When people see Tru Phoenix today, they see a brand. They see books. Apparel. A foundation. A podcast. Music. Storytelling. Different projects carrying different messages into different spaces. I see all of those things too. But I also see where they came from. Because before Tru Phoenix became a company, it was personal. It was built from pieces of my life. My creativity. My faith. My questions. My experiences. My victories. My losses. The lessons I learned willingly and som

Dear Mailbox, We finally made it. Ten letters. Ten conversations. Ten pieces of a story I've carried for far longer than most people realize. Inside you lived grief. Anger. Abandonment. Love. Questions. Regret. Survival. Hope. Some letters were difficult to write. Some were difficult to read. Some were difficult to admit. But all of them were real. For years, I carried these words quietly. Some out of fear. Some out of shame. Some simply because I didn't k

Dear The Night I Almost Wasn't Here, For years, you lived in silence. A chapter I rarely discussed. A story I rarely told. A memory I kept tucked away where few people could find it. Not because it wasn't important. But because surviving it felt complicated. There was a time in my life when the pain became louder than the hope. When exhaustion became louder than possibility. When I genuinely believed the world might be better without me in it. That's difficult to ad

Dear God, This is probably the letter I avoided the longest. Not because I had nothing to say. But because I had too much. For years, people told me to trust You. Pray. Have faith. Hold on. Believe. And I tried. I really did. But somewhere along the way, life became heavier than I knew how to carry. The losses kept coming. The disappointments kept coming. The grief kept coming. And eventually I found myself asking questions I was afraid to say out loud. Where

Dear The Person I Pretended Didn't Hurt Me, This letter has taken me longer to write than most. Not because I didn't know what to say. But because saying it out loud makes it real. For years, I mastered the art of minimizing. "It's not that serious." "I'm over it." "It doesn't bother me anymore." "I've moved on." The words sounded convincing. Sometimes they even convinced me. But healing has a funny way of exposing the things we've been hiding from ourselves. And

Dear Anger, For a long time, I thought you were the problem. I thought you were the thing holding me back. The thing making me bitter. The thing keeping me stuck. But the truth is more complicated than that. You showed up when other things didn't. When comfort didn't come. When justice didn't come. When answers didn't come. You arrived and said, "If nobody is going to protect us, I will." And for that, I understand you. Because beneath every ounce of anger was hur

The Evidence Room is an emotional journey through one person's life, where every achievement, every scar, every loss, and every victory is preserved as evidence that the human spirit can endure far more than it ever believes it can. It isn't a room about success. It's a room about survival. Every exhibit asks the same question: "What should have stopped this person?" Every answer is the same: "It didn't." Each room contains a collection of artifacts—books, awards, degrees, ph

A deeply honest letter from Ra’Mone Marquis about distorted love, emotional neglect, unhealthy relationship patterns, and learning the difference between being loved and being loved correctly.

A “Letters Never Sent” Blog Series by Ra’Mone Marquis One of the hardest things to grieve is potential. Potential relationships. Potential closeness. Potential love. Potential support. Potential healing. Especially when your heart keeps hoping people will eventually become who you needed them to be. This letter is for the emotional exhaustion that comes from repeatedly hoping. Dear The People I Kept Hoping Would Choose Me, I spent a lot of years waiting. Waiting for consisten

We talk about letting go like it’s the finish line. Like once you decide the old version of you doesn’t get to lead anymore… everything just falls into place. But that’s not how it works. Because removing a leader without appointing a new one creates a different kind of problem. An empty space. And empty spaces don’t stay empty for long. The Danger of the Default When you don’t intentionally choose who leads you next— something else will. Not purpose. Not ali

When I first released 10 Days and a Curtain Call , it was written from a place of intensity. It was bold. It was reflective. It wrestled with pressure, endurance, faith, identity, and the emotional performance many people carry in silence. But over time, I realized something: The conversation wasn’t finished. Not because the first book lacked honesty — but because growth creates new perspective. The Deluxe Edition exists because the themes of the original work deserved deeper

Rising Through The Fire Blog Series — Final Chapter There was a time I thought the fire was proof of failure. Proof that I wasn’t praying right. Proof that I wasn’t strong enough. Proof that I deserved what was happening. I used to look at my life and see trauma stacked so high it felt like identity. Depression. Grief. Spiritual confusion. Abandonment. Self-doubt. Faith that felt fractured. And somewhere in all of it, I started believing those things were me. Not experiences.

For the last seven years, my life has felt like a storm that never passed. Not a quick thunderstorm. Not a bad season. A storm that lingers. A storm that layers darkness, pain, trauma, and exhaustion on top of each other until you forget what sunlight even looks like. I’ve been on a rollercoaster I’ve desperately wanted to get off of, but no matter how tight I’ve gripped the safety bar, no matter how loud I’ve screamed for it to stop, the ride kept going. Loop after loop. Dro

Michael Jordan missed more than 9,000 shots throughout his legendary basketball career. These failures didn't define him. They became his stepping stones to success. "Your mistakes don't define you" - we've all heard these powerful words and wondered about their origin. Oprah Winfrey shares this belief. "Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction," she says. Walt Disney's story tells a similar tale. He went bankrupt before building his empire. Each experience

Street medicine saves lives in areas where most healthcare providers never go. Each year, between 5,800 and 46,500 people die due to homelessness in the United States. People without homes face a death risk ten times higher than those with housing. The crisis continues to worsen. Homelessness jumped by more than 12% in 2023, reaching an all-time high of 653,104 people. The situation becomes more heartbreaking when you consider that 60% of homeless people don't have health ins

There’s a peculiar kind of strength that lives in people who keep smiling when their hearts are breaking. It’s not the strength born from brute force or unwavering certainty—it’s the quiet resilience of those who know what it means to lose, to hurt, and yet choose, day after day, to carry on. It’s a strength that isn’t loud or glamorous. It doesn’t parade itself for the world to see. Instead, it softens in the corners of your expression, hidden beneath a gentle smile, a polit

HIV and AIDS have long been misunderstood, with many people still believing outdated and harmful myths. One of the most persistent misconceptions is that HIV is a "gay disease." This false idea not only misrepresents the reality of HIV but also fuels stigma and discrimination against both people living with HIV and the LGBTQ community. In truth, HIV affects people of all backgrounds, ages, and identities. This post aims to challenge these myths, provide accurate information,