Portraits of Promise was created as a way to combat negative stereotypes associated with the City of Camden. It is a way for the Camden Promise Zone to highlight the good that is going on in the city particularly through those who choose to live and work in Camden. These people not only make Camden a colorful place to live, work, and visit, but they work hard to continuously make the City better through their commitment and determination to revitalize the city. 

This month we decided to highlight a long time Camden resident and rising entrepreneur, Sydney Francis! Sydney decided to stay in Camden because he wanted to provide an example to those in the city who think their only way out is through basketball or rapping. He works with Camden's youth in a variety of programs, host a podcast, has a non-profit and is currently working to open an men's grooming lounge in the city. For him, this is only the beginning; he has many more ideas, talents and wisdom to share. 

Enjoy the full interview below!

Follow his journey on social media @pushboypodcast

Can you explain what your business does or is? 

The brand new company that we are working on and looking to hopefully have open by the end of July is the original gentlemen’s grooming lounge. That is going to be a lounge for men to get haircuts, manicures, pedicures, facials the whole nine. You can come in there and get everything you need done. A lot of men don’t like going into female salons to get these types of things done because they feel a little out of place even though that's a part of male grooming. Some men still look at it as they don’t want to be in there without a bunch of women. We are creating a space where men can go and feel comfortable and get everything done head to toe.

The other business is the Pushboy podcast, it’s an acronym the stands for push until success happens and always bet on yourself. With this we are trying to create positivity through business, music, education, art and everything else. We try to find people in the area to be an example for people in the city. Next, the non-profit; the non-profit is called Focused Ambition Training and what it does is expose children in this area to unconventional sports and career paths.

I know growing up here in Camden the only thing we really had was basketball or track and if you weren’t doing that then you better be a rapper or something along those lines to get you out. We’re trying to expose the kids to other activities, for example this summer we are starting a photography program and an art program. We have an artist coming in who will be doing a summer long project with the kids that will culminate from the beginning of the summer to the end making it one gigantic project that all the kids are going to work on. It is the same thing with the photography program, we have a photographer coming in who will teach them how to use a camera, they will take pictures and create a collage that will tell a story about their entire summer through photos. Lastly, I am also into investing and the stock market. Once I get that down to a science I will start a program for that too. I want to start educating people, especially parents and youth on how to invest into the stock market.

What motivated you to open your business in Camden?

It’s the same exact thought going into it as far as the non-profit. I want to be an example for the people who actually live here. I want to show them it doesn’t matter if you grew up a city labeled impoverished. You can still make it in business or anything that interest you. Our door is going to be open, we want to start a mentoring program as well. We want to let people know you don’t just have to play sports or rap to get out of the city, there are plenty of ways to help your city by being here and setting a good example.

What are your hopes for your space/business?

I would like it to be big enough to the point where it is making a decent impact. I want to start some type of movement, just an education and knowledge movement where people are seeking to get information. And I would want my place to be the place where people come to get it, I want people saying “let’s go to Sids’” or “go to Sids’” to find out what’s going on. I want them to come by my place if they have questions about starting a business or when they do not know where to start. A lot of people just don’t know where to start and five years from now I hope my place will be where they can come for the information they need.

Are you involved in the community in other ways? If so, what are you involved in and why?

With the neighborhood center along with the photography and art program we have a fitness program that we will be doing too. Every Friday we are going to be taking the kids to a football field and we will be doing drills and having them play flag football. The other thing I do at the North Camden Recreation Center is the after school basketball program. I try to get there three days a week and we also try to bring speakers in there too. We had a cop, firefighter and lawyer come in so far to talk to the kids about different professions. We wanted to give them ideas of what they can do with their lives in the future.

Do you have any advice for other business es looking to move into the city of get involved?

You need to just find a niche, look around and find out what’s missing. There’s a lot missing, so you have an open area to start a business. The reason why I started the Original Gentlemen’s Grooming Lounge is because a lot of the barbershops in the city right now to me are not professional enough. What I hear a lot from many single moms is that when they take their kids into the barbershops, it is not female of kid friendly due to the music or conversation. It’s just not a positive environment for them to go to and feel comfortable, that was a niche that we decided to tap in to. We wanted to make our spot 100% comfortable for anybody to come in their, bring the kids and we won’t have the cursing going on or crazy conversation. It will be a chill environment! So, whoever is looking to do something in the city, I would say look around and find out what is missing, you have to find that open space.

Anythhing else you would like to mention about your business, story or the City of Camden?

I grew up here, I lived in Cramer Hill, I lived in Fairview, Pollock; all over the city. What impacted me was when I got to college and I seen how much of a disadvantage I was at because of the schooling I received here and that really made me open my eyes to want to learn more. Whereas some people might have got to college and seen that they were at a disadvantage and used that as a crutch, I decided to rise above it. I had to understand that everybody’s circumstances are not the same and just because you from somewhere that is considered a disadvantage does not mean it has to be.

There are advantages to living here, one of the things I would never take for granted that people look at in a negative way is understanding how to survive. A lot of people just don’t know how to survive. Growing up here teaches you survival, it teaches you that things aren’t as they seem. I think that people who did not go through a lot of the things we had to go through growing up are the ones at a disadvantage. Because when things hit the fan in real life, you see a lot of people not coping well. They don’t know how to deal with anything that’s not perfect or that is not what they expected it to be. Growing up here, I think in many ways, it has giving me an advantage over a lot of people. I don’t go crazy, I don’t stress about a lot of stuff, I know that things are going to be fine and that I have been through worst, I have dealt with worst.