Interview with Tommy in the City

By: Where It Begins

 

Q. Who is Tommy in the City?

A. I can never be able to describe that because it is not made up. I am from New York, so you know we have an aggressive attitude, but at the same time I have Atlanta roots. They say I am a southern gentleman, so I combine both together.

Q. How did you start Tommy in the City?

A. I have always been a giving person. I have been giving back since day one. So, Tommy in the City came along. I was searching for names one day in the studio. Someone said Tommy in the city, and that was it.

Q. What do Tommy in the City do?

A. I am more like a connector when people need something they will ask me before they find out on their own. At the time you could not google anything, so I did the work for them. I took this and built a website. It was set up on Instagram before Instagram was out. The game was called find Tommy in the City. I would go around town and be places and post on Facebook. If you found where I was, we were giving out gift cards, sneakers, hair, and gas cards. People started playing, so I tried to get an app, but things didn’t work out. I am still here and going.

Q. Tell us about one of your biggest projects?

A. One of my projects I do every year is Grandmothers raising grandkids. I do this yearly. The grandmothers are stuck raising the grandkids, some parents are incarcerated, some deceased, some of their kids are out on the streets, so they give rights to the grandparents. So, we try to give back to them and help because the funds are not there for this program. I teamed up with DFCS. I started out with a friend asking to help 17 people. Now we are at 500 soon we will be able to go from state to state. Every year we get more and more and then we are going to branch out.