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Orechia Towers

Alumni | F. L. Schlagle High School, Class of 2000

My name is Orechia Mckinzy Towers, born and raised in Wyandotte County KS, where I attended public school. I am a proud graduate of F.L. Schlagle High School, class of 2000. I was a Peer- Helper, ran track, song in the choir and a school reporter for “Schlagle Update” news. I gained my B.A. in performing arts from the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC). I was in or a part of (did back ground work behind the scenes) several plays while attending UMKC. One of our biggest plays was called “Quindaro,” based on the history of the Quindaro Ruins. I was given the honor and privilege to play a major role alongside actor Bill Cobbs. I was also one of the very few actors from Wyandotte County acting in that certain production.

A few years later. I decided to pursue my Masters Degree in Information Technology with a minor in Assurance and Security. I applied for several jobs for 2 years straight in that field and could not get hired anywhere, so I decided to start my own business (Blqck Cyber Security & Information Technology Consulting Firm) and work for myself. I started out giving a lot of free services, this helped me work to gain the experience, get my name out there and gain the confidence needed to build a solid platform for myself, and even though my business is currently growing, I still give out free services to people who aren’t that tech savvy and those who aren’t as fortunate as others.

During June of 2020, COVID-19 hit. People were out of jobs or their hours were getting cut. Myself and another young lady by the name of Tameka Griffin started a COVID FREE Vendor’s market “pop up shop “outside on the historic streets of Quindaro Blvd called “We Buy BlaKCK”, newly named the “BlaKCK MarQet”. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing, we just wanted to help people survive financially, while trying to prevent everyone from getting sick. Our first event that we hosted, we had over 60 Vendors to sign-up, we took everyone’s temperature and had them wear a mask, and taught vendor classes on how to be a successful vendor with our organization, before putting them out there on the streets. By our 3rd event that year, we had over 100 Vendors, but we wanted to do more than just put Vendors on the street. We wanted to teach them how to actually do business and learn how to work for themselves, so we taught business classes, we hosted educational events by inviting other successful business owners to speak, or they took business classes on their own and we continued to host our vendors market pop- up shops. The purpose was not to just get money, but also learn how to buy and sell from each other, learn business credit, how to register as a minority business and learning how to survive during tough times. By the summer of 2021, we did not allow Vendors to just setup on the streets without at least having an EIN or a Business License. Today in 2024, more than half of those Vendor’s are successful business owners, businesses like Holy Smokez, Kesha Kandi Apples, The Jehgna Klub, The Turkey Leg Man, Madison Tow Company, Parallel Clothing Co, Nelson’s Lemonade just to name a few, where all Vendors that started with us and is still growing & going strong. Our organization and any of my businesses or solely built to empower my community, give hope, and help them to establish and sustain as a productive person and or business owner and with God, all things are possible. He has definitely given me a reason to believe.