Carrie Connects Antoinne Duane Jones: ΖΦΒΣ Sat Down to Talk About Mental Health

Clarity from the Heart™ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Carrie Connects™ | Blue and White Edition Recap | May 24, 2026If you missed tonight’s special Blue and White Edition of Carrie Connects™ with Antoinne Duane Jones, the replay is live and this one deserves your full attention.Antoinne is a traveling photographer with 21 years of experience, founder of Majority Greek Magazine, member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. for 27 years, co-host of The Opinionated Podcast with Cocoa Brown, and one of the most honest voices on Black men’s mental health I have ever had the privilege of sitting across from.As a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., this Blue and White Edition in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month was personal for me. And Antoinne showed up for every second of it.Men Do Not Need a Safe Place. They Need a Sacred One.The line that stopped the entire conversation came when Antoinne shared something a therapist said at a men’s mental health event he had just attended.Men do not need a safe place. They need a sacred one.The difference matters. Safe implies protection from judgment. Sacred implies that what you bring into that space is treated as something holy, something that will not be minimized, mocked, or used against you. That is the environment Antoinne has spent years trying to build for Black men through his Brothers Do Brunch events, his fatherhood programming, and his willingness to stand on stage and say out loud that he has struggled with depression.When he does that, he said, the light bulbs go off like fireworks in the room. Men who have never said those words out loud suddenly realize they are not alone.We Are in Civil Rights 2.0Antoinne did not shy away from the urgency of this moment. When asked why civic education and Black history preservation feel more pressing than ever, he said something that landed hard.If you close your eyes and think about the political environment, the racial environment, the work environment right now and ask yourself what year it feels like, most people would not say 2026. They would say somewhere around 1970. We are in Civil Rights 2.0. And if we go any further back we are in pre-voting rights territory.That context is why his political education series bringing elected officials into real conversations with Black communities is not just programming. It is infrastructure.Being a Full-Time Entrepreneur Is Like Being a HunterOne of the most relatable moments of the night came when Antoinne talked about the mental health challenges of entrepreneurship itself.Being a full-time entrepreneur, he said, is like being a hunter. You do not eat if you do not kill. Not everyone is built for that. And the beginning of this year was hard because when people are worried about gas prices and paying bills, how many photos are they booking?He said it plainly: sometimes people tell him to just go get a job. And he said he would probably get fired in ten minutes. As soon as they told him he clocked in at 8:01 instead of 8:00 he would be done.The audience laughed. But the honesty underneath it was real. Entrepreneurship is a mental health conversation that does not get had enough.The Pillars of the Black CommunityAntoinne closed with a tribute to Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. that gave the Blue and White Edition its full meaning.He said that if you peel away the layers and look at the pillars of the Black community, you will find members of these organizations. Councilmen. Representatives. Senators. Mayors. Doctors. Judges. Lawyers. The infrastructure of Black leadership has always had Greek letter organizations at its foundation.Twenty seven years a Sigma. And still diving deeper.Go Watch the Replay and Connect With AntoinneThe replay is live across all platforms. Watch it, share it, and then go find Antoinne Duane Jones on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, and Substack. Support his photography business at ADJ Media. Listen to The Opinionated Podcast with Cocoa Brown. And follow Majority Greek Magazine.He is doing beautiful work. Bold work. And he proved it on this stage.Carrie Connects™ airs every Saturday at 2:00 PM CST | 3:00 PM EST Hosted by Coach Carrie Willis | A Clarity From The Heart™ Production Real Conversations. Real Connections. 💗Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get full access to Clarity from the Heart™ at gr8finances.substack.com/subscribe