Metaphorically speaking, if life is a stage and you are an actor – up to this point – what role have you played? When challenges arose, and the narrative shifted, did you become the victor or the victim? Following that train of thought, does the arc of your story cast you in a central or supporting role?

Meditate on that paragraph; take ownership of your life. Claim your birthright as the star of your own story. No matter what you’ve done up to now, you are free to flip the script. In this moment understand that you – alone – can choose to redesign the set, to recast recurring characters or flat out change direction and exit stage left. God gifted you with dominion over your own actions so that you might use free will to produce an amazing life.

I’m Toni Greathouse. For 12-years, courtesy of the Chicago Sun Times, I wrote a community column for the now-defunct Bolingbrook Sun. Keeping my finger firmly pressed on the pulse of community allowed me to witness the evolution of a place that is diverse by design. Today, Bolingbrook ranks as the second-most diverse community in Illinois and has been consistently named one of the best places to live in America by Money Magazine.

Although vastly larger, Joliet mirrors Bolingbrook’s ethnic makeup. It is the reason that I’m excited to be given the opportunity by the Joliet Herald-News to play a similar role, with a twist. In Joliet, I get to play the dual role of civic journalist as well as innovator. I have stepped into the lead of spearheading an annual Juneteenth in Joliet event downtown. Firmly fixed in the driver’s seat, I feel like Joliet Jake in the movie “The Blue Brothers,” who was on a mission from God.

Over the course of 2022, the Herald-News has extended this platform to unite a diverse range of stakeholders around Juneteenth. I seek to connect with residents who are committed to carving out a safe place for peaceful dialog. The task ahead involves reaching across racial divides to initiate civil civic conversations. I will supply more details about the event in subsequent columns. Although you don’t know me, it’s a task to which I’m well equipped.

I am a self-employed artist and self-proclaimed entrepreneurial evangelist. The year I turned 32, armed with little more than optimism and the belief that I could make a positive difference in my community, I leaned on the Lord and leapt into the arms of entrepreneurship. Tourism and economic development are my areas of expertise. My specialty, however, is solving communication problems with art. I launched from home in 1996. Two years later, I added staff and a brick-and-mortar location. In 2014, I was accepted into the University of St. Francis Inaugural Business Incubator program.

Instruction empowered me to supply adult coloring books to Walmart stores nationwide from 2016 to 2019. Today, I’m still here in downtown Joliet, renting space from USF. I’m taking a gap year starting Tuesday, which is the actual date of my 26th year in business to establish Juneteenth in Joliet as an annual event downtown.

Toni Greathouse is an entrepreneurial evangelist whose purpose is spelled out in the letters of her first name – serving as a reminder to Take On Neighborhood Interaction & Try Out Novel Ideas.