Business

More Than Cloth : The Avi8ted Mindset of Charlton Woodyard II

WASHINGTON INFORMER — Growing up in Washington, D.C. in the ’90s wasn’t easy. With the influence of drugs and crime, one could easily find themselves on the wrong path. Charlton Woodyard II’s parents had a different idea that included private schools, martial arts, and a strict home environment that allowed him the space to fulfill his own destiny. He attributes these circumstances to what he now describes as an aviated mindset. He is sharing his philosophy with the world through his company, Avi8ted Holdings. They recently launched a clothing line, Avi8ted Thoughts, which promotes positive thinking and the idea that you can achieve beyond your wildest dreams.

Published

5 years ago

July 29, 2019

Oakland Post

Lafayette Barnes IV

Growing up in Washington, D.C. in the ’90s wasn’t easy. With the influence of drugs and crime, one could easily find themselves on the wrong path. Charlton Woodyard II’s parents had a different idea that included private schools, martial arts, and a strict home environment that allowed him the space to fulfill his own destiny. He attributes these circumstances to what he now describes as an aviated mindset. He is sharing his philosophy with the world through his company, Avi8ted Holdings. They recently launched a clothing line, Avi8ted Thoughts, which promotes positive thinking and the idea that you can achieve beyond your wildest dreams.

A purebred Washingtonian, Charlton Woodyard II was born in Southeast Washington, DC at Washington Hospital Center in 1987. While in elementary school, his family moved to K St. Northwest where crippling poverty was flagrant. Despite the conditions, having a grandfather who worked for NASA at Goddard, he was inspired to achieve in education. He was also inspired by martial arts, which at times got him in a bit of trouble at school. His teachers recommended that he take an aptitude test, which resulted in his parents sending him to Georgetown Day School (GDS) where he attended throughout the rest of his secondary education. His classmates included kids of Fortune 500 company CEOs and congressmen, which exposed him to a new lifestyle that he embraced.

As a student of martial arts, he enjoyed the practical and personal aspects and was inspired by Bruce Lee. His father signed his brother and him up for Tae Kwon Do and cultivated a competitive environment around physical fitness. His teacher, Sherman Spinks, who is a legend in the taekwondo community, developed the mental fortitude within him to understand the meaning of hard work. As Junior Olympics champions, he learned to push himself to do things he wasn’t aware he had the ability to do.

What is Avi8ted?

Avi8ted Thoughts, as a business and lifestyle company, is a subsidiary of Avi8ted Holdings, an impact investment and business development company. The goal of Avi8ted Holdings is to develop an ecosystem that provides resources where ideas can thrive. The first business is Avi8ted Thoughts, a clothing company.

According to Charlton, Avi8ted is grounded in the concept of the law of attraction.

“An Avi8ted thought is one that is pure and positive, necessary and eternal,” he says.

Charlton would prefer to ask, what does it mean to you? He describes is as a “divine dream or purpose”, which shouldn’t be boxed in as it is very personal to each individual. He was able to ask artist and celebrity Jaden Smith about what an Avi8ted Thought meant to him. He answered that it’s a mission to provide a better human experience.

Charlton understands that this concept is a big leap. He doesn’t want to inundate people with such a large burden of responsibility. “Making the world a better place doesn’t happen in one day”, he said. He wants people to understand that they first can make their personal world a better place by understanding the constructs that exist and how they interact with them.

“Avi8ted Thoughts, the clothing brand serves as the uniform we can all point to as the way to connect”, said Charlton.

He recently released his first line with the “Follow the Sun” capsule collection. In his words, “the sun, both literally and metaphorically, is something you would want to follow considering it is the thing that gives us life on earth. But also it means to follow your light, follow the things that help you to grow.”

In 2018 he participated in the Remote Year program which allowed him to travel and study in various countries for months at a time and learn about global entrepreneurship. He visited Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, and Malaysia where he formed relationships that changed his thought process. He met two friends in Japan who introduced him to augmented reality which he included in his production process and can be seen in his “Follow the Sun” capsule.

Most recently, Avi8ted Thoughts has been able to partner with 202Creates as a resident of their creative entrepreneurship program headed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. With the added workspace and resources they’ve received a lot of help building the infrastructure. With almost a decade of planning, studying, networking, and grinding he’s finally seeing his vision come to fruition.

Meanwhile, Washington, D.C. has also become one of the most physically fit cities in America. The Avi8ted Thoughts brand represents a lot of that idea.

“Wellness is a huge part of the brand”, said Charlton.

