Rising Stars: Meet DeWayna McMillan

Today we’d like to introduce you to DeWayna McMillan.  

Hi DeWayna, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is DeWayna McMillan. I have experienced several contributing
factors that lead me to my placement today. I am a proud mother of three beautiful children (D’Airrius Gilmore, Diamond Gilmore, Brian Gilmore, Jr.); I became a mother at the age of 17 years old. It is a struggle to work a 9 to 5 career as an Executive Director for a healthcare agency, on-call 24/7. In addition to being self-employed, attempting to maintain my commercial cleaning service-cleaning local offices. It was important for me to become financially stable, but more importantly, to be able to survive as a young mother.

I wanted to be able to provide a sufficient and financially secure life for my family. Juggling my time with my multiple jobs and mounting responsibilities, it just didn’t ever seem to be enough time. I often found myself financially strapped and time broke. I felt as though I wasn’t giving my
children all the great things this life had to offer. It made me see this juggling act
was not as rewarding as I hoped. After pondering over, what I was truly passionate about, I decided to go to Real Estate school.

I’m a people person and I love helping people. Therefore, going to school would offer me the opportunity to meet new people, and focus on a brighter future for my family. Real Estate school provided me with the knowledge of the importance of homeownership. I wanted to help as many families(especially single mothers) as I could navigate the process of successful homeownership. I knew that was my true calling.

The week I completed Real Estate school; my eldest son completed
Boot Camp in Texas for the US Airforce. I felt so amazed that we both conquered our goal. After the completion of all these amazing events. I still returned to life as usual and did not work on my Real Estate career as I promised myself. I think I was too scared to fail, so I didn’t even try. My life was comfortably, uncomfortable.

Several months later in March of 2020 my son (Airman 1st Class D’Airrius Gilmore) was able to return home on leave from Okinawa military base; which just happened to be the weekend the world shut down due to the pandemic. I was so happy that he was home, and we had all this extra time due to his orders to not to return until May. I truly enjoyed his presence. It was a short-lived moment of excitement. He was killed in a tragic car accident on May 22nd the Friday before he was scheduled to return to Japan the following Monday, May 25th. He was truly a blessing and a gift from God. I was crushed.

Meanwhile, grief-stricken at home, not ready to face the harsh truth of life without my firstborn. I received a message from my employer that I had run out of personal time off. That message had me so frustrated with the thoughtlessness of my employer, that I decided to resign. In retrospect, it was the best decision I’d made. I needed time for myself. I told myself once I could gather my thoughts, I would return to myself, work for myself, and help as many people as possible in real estate. After that, I decided to start a nonprofit POP-UP shop (organization) called Popping with Purpose where we showcase local business owner’s products and services at different local venues. Popping with Purpose also provides education to the business owners on successful ownership tools and the community on real estate success tools. I want to help and empower the local business owners and the community as a whole so that everyone has options to build a life, they feel is worth living.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My struggles along the way have been
community participation and understanding the importance of collaboration with our one another helps build a stronger community. However, these challenges don’t necessarily indicate rough times, I just look at it as a way of finding alternate solutions. Supporting local business helps enrich the community.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a Realtor and the founder of
Popping with Purpose (Non-Profit). Education and Enrichment are the keys to success.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Life is short and at any moment you
can lose all material gains or your life. The most important gift from God is relationships with friends, family, and community. We must put our faith in God and help each other as much as possible that is our true PURPOSE.

Contact Info:

• Website: Poppingwithpurpose.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeWaynaMcRealtor/?ref=pages_you_manage
• App Link: https://kwri.app.link/KW2DKVDVU

Image Credits
Brian Gilmore, Sr.
D’Airrius Gilmore
Diamond Gilmore
Iris Crutchfield-Hicks
David McMillan
Danielle McCutheon

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