NEW YORK – Fashionable social media influencer and former Choose Torkwase Sekou -aka Choose T- is the most recent superstar consumer to hitch the roster of David Heron’s New York based mostly public relations entity, Certain Factor PR.
Sekou, a former New Jersey Superior Courtroom decide, was controversially denied bench tenure by present Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie throughout his governorship of New Jersey in 2012. She has subsequently carved out a job for herself within the social media area as an influencer, fashionista, authorized pundit and Afro American cultural activist. Heron and Certain Factor PR will probably be managing all her public relations and publicity associated endeavors together with talking engagements, media appearances, occasion internet hosting alternatives and a number of other of her future tasks presently in improvement.
Consumer Roster
Sekou joins a glittering array of artists and professionals presently represented by Heron’s firm for publicity, together with award profitable actress Aixa Kendrick (AMC TV’s Strolling Useless- Useless Metropolis), actor Marcos James (HBO’s Recreation OfThrones), actress and mannequin Miranda Melhado (From Yard – The Sequence), actor Osondu Thambo (upcoming characteristic Third Week), actress and singer Dianne Dixon, (upcoming quick Caribbean Queen), singer and musician Elijah Rocq, gospel artist Jenieve Hibbert (daughter of reggae legend Toots Hibbert), Emmy nominated tv and movie producer/director Randy Simon and award profitable vogue and costume designer Raxann Chin.
Torkwase Sekou
In keeping with Sekou “I’m honored to be becoming a member of David, his crew and a household of such glorious and achieved people on this new part of my profession journey. I should be Choose T- however the robes are actually off. I’m lastly free to say and do as I select. And that’s so much. So brace yourselves!”
Torkwase (pronounced TOR- KWA- SAY) Sekou was born and raised Sherie Lynn Jackson in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Throughout her childhood she travelled to a number of African international locations together with her dad and mom and at age 21, had a new conventional and authorized identify change to Torkwase (Queen) Sekou (Warrior)- names bestowed on her by elders. By her personal admission, she took a captivating and circuitous route into the authorized career thereafter.
Champion For Much less Privileged
Her ardour for being a champion of the much less privileged started upon completion of her undergraduate research at Kean College, the place she attained her Bachelor of Arts Diploma in Particular Schooling, Speech and Listening to Science. She started her profession within the New Jersey Metropolis Public Faculty System as a Particular Schooling Instructor working with autistic and onerous of listening to kids. Impressed by the tenacity of her college students, she went on to acquire her Grasp’s Diploma in Schooling and Deafness Rehabilitation from New York College.
The sudden loss of life of her father in 1985, sophisticated by his steady wrestle to obtain the well being advantages to which he was legally entitled, proved to be the turning level in her skilled life. It result in her resolution to grow to be an advocate in an effort to struggle for justice by the courtroom system.
Authorized Profession
Following her commencement from Seton Corridor College Legislation Faculty in Newark, she launched into what would finally grow to be a two decade plus authorized profession, starting as a clerk to her mentor, the Honorable Shirley A.Tolentino- the primary African American feminine Choose within the State of New Jersey. She would finally rise to the place of Essex County Public Defender, a place she held for fourteen years earlier than being appointed to the Superior Courtroom in 2005 by appearing New Jersey Governor Richard Codey.
Then, seven years later, with three days to go earlier than what ought to have been the affirmation of her tenure to the Superior Courtroom till retirement age, all of it got here crashing down when then Governor Christie denied her tenure due to- in Sekou’s words- “political wrangling.”
“There was a serious battle between Governor Christie and the New Jersey senate democrats concerning confirmations of quite a lot of his judicial nominees on the time,” she remembers. “The democrats refused to approve a few of his selections and he retaliated by refusing to grant my tenure. I discovered this out in a newspaper article that was revealed three days earlier than my tenure would have been permitted. I had no selection however to vacate my place and mainly begin over.”
In subsequent years she has returned to instructing, grow to be a authorized correspondent for tv collection reminiscent of For My Man and Deadly Attraction on TV One, and amassed almost 60,000 fb and tiktok followers throughout each platforms primarily as a result of recognition of her Conversations with Choose T collection on fb.
She is now able to develop her attain and horizons, after years of feeling constrained by her decide’s robes.
“For a very long time even after I used to be not working as a decide, I used to be mentally hamstrung by the job and by what it had meant. However the America we live in in the present day requires that individuals rise up and say what’s on their minds, and I’m actually, REALLY able to do that- in quite a lot of methods and thru quite a lot of totally different platforms. So this thrilling alliance with David and Certain Factor will facilitate that and I’m tremendously wanting ahead to the collaboration.”
For Certain Factor CEO Heron – additionally an award profitable playwright, producer and actor who’s presently a nominee for the 2023 Broadway World Rhode Island Awards for his work in Shakespeare’s The Tempest – Choose T is strictly the consumer his firm is on the lookout for.
“We’re a small Caribbean American PR firm and the vast majority of our purchasers are of Jamaican or West Indian heritage,” he says. “However our experience goes far past simply these media markets and so we’re very obsessed with diversifying our consumer base. Choose T has a glowing wit, an excellent thoughts, a real glamour and an excellent set of concepts for a way she desires to construct her model. We’re right here to facilitate all of that and so we’re glad to welcome her aboard. She’s already an ‘Honorary Yardie’ from right here on in.”
Sekou and Heron’s first main undertaking collectively will probably be an as but unannounced occasion that Sekou plans to provide for Black Historical past Month in February of 2024.