The influence of martial arts has been maintained throughout his brand. He believes that hard work is what it will take to get us ahead. Charlton cited how the ancient pyramids in Egypt were built with the mindset that people can achieve things greater than they know. He wants to project those ideals with his brand.

“You have to master yourself and find your inner rhythm before you’re able to affect the world,” said Charlton.

Charlton credits his team with putting a strong plan in place that he believes will create a lasting impression. Although the price-point is more expensive then most he believes that once people understand the mission behind the brand there will be a lot of support. The Avi8ted team reaches from D.C. to Los Angeles, CA., Atlanta, GA., and even Japan. “In a start-up, everyone is responsible for everything,” said Charlton. “These are a group of people who have “Avi8ted” themselves for this time….for us it was always about longevity”. His team helps to reel in his ambitious dreams and work to make them possible.

Currently the “Follow the Sun” capsule collection is being released in phases with the first being the “Sunrise” tee in AM (white) and PM (black). The collection debuted at their launch event on June 29 at Beyond Studios. More pop-ups are planned that will feature socks, button-ups, and shorts, all featuring the AR technology and pure and positive energy. To find out more about Avi8ted Thoughts visit www.avi8tedthoughts.com.

This post originally appeared in The Washington Informer.

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‘Jim Crow Was and Remains Real in Alameda County (and) It Is What We Are Challenging and Trying to Fix Every Day,’ Says D.A. Pamela Price

“The legacy of Jim Crow is not just a legacy in Alameda County. It’s real. It is what is happening and how (the system is) operating, and that is what we are challenging and trying to fix every day,” said D.A. Price, speaking to the Oakland Post by telephone for over an hour last Saturday. “Racial disparities in this county have never been effectively eliminated, and we are applying and training our lawyers on the (state’s) Racial Justice Act, and we’re implementing it in Alameda County every day,” she said.

Published

36 mins ago

November 2, 2024

Oakland Post

Exclusive interview with County D.A. Price days before recall election. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

Part One

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price gave an exclusive in-depth interview, speaking with the Oakland Post about the continuing legacy of Jim Crow injustice that she is working to overturn and her major achievements, including:

restoring and expanding services for victims of crime,
finding funding for an alternative to incarceration and/or prosecution for substance use and mental health-related misdemeanors and
aggressively prosecuting corporations for toxic pollution and consumer violations.

“Racial disparities in this county have never been effectively eliminated, and we are applying and training our lawyers on the (state’s) Racial Justice Act, and we’re implementing it in Alameda County every day,” she said.

Passed by the State Legislature, this law “is an extremely helpful tool for us to address the racial disparities that continue to exist in our system,” she said.

(The law addresses) “the racial disparities that we find in our juvenile justice system, where 86% of all felony juvenile arrests in the county are Black or Brown children.

“We trained the entire workforce on the Racial Justice Act. We are creating a data system that will allow us to look at the trends and to clearly identify where racism has infected the process. We know that where law enforcement is still engaging in racial profiling and unfair targeting and arresting, we’re trying to make sure we’re catching that.”

Many people do not know much about the magnitude of Alameda County District Attorney’s job. Her office is a sprawling organization with 10 offices serving 1.6 million people living in 14 cities and six unincorporated areas, with a budget this year of about $104 million.

Asked about her major achievements since she took office last year, she is especially proud of the expanded and renewed victims’ services division in the DA’s Office, she said.

“We have expanded and reorganized the entire claims division so that we are now expediting as much as possible the benefits that victims are entitled to. Under my predecessor, they were having to wait anywhere, sometimes as long as a year, to 400 days to get benefits.

“Claims had been denied that should not have been denied. So, we’re helping people file appeals on claims that were denied under her tenure,” D.A. Price said.

“Under my predecessor, (the victims’ service office) was staffed by people who were not trained to provide trauma-informed services to victims, and yet they were the only people that the victims were in contact with. We immediately stopped that practice,” she continued.

“We had to expand the advocate workforce to include people who speak Hmong, the indigenous language of so many people in this county who are victims of crime.”

More African Americans advocates were hired because they represent the largest percentage of crime victims and we hired a transgender advocate and advocates who speak Cantonese and Mandarin. “The predominantly Chinese American community in Oakland was not being served by advocates who speak the language,” said D Price

“We reduced the lag time from the delivery of benefits to victims from 300 to 400 days down to less than 60 days.”

She increased victim advocacy by 38%, providing critical support to over 22,500 victims, a key component of community safety.

