Sheena Allen is from Terry, Mississippi, a small town outside of Mississippi’s capital city of Jackson. Most people from this area follow the same pattern of school, college (for some), and then back to Terry, Mississippi while working a 9-5. Sheena wanted different. At the age of 21, Sheena owns 3 businesses and is determined to make them successful and make her mark in the business industry. She started all of her businesses, PhotoLinkage.com, Midchat.com, and PartyTell.com, from scratch and funded them through her own personal funds that she had saved over the years. I sat down and had a conversation with her a few months ago and she just talked in a manner well beyond her years. There were two questions I asked her in which her answers stood out to me overall. I asked her, “What makes you so determined?” She replied, “I’m young, I’m African American, and I’m from Mississippi. No one expects this from me or anyone like me. No one expects a girl from Mississippi, yet alone Terry, Mississippi to do the things that I’m doing. I’m going to take the world by storm.” With that reply, I then asked her, “So does that mean you’re ready to be a role model to the world.” Once again, with great maturity, she replied, “I don’t mind being a role model, but I let people know I’m human first. I want to give young females hope more than anyone else.”

PhotoLinkage, a photo sharing website, is currently ranked around 233,000 in the United States after being live online for a few months, and is steadily climbing in rank. Midchat is a social networking platform for kids and teens. PartyTell is an entertainment company that plays the part of a third party company in helping to promote parties and give notoriety to promotion/entertainment companies, DJs, independent artists, and clubs.

I love to see young people hard at work. After all, they are our future. I take my hat off to young people such as Sheena Allen.