About Me
Starr Essence was born and raised in Detroit, MI. In Detroit, she graduated from Murray-Wright High School through the accelerated program with honors. Growing up in Detroit, she experienced the good, bad, ugly, and beautiful as a young Detroiter.
She understands that the company you keep and the environment in which you live can have a positive or negative impact on your life. In high school, she knew that she wanted to attend college. During her senior year, she participated in a Black College Tour. She decided to apply for Tennessee State University. She was the first in her immediate family to attend college out of state and a HBCU.
Born to be a superstar, this social entrepreneur leads by example. During her undergraduate experience, she recognized that God had given her a vision to start an organization that will help impact people lives through college preparation, entrepreneurship, mentoring, and financial education. Her passion has always been helping people in her community.
From the time, she was in elementary until now she has help those who would listen. She is a go-giver. This gifted woman of God has helped people develop skills and grow from one level to the next. In 2008, she founded MorningStar International, Inc., a 501 c (3) youth organization located in Atlanta, GA and Detroit, MI.
From the tender age of 17, she has worked in Higher Education. Her first internship was right out of high school at Wayne State University as a Teacher’s Assistant. Having over 15 years of collected experience in the education industry, she stayed focused on her passion to educate those in her community. She decided that MorningStar International, Inc. would be the vehicle to help people specifically youth.
MorningStar International, Inc. mission – is to encourage, empower, train, and guide youth and young adults to succeed in a global economy, not by chance, but by a purposeful design. Keeping MorningStar mission close to her heart, she’s credited for her genuine love to lead and impact communities around the world. She loves traveling and meeting new people from all walks of life. She continues to work passionately with youth and young adults in seeing their goals transpire.
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You learn valuable information and skills in college, but how much of that information is shared in grades K-12? Success in college is more than just high grades; it includes: strategic planning, entrepreneur skills, scholarships and grants, and networking in the process.
Guide Me To College: 10 Vital Steps Every Urban Youth Need For College is a tool that provides essential information to prepare youth and parents for college, while developing life skills. Starr Essence shares her advice, strategies, and tips to help you succeed in college.
She gives real-life stories along with 15 years of professional experience in Non-profit, Higher Education, and Business Ownership. She is the founder of MorningStar International, Inc. a 501 C (3) youth organization. Guide Me To College: 10 Vital Steps Every Urban Youth Need For College is the first book to guide urban youth to succeed in college and to gain valuable life skills today.
Step 1: Understanding Why College is Important For—You
“Completing your education is essential to your success, as one of the main reasons why students drop out of college is due to lack of academic preparation and financial support.”
“Did you know only about 20,000 students out of approximately 21 million who are expected to attend American colleges and universities receive a scholarship? Shocking!”
Step 2: Do Your Homework—Research
“Applying for scholarships and grants provides a financial benefit because it allows you to know the type of financial support you will need to pay for college.”
Step 3. Let Others Pay for College—Scholarships & Grants
“Writing an essay for scholarships doesn’t sound cool but being awarded a one hundred-thousand-dollar or a million dollars in scholarships is cool.”
Step 4: Create A Strategic Success Plan—GRIND
“Statistic shows that African-American students are behind in Language Arts skills, which suggest that they’re behind in other subjects as well.”
Step 5: Beware of the Big Bad Wolf—DEBT
“If you believe that going to college will add value to your personal and/or professional growth, then I recommend that you only borrow what you need and not a penny more.”
Step 6: Create a level of - Confidence
“Selecting a college that compliments with who you are enables you to focus more on obtaining greatness.”
Step 7: Actively seek your #1 best friend—Internship
“Let your haters be one of the driving forces to catapult your dreams and unleash your true potential.”
Step 8: Pay no attention to haters or naysayers—Persevere
“You are competing for career and business opportunities before, during, and after college.”
Step 9: Be connected—Network
“There is no one-path journey for all students. However, there are various resources that can help all students achieve an intended end—the attendance and completion of one’s college education.”
Step 10: Keep Yourself Accountable—Journal
“To journal means to record your life greatest moments via paper, tablet, laptop or a computer.”
“Writing your vision helps you to be accountable to the goals, ideas, dreams, visions, and even thoughts that you desire at a moment in time.”
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