Who We Are
Empowering and Motivating Pittsburgh
In 2017, YBMKQ set out to make a difference in the lives of youth all throughout Pittsburgh by providing them with all the tools, resources and support they need in order to shape them into the leaders of tomorrow. Over the years, YBMKQ has grown to be the best Youth Organization in the area - offering the youth of the community a chance to reach their fullest potential.
Kahlil Darden
Founder & CEO
A Penn Hills Senior High School graduate and now a Clark Atlanta University Freshman Business Administration major with a Dual-Concentration in Marketing & Management and a minor in Political Science, created an organization to reach out to young African American men in the city of Pittsburgh that believed in being active in their communities. About a few months of having this organization Kahlil knew the organization had to extend and grow to make a larger impact! Kahlil worked alongside Tamia Coleman, where they created a branch for female activist and they stand strong and united under the name of Young Black Motivated Kings and Queens. Young Black Motivated Kings & Queens (YBMKQ) is a community-based organization made up of some of the most dedicated young men and women of the city. In the face of constant discouragement and scrutiny, a group of young men and women have chosen to stand apart and show the community that young black kings and queens are active, motivated, and empowered to be the change. Briefly, before Kahlil began the organization his uncle was murdered at gunpoint in 2013 which gave him the courage and wisdom to do something great not to only make his uncle proud but change the world around him to ensure this did not continue to happen to families in this city and to create a safe space for youth to trust and come to if they did go through these tragic events. Just recently, YBMKQ was taken under the wing of 1Hood Media. Through 1Hood both organizations work together to express love, activism, and motivation throughout the city of Pittsburgh with their community service, talents, and so much more. Kahlil is also the Founder of the first Black Student Union at Penn Hills Senior High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kahlil began the BSU during his Sophomore year. Outside of his own organization Kahlil has also has participated in a number of local community and school projects such as; YngBlkPgh, Coalition Against Violence, Mentor at Propel Schools, and World Affairs Council. Kahlil is also the Co-Author to his own book “Younger Black Pittsburgh” highlighting many young people in the city of Pittsburgh doing amazing work! All things are possible with the scripture Philippians 4:13 at hand. " I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."
Tamia Coleman
Co-Founder / Co-Author
Tamia has been extremely active in her community and school all of her life. When she was 16, she was given the opportunity to join 1Hood Media through an internship. This is an organization that brought her out of her comfort zone and contributed to creating her into the very talented, courageous, and well-rounded woman that she is today. She is still a part of this group today and hopes that she will be for years to come. At 1Hood Media, she gained an interest in working with non-profit organizations and activism. She decided to take that interest and The Young Black Motivated Kings and Queens is a local, collaborative one-on-one community organization, serving children, youth, and adults. In this
group, she serves as the Co-Founder. This immaculate group of youth has been showcasing different events in their community for two years and they have been giving back in any way that they can.
She graduated from Obama Academy of International Studies in June of 2017 and continued on academically at the first degree granting historically black university in the nation, Lincoln University. Here she is majoring in Mass Communications on a Strategic track. With her degree in Mass Communications, she wishes to become a social media influencer working for black owned platforms and eventually creating her own. Tamia also serves as the Co-Author to her own book “Younger Black Pittsburgh” w hich serves as a tool for young people in Pittsburgh to look upon for inspiration in times of feeling down! She desires to continue her work in her community and on her campus.
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. You never lose anything.”
Our Team
Get to Know Us
Ray Carrington
Creative Director
Ray Carrington of YBMKQ and Ray Carrington Photography LLC is a professional photographer and digital content curator who specializes in portrait, fashion, and street photography. He is also a digital marketing specialist who advises and guides clients to build a social media following unique to their target audience.
Austin Bey
DJ / Audio Director
Austin Bey, aka DJ QRX. was born on September 25th, 1998 and raised in Homewood. He graduated from high-school at Pittsburgh Sci-Tech Academy. When he was younger his father, being a DJ in his past years, would always sit with him in the living room and blast his music until he couldn’t anymore. It's honestly where he began to get a taste of music from, he believes. He would always tell him how the music made him feel, no matter what the genre of music he was listening to was and would be his favorite thing to do. With the seed of the love for music that his father had planted in him, it made him want to begin practicing music. Austin first started when I was 10 with an acoustic guitar. Fast-forwarding three years down the road he finally decided that the guitar/bass wasn’t really for him, but he continued to attend the choir practices he was a part of because we would always travel the country in the summer. Traveling with the choir taught Austin a lot about performing on a stage, and making people feel the music that you are giving. Until he was 14, he felt as though he was on a confusing path. He has begun to find interest in DJ’ing but didn’t think it to be anything too serious. Austin began to feel like he was not going anywhere and that’s when he had realized that I couldn’t keep playing around and had to take things seriously. He wanted to use music as his guide and support. Fast-forwarding to year 20, still with a clouded future, he has had the great opportunity to have been able to DJ for various artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Young M.A. with crowds full of people and Austin even had the opportunity to DJ in Australia by studying there for a semester. Doing all this with my own guidance within music really helped him through all the struggles that can’t be told, but only experienced. Now, thinking back to when he was younger, he always wanted to thank his parents for making me who he is today, in spite of the negativity that was around from them. Now Austin just follows his passion, which is to DJ and just make everyone have a great time and to make people feel the joy through the music just like his father.
Jonathan Mollett
Creative Director
Jonathan Mollett created Dream Shots Media a Photography and Videography businesses but Dream Shots is turning into a Media outlet for Youth and High School Sports players to showcase their talents. Jonathan didn’t create Dream Shots overnight it actually been building up over the years. In 2012 Jonathan taught himself how to do graphic designs, not planning on making a business out of it. Friends around Jonathan kept him motivated to think outside the box which made him create a shirt business to try to make people dream outside of Pittsburgh most shirts read “ Dream Something Bigger “. Jonathan used Dream Something Bigger as his motivation and thought of more things that he could do to add on to his businesses, In 2016 he decided to buy a camera so that he could take and edit his own pictures and turn them into graphic designs. Jonathan reached out to neighborhood youth football teams like The Homewood Bulldawgs and The East End Raiders to try out Sports Photography after the first game he loved it. In 2017 with the upcoming season he wanted to expand on what he was doing so he started to record games to document and give memories to the kids. During October of Jonathan put together a project with the kids for Breast Cancer awareness to show support. At the end of the season for the championship, Jonathan brought trophies to give to the Most valuable player of the game he also interviewed them. For the 2018 season, Jonathan wants to expand and get out to more kids around Pittsburgh, one day after releasing a video on social media the video got picked up by ESPN, once that video went viral Jonathan got interviewed by local News and Newspapers in Pittsburgh.
Dejah Monea Tillman
Performing Artist
Dejah Monea Tillman is 20 years old and attends Point Park University, majoring in sports, arts, and entertainment. She has been singing since she was seven years old and started to pursue a career in entertainment professionally about two years ago. Dejah has achieved the first-night award, handpicked by Smokey Robinson, being tied in first place in Wamo 100’s up next competition, etc. Dejah plans to continue with her independent career as a
singer/songwriter, get involved with more youth development and once her degree is complete to pursue a career in entertainment management. She has also been involved with many youth development and artist development programs like 1Hood Media, KRUNK, The Alumni Theater Company, and Young Black Motivated Kings and Queens. Dejah doesn’t remember when she officially joined YBMKQ because even before she joined she already felt included and apart. She had the honor to participate and share her gift with such motivated and bright youth. She hopes to get more involved in having a say in what our future looks like and being an active member of change alongside Young Black Motivated Kings and Queens.