in a large family where music was background noise, like they never turned off the radio. He told me stories of my great uncles singing on the street corner and appearing on television. My Dad played basketball in high school at a time when Pershing Doughboy’s ran the city in the late sixties. My father attended Cochise College then matriculated to his beloved alma marter, Michigan State University, go Sparties. My mother went to Cody High School, but graduated from Osborn High School after moving to the eastside. She experienced racism during a time when busing to schools was a method of desegregation. My mother’s experience is one that shaped her into being an activist for self-preservation, fighting for your rights, actualizing your voice and mobilizing the community. My mother was the daughter of southern parents who migrated to Detroit and my grandfather, Tommy Donald, became one of the first black men to be a Teamster while working at Pepsi-Cola. This is where fight, critical thinking and advocacy in my DNA comes from. My mother was a beautiful woman, walked in beauty pageants, commanded the rooms with her brilliance and voice. She found a passion for cosmetology and became a hairdresser studying under the best in Detroit. She traveled to Texas doing hair, had a salon in Detroit (LaJohnson’s Beauty Salon) and cared for the hair of many like jazz singer Nancy Wilson and Linda Leggs
I always felt empowered and I’ve always been curious. I remember in second grade, coming home telling my parents, “I want to go to another school…I’m smarter than the teacher”, lol. Now, I’m sure that was not the truth, but what I knew was that there was more for me and the current environment was not serving me. I knew I wanted to experience something greater and my parents listened, thank goodness. I told my parents I wanted to attend Paul Robeson Academy, which was a new Pan-African charter school off Eureka Street in Detroit. They agreed and that was the beginning of my foundation; my grounding of self, discipline, building community, concept of idea to execution, financial literacy, education through exploration, learning my African heritage and becoming a young lady whose voice commanded a room and whose presence was unmistakable. It was there that I began to understand more and more the power of relationships.
Here is where my life changed forever, in a way that would force me to flip my coin from sweet young girl to surviving the changes of relationships and the eb and flow of life. Here is when I became a writer, where putting pen to paper became a lifeline to the life that nurtured my first heartbeat. Here is where I learned how to communicate with words and song and how I healed through storytelling. Here, through the unraveling of my parents love story, created a new chapter in mine.
I then matriculated through high school wanting to be different, studying four years of German because all the kids were studying Spanish and challenging my tenth-grade classmates to not curse because it was the right thing to do. On to college, where learning and unlearning was a table tennis match and there was no amount of love to shield you from hard truths. College was where the resilience in my DNA carried me, how faith and spirituality met me in the darkest hours and where I began the discovery for a life I’d loved. It’s where I quieted the loud call of my intuition to listen to what I believed love to be, a fictitious relationship. College is where the one relationship I trusted to hold my heart gently, shattered me to my core. Sometimes, your best friend is too close and becomes your enemy. This is where my journey of motherhood began.
Motherhood is where I created a beautiful human in partnership with someone, whom I called my best friend. A cord I nourished from the fruits of my own labor and tried to shield from many of my immature decisions. This is when my hyper-fixation on getting something right and trying until I did, sharpened and a sword I fell on that left a scar. This is where I learned the power of a gentle voice, how I’m able to nurture and neglect, where management of time became essential and relying on community and relationships would sustain me mentally, physically, emotionally and financially. Motherhood is where I lost my voice yelling to be heard, where I performed what I believed loved to be and how hard I’d work for it. It’s where putting my foot down shook the room of my home and the judges’ chambers after being served because I chose to protect my seed. Motherhood is where I watched my son grow into the most beautiful human and how love, exposure, communion, faith, tough conversations and self-discovery become a beautiful masterpiece. Motherhood is where I had to choose a life out of circumstance, opposed to a life out of curiosity and desire. A phone call to my favorite cousin on my mother’s side is where my eighteen-year government career began and where the power of relationships grounded me in this journey back to self-discovery.
