The Princess of Peoria

March 8, 2009 - PRLog -- The Princess of Peoria
Rising above the odds

By J. North
Northern Exposure

         March 8, 2009 Peoria, IL -- For the second largest city in Illinois - the adopted state of President Barack Obama, Peoria has also been known for things that are contrary to achieving the "American Dream". Crime and teenage pregnancy have become intrinsic elements of the city's population without prejudice, resonating through the best and worst communities of the city.
         But in the midst of controversy and an increasing sense of hopelessness, an incontrovertible star, shining as a beacon of hope, has emerged out of the dismal abyss - the Carmack experience.
         Vanessa Carmack was born in Peoria, Illinois, in an era of American history that was filled with prejudicially charged and racially biased communities. Along with her siblings, Carmack was faced with many of the challenges of today's youth with one significant exception. Vanessa Carmack was a product of a bi-racial family. Because of this, Carmack's challenges increased substantially as she searched for her own identity from discriminate groups of the opposing cultures.
         Carmack recalls, "I think the immediate adversity that many children face with my background could obviously be a tremendous hindrance if permitted. The difference was that my parents did not make us feel like we were different or unique, regardless of what others may have attempted to make us feel. And for us, that was enough. My mother refused to allow us to live under an umbrella of excuses burdened by the opinions of others. She impressed upon us that we were special regardless of what our gene pool contained. I felt that I represented the best of both worlds - African American and Euro-American alike. But that's not to deny that I had my share of emotional and psychological challenges in the process of growing into myself."
         Carmack married at a young age and soon found herself with three young children. Society, again, made a difficult time in life even worse by condemning her young relationship and family at such an emaciated period of her life.
         Slowly, the pressure began to affect the marriage. Peoria, the city that Carmack had grown up to consider home, became a weight that neither could sustain if they elected to remain. In an effort to extricate themselves from the negative influences and in hopes of salvaging a floundering marriage, the couple decided to move to Atlanta, Georgia. But Atlanta rapidly evolved into a living euphemism for jumping from the "frying pan into the fire." Now faced with greater influences deriving out of the social wiles of “Hotlanta, the once self-sustaining and individually-motivated Carmack found herself without a husband, a job, obvious skill-sets with supporting experience, and no “immediate direction."
         "It was one of the lowest points of my life. I moved out of the house because I felt that it would be best. We collectively decided to allow the children to remain with him so that our challenges would not disrupt their education and I found a place in Alpharetta. The only problem was that I, individually, was broke and falling deeper in debt. I was confused and depressed. I could not understand how I ended up in this position," shared Carmack. "But then I began to recall those things that my mother shared with me as a child. At my lowest point, broke, at the point of homelessness, and feeling like the worst mother in the world to my daughters, I began to tap into those younger days in Peoria. I began to remember the challenges that I successfully overcame in my youth that many others had succumbed to. I began to tap into Peoria, the essence of my being, and I began to look at life from a much different perspective. I began to understand that I was greater than this."
         Carmack began to ascend in every area of her life, personal and professional.
After working a number of jobs that often ended due to layoffs and cutbacks, Carmack began to realize that she wanted to take control of her fate instead of leaving it in the hands of others. She created poshplatinum.com, LLC - a marketing, advertising and promotional firm. Carmack explains, "If I couldn't do anything else, I could promote me. I began to acquire companies and the psychology behind my professional approach was that each one of my clients represented me. Failure was no longer an option for me; nor would it be for my clients. If I believed and operated as if I was destined for greatness, they would be managed under the same premise. It just worked."
         Today, Carmack is happily re-married, residing in a prominent part of Atlanta with her three children. All of this while managing one of the most aggressive and innovative marketing agencies in the country. She has also initiated one of the most astounding campaigns under the concert industry called the Ultimate Dream Concert.
         This site empowers music fans with the ability to create the "Ultimate Dream Concert" to be brought to select cities. Fans go online to www.ultimatedreamconcert.com and simply list their top choices for their favorite artist or band, and their ballot is entered and tabulated. Fans around the world are racing to the www.ultimatedreamconcert.com to voice their choices in hopes of the concert coming to their city. Music and concert industry professionals look at it as absolute genius. Carmack simply views it as her destiny. Industry-wide, she is being called the “Bill Gates of the Concert Industry”.
         In spite of some of the overwhelming negative connotations about Peoria, Vanessa
Carmack is a contradiction to the rule. Vanessa Carmack is bold, beautiful, and a visionary. But more than all of that, Vanessa Carmack out of Peoria, Illinois, is living proof that the key to achieving the impossible is simply: just believing.

For more information about poshplatinum.com, LLC, the Ultimate Dream Concert or Vanessa Carmack, inquiries may be submitted to info@poshplatinum.com or visit www.poshplatinum.com. Fans interested in submitting their ballots for the Ultimate Dream Concert may do so at no cost by going to www.ultimate dreamconcert.com.