Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Gray.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My mother, a Memphis legend and playwright, would tell you that I was born a hustler in the most positive connotation of the word. At the age of 13, I caught the entrepreneurial bug but one with a servant’s heart. I would iron clothes for an older couple from church and they would pay me. I loved the idea of making money while helping others. At 15, I was in an inaugural program called Memphis Partners which focused on youth development. It was through this program that I landed my first real job which was working a Federal Express in the Human Resources Department for one of the top executives in the company. I became a sponge learning from a well-respected person and I learned so much about being professional and prompt; how to treat employees; how to communicate effectively; solving problems; and more in just over a span of two months during the summer.
My company, Victory Group, is a true reflection of who I am and who I’ve always been. Victory Group is a strategic communication, community relations and educational consulting firm. It reflects my professional and educational background as a journalist, communications professional, working for non-profits, and an educator.
While a journalism student at Texas Southern University, I served as the editor-in-chief of the TSU Herald Newspaper, the official student publication. I ran that office like a business with office hours, a staff of reporters and even an office manager. For two consecutive years, we consistently produced a quality monthly publication. This is when my world of business and the art of storytelling met. I worked as a Mickey Leland Congressional Intern on The Hill in Washington, DC during my senior year of college-an unforgettable experience. After graduation, my first job was the Associate Director of Communications for a non-profit organization in Washington, DC and later served as the Interim Director of Media/Public Relations for my alma mater. All of this was accomplished under the age of 30. From my college years to graduation, I made sure I made myself marketable by working in almost every area that I could utilize my skills-radio, tv, newspaper, non-profit organization, you name it and I did it. It was time to market myself in an industry and a profession that was non-traditional for ME and that was education.
Being a teacher was not my plan, but I knew that I wanted to reach the youth and impact their lives in a way that many of my former teachers impacted my life. In 2009, I became a certified journalism and English teacher in Texas I did a short teaching stint back in the late 1990s but it clearly wasn’t time for me to stay in the field. When I received my teaching certification, I taught the fun subjects-the electives such as journalism, yearbook, debate, creative writing, broadcast journalism, newspaper and photojournalism at the inner-city high schools. I loved it because there was never a dull moment in my classroom, and I was molding young minds. As a high school teacher, you just can’t be a classroom teacher, you have to sponsor clubs and organizations because this helps you to reach the students more in a non-academic way. I sponsored the National Honor Society, Student Council, Yearbook, Volunteer Club, and many others.
After a successful ten years as a classroom teacher with a successful career path as a master of communication, I started Victory Group but not without some road bumps along the way and over the years especially failed with attempts to operate a full-service business since 2004. The name changed 3 or 4 times. I had a business partner for almost three years which ended amicably. Finally, in 2019, I decided to leave what most people would consider “job security” and I decided to operate Victory Group as a full-time business. I resigned from the largest school district in Texas. Prior to making this move, I prayed for years to be able to do what I love and be able to impact more people that those I came in contact with from being a classroom teacher-only reaching the students who were on my roster. I wanted a larger roster but I did not want to be an administrator such as an assistant principal, dean or principal. That was not my ministry. I knew that I wanted my company to reflect me-Victoria Gray-and it does!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being a business owner has not been a smooth road. After leaving my secure job, I had to convince schools and school districts to hire my company as an outside vendor. I had to convince businesses that we could handle their public relations and programs to help close achievement gaps in literacy and also help with college readiness. We had to have a solid plan. This was a process in itself, but it meant that Victory Group had to have everything in place that a Fortune 500 business needed or any legitimate business for that matter. The process of becoming a vendor or doing business with a major industry leader included blood, sweat and tears-more tears than anything and an unshakeable faith. We had to have business insurance, business references, business bank accounts, business website, business this, business that, just everything! And, it was a race against the clock. My last paycheck from my “secure job” was July 24, 2019. I knew I needed the contracts, not so much because I needed the money now that I was functioning full time, but I needed the contracts so that I could prove to the companies that Victory Group could produce results. I needed to work the plan and working the plan meant I had to hustle for business. It does not fall into your lap from the sky. Being a full-time business owner means your road may never be smooth; you have to constantly hustle for your business, your clients, your consultants, your family, your interns, and anyone who is watching you at a distance. You have to be relentless in your efforts. The struggles make me reflect often about who and what is important in this world.
