Andrea was born and raised in Spartanburg South Carolina where she is the Founder and Executive Director of Bloom Upstate Inc.

Growing up in a single parent home, Andrea is a second-generation fatherless child. As a child, she faced many adversities associated with being fatherless that contributed to her feeling of unworthiness. Those adversities exemplified the fact that all children need their father and her quest to make sure no child must experience such dark feelings. Andrea experienced what her college professor called “the black hole”. This hole is explained as a hole in a child’s mind, body, and soul in the shape of their father. At age 28 she was given her father’s name in the form of a letter. This letter incited her healing, this letter was the beginning of her journey to wholeness.

Knowing who you are, brings a wholeness to oneself that is a spiritual blessing from above. It allows a child to bloom, to thrive, and to conquer! This realization birthed Bloom Upstate, a non-profit organization created to support fatherless girls, young women, and families by helping them develop holistically into all that God wants them to be.

At Bloom Upstate, we’re all about “Relationships” and the positive impact that an invested adult can have on the development of well rounded, healthy children. “Relationships truly make all the difference”.

As a not-for-profit NGO, we believe that irrespective of having no father, and no matter how far away the hope of fatherless kids seems to be, they can still overcome their challenges, build healthy relationships with others and move toward a positive wellbeing. Bloom Upstate’s supportive team strongly opines that the change we all crave to see might be concealed in the minds of fatherless kids as they have the potential of championing the needed revolution.

Our activities at Bloom Upstate revolve around Family Support Services, Mentoring Program, Tutoring and Peer Groups.

Family: We believe that “Relationships Make All the Difference” and that mothers and fathers alike play an important role in the development of children. The value position of fathers is a very important aspect of growing up healthy, children deserve to have affectionate and loving experiences that create everlasting bonds. Children simply need fathers to invest their time. It is our hope that we can promote family resilience, encourage bonded healthy relationships, and end generational fatherlessness and poverty through proactive activities.

Education: We give cognizance to personalized education and ensure that those who’re deprived of fatherly attention are equipped with adequate learning experience (the essential knowledge and right information) that is needed to pursue their goals.

Diligence and Integrity: We’re committed to working hard to meet our set objectives, and our operations are transparent enough to elicit people’s trust in us. This transparency favors the strengthening of the collective efforts of our donors and partners in the provision of quality life for girls and young women who are fatherless. Hence, we hold ourselves accountable for all we do.

Excellence: We endeavor to be excellent in all we do when it comes to helping young girls figure out their skills and talents which might not necessarily be for cognitive performance but also personal development. We fulfill our promises, and the delivery of our services goes beyond expectation.