While over 400,000 Americans will lose their life to a tobacco-related death this year, tobacco companies continue to gain profits and continue their immoral practices. According to study results gathered the Centers for Disease Control, 1 out of every 5 deaths in the United States is related to tobacco. There is a 90% percent chance that the one who died began smoking before he or she was 18 years old. Therein lays both a problem and an opportunity. Therein lays an opportunity to reduce the impact of negative impacts tobacco-use and the tobacco industry on our society. The three most heavily advertised brands of cigarettes are Marlboro, Camel, and Newport...those just happen to be the top 3 brands youth smoke...Hmmm. But they don't target youth? The real facts give me and youth all around the world grounds to take action against tobacco-use and the tobacco industry.

I am tobacco use prevention activist and consultant for youth advocacy and tobacco prevention programs nationwide. Coming from the tobacco state North Carolina, my project allowed to trained nearly 20,000 teens to take a stand against Big Tobacco, work to make the Durham Bulls Athletic Park one of the first smoke-free stadiums in NC, and successfully petition the Attorney General to sue a cigarette campaign targeting youth. Growing up in North Carolina, I was surrounded by empty tobacco warehouses and old tobacco advertisements. I was also constantly surrounded by the deadly smoke from my family member’s lit cigarettes. Unfortunately, I also carry the memory of a great-grandfather lost to smoking related illness. Always a bit annoyed by the presence of smoke, my dislike for tobacco-use grew during high school, as I learned that using tobacco products was actually addictive and deadly. After constantly nagging my grandma and uncle to kick the habit, their struggles made me realize that quitting is not as easy as it sounds when you are addicted! On the way to class one day in high school, I saw a poster on the wall that read “Wanna Make Changes?” The ad was for a program that focused on tobacco-use prevention and more specifically, youth advocacy. Question Why Youth Empowerment Center was searching for youth who wanted to make positive changes in their community. In March of 2004, I became one of the youth advocacy trainers and went on to become the Communications Chair for Question Why. As I continued to work with Question Why has had opportunities to develop curriculum, plan advocacy events, meet elected officials, train peers, change policies, and recruit youth leaders. My group is responsible for getting the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to go smoke-free. The park is one of the first smoke-free minor league parks in the country. I am also very proud of fighting and winning against Brown & Williamson’s Kool Mixx cigarette campaign. Brown and Williamson unlawfully marketed their products to minorities, and me and other youth were successful at getting the campaign shelved. Though I have had great success as an advocate at a young age, I am still workin' on my grandmother and uncle to kick the habit. Creating change can take time, but it’s always worth in the end.

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Tobacco-use prevention is an issue that we ALL can take action against. Please go to www.tobaccofreekids.org to find out what things you can do to create social change. LAUNCHING NATIONAL PROJECT on January 26, 2009. Please come back then for how to get involved with electriFYIed. Please search for "electriFYIed youth project" on Myspace for other "electric" ways to get involved.