On Friday night after church the young people were in a frenzy.

Yes, God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Yes, we were happy to see one another.

However, when we gathered together to talk, it was about something new, something peculiar, something authentic.

It was about the Bethune Brothers.

Joseph Bethune, a member of our church, was mentioned in the New York Daily News on Sunday, May15 as a member of Harlem’s Fashion Row. According to the article, Harlem’s Fashion Row is one part networking group and one part fashion incubator which also offers seminars and conversation series. Harlem’s Fashion Row picked 6 of their top designers out of 15 to compete for a spot during fashion week this fall.

Joseph is among the six young African American designer’s who are competing for a show during fashion week in New York.

The founder of Bethune Brothers, grew up along with the rest of his siblings in the South Bronx. As someone apart of his church family, I noticed that Joseph was more quite and almost shy compared to his rough brothers.

On Friday, when the youth were talking about his clothing line and how excited they were for him, his mom chimed in that she taught him how to sew when he was younger.

In hope and anticipation for Joseph, many of us walked away vowing to vote for Joseph as soon as we got home. Especially my sister’s in Christ who know Joseph knows how hard it is for us to shop when looking for something modest.

I am happy for Joseph and hope he would be on the runway in Harlem this year.

Picking Joseph is like picking hope- not to sound ‘Obama’- hope for his parents who raised 15 children in the Bronx and gave them all they had and hope for his Church family who are hoping for designers who understand the concept of something modest but chic.

Vote for Joseph at http://harlemsfashionrow.com/