Meet Dr. Calvin T. Mann | President of EMIY Inc and Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Calvin T. Mann and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Calvin T., can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I’m just one of ten children from my father Rev. Columbus Mann Sr. Who was signed by Motown as a gospel musician.
My mother Olliebell and Dad had a record label back in 1968. I learned so much growing up from my mom who was amazing with people. I grew up on 8 mile in Detroit and Royal Oak Twp. The men raised me after my parents divorced. What a way to grow up with men everywhere in my life.. sports played a major factor as I watched my uncle Don who was an all American at Ferndale High School whom we would later coach together at the high school.
The impact of this upbringing yielded me a great opportunity to love and appreciate community service and giving back. I learned so much in life right there on 8 mile!

Our vision has been to improve the lives of youth and families. EMIY Inc and EMIY Apparel are both working to change lives. The nonprofit organization EMIY Inc has helped over 16,000 boys since 2007 through reading, speaking, mentoring and awareness. Did you know boys 5-11 are dying by suicide? We do so we launched our Smash Suicide Campaign to raise awareness through out Michigan.

We launched EMIY Apparel for children from youth to teens to inspire them to use encouragement to inspire, stop bullying, and uplift each other daily. Our apparel has also inspired the child inside adults that didn’t get encouraged.
We use the sales to pour back into the nonprofit and the conservation of eagles. The apparel has been seen on Run’s House Season 4, NFL Network, Michigan State Basketball, Iowa State Basketball, and multiple professional athletes.
This has not been a easy when we started we just wanted to help families who lost children to violence and early death by laying EMIY T-SHIRTS where children were killed from 2004-2018 when my neice was murdered by the abandoned Cooley High School in Detroit.
I’ve also seen some unbelievable results from our work as well as incredible stories and performances.
One of the biggest things I’ve learned was to keep growing. Failure is an inevitable consequence and it will teach you to grow in ways only God can explain. I also learned that research is important to your vision, many things have come before you ever discovered your concept so make sure you understand research.
Our brand has been life changing to so many different people in so many different ways. Here’s a story to share. I was down one day and a friend saw I was in the dumps giving up on the work. That day he called me and shared how the T-shirt I had given him while he was in the hospital became his motivation to fight his illness while being hospitalized for months, he said “Everyday I started at that t-shirt and asked God what did he want me to do.” He then said he came out to help more children. Rest in peace Coach Lenny Moo.
This is one of hundreds of reasons why if I had young children I would put them in our EMIY our vision is growing. We have launched a literacy campaign for boys 3-7 and using crowdfunding to help us pull it off our Reading Is Life Campaign. You can help us by sharing this article. Thank you

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If a friend visited me some of the places I would take them, Mexican Village which is one is my go to areas because everyone should have a little Mexican food. Also, I would take him to Cutters, which is a nice eatery with a nice mellow laid back atmosphere and then I would go to is Como‘s Pizza in Ferndale and then I think the next spot that really accentuates Detroit is Baker’s Keyboard lounge, the Oldest jazz lounge in America.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people I would love to give a shout to And if I could go back the first people would be Lisa and Kelsey who allowed me to work in the daycare in 1992 where God would give me a vision to help Youth.I also like to give a shout out to Clarence Barbour Tony Franklin Raheem Anderson Curtis Mann, Corey Lucas, Brian Allen Vincent wolf Crystal Gunn, Zach Hart, Latrice McClendon, Larry Wells, Cornell Mann Chris Vinton, and so many more.. these are just a few people that I normally don’t say much about but they have all contributed significantly in my life.

Website: https://Emiyapparel.com

Instagram: @emiyapparel

Youtube: https://YouTube.com/EMIYTV

Other: Emiyworld.com
@emiyworld_
Calvintmann.com