Other major achievements:

She recently filed 12 felony charges against a man accused of multiple armed robberies, demonstrating her seriousness about prosecuting violent crimes
In October, a jury delivered a guilty verdict in the double murder trial of former Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Devin Williams, showing DA Price’s commitment to holding law enforcement accountable.
She recently charged a man and woman in unincorporated San Leandro with murder, felony unlawful firearm activity, and felony carrying a loaded firearm in public.
A. Price’s office was awarded a $6 million grant by the state for its CARES Navigation Center diversion program. In partnership with the UnCuffed Project at a Seventh Day Adventist Church in Oakland, the program provides resources and referrals for services to residents as an alternative to incarceration and/or prosecution for substance use and mental health-related misdemeanors.

“This is the largest grant investment in the history of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office,” said D.A. Price.

She explained that the program now has a mobile unit. “We have washers and dryers. We have a living room. We have a television. It’s a place where people can decompress, get themselves stabilized,” she said.

The project has “the ability to refer people to housing, to more long-term mental health services, to social services, and to assist them in other ways.”

Her office joined in a $49 million statewide settlement with Kaiser Health Plan and Hospitals, resolving allegations that the healthcare provider unlawfully disposed of hazardous waste, medical waste, and protected health information. The settlement, which involved the state and a half dozen counties, resulted in Alameda County receiving $7 million for its residents.
DA Price charged a former trucking company employee for embezzling over $4.3 million, showing her commitment to tackling white-collar crime.
For the first time, Alameda County won a criminal grand jury indictment of a major corporation with two corporate officers that have been sources of pollution. “They had a record of settlements and pollution in this community, and they had a fire that constituted a grave danger,” she said.

Attorney Walter Riley contributed to this article.

See Part Two

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Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

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24 hours ago

November 1, 2024

Oakland Post

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Chevron Reports Progress in Flaring, Emissions at Community Town Hall

At the first in a series of community town halls on Oct. 16, Chevron Richmond reported a reduction in year-over-year flaring incidents, both in number and duration, and detailed new technologies and processes that will further drive down emissions and heighten community awareness about operations. Chevron employees also answered questions from the community and listened to concerns at the town hall, which was hosted by Ceres Policy Research and held at CoBiz in downtown Richmond.

Published

5 days ago

October 28, 2024

Oakland Post

Community member Kathleen Sullivan speaks at the Chevron town hall. Photo courtesy Richmond Standard.

By Mike Aldax

The Richmond Standard

Chevron employees also answered questions from the community and listened to concerns at the town hall, which was hosted by Ceres Policy Research and held at CoBiz in downtown Richmond.

Similar town halls will be held twice per year over the next five years as part of a settlement agreement with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD).

The goal is to increase transparency about flaring and increase opportunities for the community to get answers to their questions about potential impacts to the community.

A key output is the creation of a Community Action Plan, or CAP. The CAP aims to create a two-way dialogue between Chevron and neighbors around flaring and environmental compliance.

“Chevron’s focus in this process is one of learning and engagement,” said Brian Hubinger, public affairs manager at Chevron Richmond. “We felt the most efficient way was to bring together a broad selection of community members rather than just think about what it would take to comply with the settlement agreement.”

The first town hall drew a few dozen members of the community, including Chevron employees, representatives of fence-line neighborhoods and members of local environmental organizations.

During the event, Chevron employees reported that 19 BAAQMD-reportable flaring incidents occurred at the refinery from October 2022 to September 2023 with a total duration of 270 hours. During the same period this year, 18 flaring incidents occurred with a total duration of 159 hours, marking a 41% decrease in duration.

Further gains are expected with the implementation of Flare IQ, set to be installed this year and next on all of the refinery’s flaring systems. Flare IQ is described as a supercomputer with an algorithm that gathers data from operations and enables employees to address potential issues before they occur.

Chevron also reported a 40% decrease in particulate matter emissions since the completion of the refinery modernization project in 2018.

In addition, flare gas volume related to Chevron’s new hydrogen plant project, built as part of the modernization project, decreased by 85% since 2019. The hydrogen plant has also reportedly made the refinery 20% more efficient.

“We’re really proud about that,” said Kris Battleson, manager of health, safety and environment at Chevon Richmond.

Neighborhood council leaders joined the president of the local NAACP in lauding the effort toward transparency and accountability. Among them was Vernon Whitmore, president of the Sante Fe Neighborhood Council and member of the 15-person CAP committee.

“The way we were able to talk openly and freely with Chevron – honestly, bluntly and frankly – while developing this program was very good,” Whitmore said. “And it was something that was well-needed at this time.”

Still, residents are skeptical, including Kathleen Sullivan, a longtime community advocate who also serves on the CAP committee. But she added, “you can’t complain about something and not be involved in the solution.”