Please tell us about Victory Group.
Victory Group is consulting firm specializing in strategic communications, community relations, and education. I know that seems broad but if people think about my past experiences and my areas of expertise, they will see that my company specializes in what I have loved for many years. I have taken the areas that I have received extensive training, both educationally and professionally, and created my company. In the strategic communications department, we offer services in content development, creative and strategic messaging, social media management, public/media relations, graphic design, crisis communication, video/audio production, and writing/editing. The community relations focus exists because community is involved in everything we do especially if we are creating viable programs for businesses or organizations. The community piece gives our company a non-profit feel but we are a for-profit business. Our educational department includes the literacy programs and college readiness programs that we offer to school districts and schools, primarily high schools but we are strongly considering adding middle schools. We are set apart from other companies because of our unique structure. We don’t have employees but we have consultants and subcontractors. This gives our team members an opportunity to function as entrepreneurs. We hire only HBCU interns because we want HBCU students to be presented with opportunities to be nurtured, groomed and positioned for success in the fields of communication, public relations, marketing, business and education. Our interns do not have to live in Houston. We included the virtual model in our business structure before people were forced to work at home due to the pandemic. We have a literacy program called Acceleration Over Remediation. The success of this program is due to the fact that we believe in accelerating students in order for them to achieve academic success. If a student is in the 9th grade but reads on a 5th grade level, we are not giving that student 5th grade work. We aren’t giving them 9th grade work either. The success rate of this program is extremely high.
I am most proud of teaming up with noted author, Shaytee Gadson, who serves as our Executive Creative Director. The decision to partner with him helped to develop our unique literacy programs that we offer. Using his intellectual property, we have created a curriculum has helped to close achievement gaps. We have created The Rough Writers, the first of its kind program in the country where an author has been training students who to become published authors before they graduate from high school. Most recently, since the global pandemic, the students have pivoted to writing about how COVID-19 has irreversibly changed their lives. Our interns help with growing this program. Because I will forever be tied to empowering youth, my latest program, THRIVE, will one day become a nationally recognized college readiness program. THRIVE is essentially the HBCU pipeline. We identify high school sophomores and they will remain in the program until they graduate from the HBCU of their choice. We have our first cohort and I am proud to say that this program will become a non-profit organization this year (2020). In a nutshell, our outside of the box creativity and sustainability of what we produce sets us apart from others. We have our in-house communications team for the programs and plans we create. And, we like winning and we love it when others win too.
Victory Group is a certified Minority/Women Owned Business Enterprise with the City of Houston, the National and Houston Minority Supplier Development Council, and listed as a Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) in Texas.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory was a high school memory of performing. I was a member of the Speech and Drama Club and being in this club was an outlet for me to be as creative as one wanted to be. I was trained to think and perform quickly on my feet-to improvise and to be a visionary but also to carry out the plan-the vision. I competed in tournaments on the weekends against other high school students around the city in the following categories: dramatic interpretation, humorous interpretation, poetry, prose, improvisational acting and duet acting. One year I performed a humorous winning piece from Langston Hughes from one of his characters named Simple, and I took home first place trophies that year. The following year, I decided to switch from humorous interpretation to dramatic interpretation and performed a piece from the novel Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber which was later made into a movie in the 70s.
In my performance, I portrayed 7 of the multiple personalities that Sybil displayed. She had a dissociative identity disorder as a result of childhood trauma. I could never win a first place trophy with this piece, though my competitors were often intimidated by my performance, because I became lax with developing my skills as a performer. Sadly, I got the big head and I was not humble. This was a favorite childhood memory for me because it helped me to realize that you have to put in the hard work no matter how good you think you may be at something. You have to humble yourself. You have to set aside egotistical ways if you want to be respected in whatever it is you do, and you have to reflect on self.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.victorygroupvg.com
- Phone: 8328310494
- Email: info@victorygroupvgcom
- Instagram: @victorygroupvg
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vgvictorygroup/
- Twitter: @vickeegrayvg
Image Credit:
Photo Credit: Cassandra Brooks only on the photo with me in the THRIVE shirt with another person on the left and I’m on the right.
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