Throughout this journey, I’ve always been a creative. Writing my truth, storytelling a prose, physically making things I didn’t see or singing songs that I could hear playing on the next beat; it has always been me. This journey shaped me as the woman I am today. One who understands the importance of asking the right questions, the power of a pause, empathy, the essence of her beauty and the duality of grace and mercy. This journey has attuned my ear to God, straighten my heart posture, given me a keen sense of pattern recognition, bionic hearing and active listening to things said and unsaid. How I started, the single most important relationship I have and how I arrived where I am today, by listening to my intuition, calling on my ancestors and kind spirits, being highly observant to God’s winks and all the relationships along the way. The destination has yet to be determined or complete, but this is how I’ve arrived here on this journey where we now meet.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Has it been a smooth road is a loaded question referring to life, career and motherhood. The answer is heck no it has not been smooth, but God has favored me. Somewhere along this journey my voice became quieter and my power rested. As I matured, my voice began to take shape and I’ve challenge reality more and more. One of the toughest realizations in my journey of becoming was that I was not listening to my voice and relying on my intuition. Neglecting my curiosity of what I’d like my life to be is one the toughest challenges I’ve persistently worked to overcome. It’s tough to overcome breaking your own heart and going through obstacles you said would never be. With God and the many relationships I have, I overcame.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have eighteen years working in government compliance and organizational training and one thing that has remained constant is being creative. A creative writer, thinker, listener, innovator, healer, stylist…creativity is at my core. I’ve been writing since I was seven years old. Writing in my journals, writing and mailing letters to my mother many miles away or writing deeply felt emotions on paper and categorizing it as poetry or prose. Whether styling words on paper, giving them structure, context and flow or styling clothes on human bodies and giving words to images; I’ve always known style. Styling started at age seven with my favorite black and white leather A-line dress of which I wore religiously. My career as a wardrobe stylist began with styling The Dirt Label photoshoots, Metro Detroit’s StyleLine Magazine, commercials in upstate New York, winning Neiman Marcus CUSP styling challenge, Michigan Fashion Week (2013), the sitcom ‘Because We’re Men’ on TV20, F.A.S.H Fest, and styling Detroit artists like Cold Men Young, Royce Da 5’9, Lexi Allen, Icewear Vezzo and Concert of Colors: Don Was “Rappers Delight”. I took my styling education earned in California, innate attention to detail, taste and creativity, paired it with the vision of those partnerships and have styled some very awesome projects.
In 2014, I felt a call to build my leather brand, Anthony Neil, which was a success. Anthony Neil was carried in stockist like Detroit is The New Black, The Style Lounge by Tee Capel and boutiques in Birmingham, Michigan. I took what I learned from wardrobe styling and my personal style to actualize my vision through Anthony Neil Leather. As a creative thinker and maker, physically building Anthony Neil was a dream actualized when there was no blueprint. I had music to keep me encouraged, my family to support me and my city, Detroit, showed me love.
I am most proud of each moment I chose to go after the vision and actualized the things I wanted to see. I truly believe that we are following our paths of self-discovery and circumstance on this journey. At this phase in life, I’m leaning into my self-discovery and running toward the life I desire. At the core of this is creativity; music, art, human connection, thinking, speaking, writing, building, creating and becoming more of the woman God has called me to be. I’ve shared my artwork that focuses on the ebbs and flow of life. My art tells stories and builds connection through words, rhythms we know well and colors that paint our worlds. Writing poetry, a prose or telling a short story gives room for my experiences and thoughts to live. In music production, listening for the snare or critiquing the engineers fade in brings me joy. Art hanging in your home, hotels, retail, and restaurants tell a story and my art carries that rhythm globally. I am on my journey to becoming a Manicurist and I know the beauty industry is a place where I can use my gifts to foster confidence, enhance beauty and storytelling. When styling an outfit, the nails are also an accessory, let them tell a beautiful story. When caring for ourselves, self-care doesn’t end with a massage, it starts with your feet, at a pedicure.What I know sets me apart is my story, my vision and connection—the bridge between humanity and healing.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up I was like most little girls figuring out where she fit in and being okay with being different from everyone else. One thing I knew for sure was my power and my voice. My parents had me in African dance, modern jazz and tap classes. I danced at Linda’s Danceworks in jazz and tap dance, and my grade school offered African dance. I still have pictures of one of my recitals with my friend, Erica Lewis (pictured). Being a tap dancer was fun and I still remember the “shuffle-ball-change”, it’s embedded in my brain. It was customary, almost a rite of passage as a black kid in Detroit to be on a Detroit P.A.L team, I was an East Falcon! I remember being on the C-Team, winning our cheerleading championship and the pandemonium in Calahan Hall during the 90’s. Dance routines, artistic expression and community is in my DNA. As time progressed and life began to change, I took a liking for basketball and played in grade school. Basketball is where I began to understand how to navigate life living on two sides of the coin. On one side I was a beautiful girl who was approached often to model and skincare was something I loved exploring. On the other side, I was a tomboy who played basketball and wore her brothers hand-me-down clothes. So, yea, growing up I was definitely a young girl trying to find herself, her voice and how to show up.
I remember being on my eight-grade class trip to Chicago and in true C’erra fashion, I traveled with a pocket dictionary. I’ve always loved words and research has been fascinating to me; asking the who, what, when, where and why of a thing. In eight-grade, I was the Yearbook Designer, so I guess production, flow and sequence have always been innate. Reminds me of the rhythm of music, I loved music, I even like to say I talk in song. My parents met at a club called My Fair Lady, so I’m certain music and dancing are in my blood.
As I’ve grown, my personality has remained the same. I’m aware and observant, always described as a warm and welcoming person, cool with everyone and commands a room. I’ve always been cool with everyone I meet. I’ve been told there is never a stranger in any room I walk in, honestly that’s true.
I tell people often, be mindful of the weight/wait that you carry in every room, you never know who is waiting on what you have to give. Your story, voice and vision are valuable and weigh heavily in the rooms you walk in and people are waiting for your offering.
Pricing:
- Canvas $500
Contact Info:
- Instagram: iamcerrae
- Facebook: CEED
- Youtube: ladyeddington
