The Morning Sips was started by it’s founder, Preston Martin, who initiated an intimate bible study during grad school. At the same time, he did not understand the challenges of mental health nor what he was going through as he isolated himself from familiar faces and people. He began to lean more into his faith by reading the Bible more frequently and sharing his thoughts / summaries with close friends and family. As time progressed, he shared these ongoing synopsis with even more people through a text message he then coined as the “Morning Sips Message”. For 10 years he shared these messages, creating a community of people (identifying in various ways) who shared in the interest of motivation and inspiration through spiritual reading. 

In 2014, Preston had a life altering change which sent him spiraling into what was later identified as depression. Preston felt alone and isolated from his surroundings in spite of the ongoing Morning Sips Messages he provided to the community. He suffered in silence for 4 years until he sought help from a licensed therapist. Those around him were dramatically affected and Preston had no way of seeing the lasting effects he had on the ones close to him. After 2 therapists and months of multiple sessions, he was identified as having severe depression and high functioning anxiety. Again, not knowing was concerning to him. He then realized, after talking to a large amount of men, that he was not the only one going through similar things but no one else talked about them. The identification of a black male was based on strength, and silence. So anything that caused you as a black man to look weak, you did not do; showing feelings and emotions are some of them.

In 2019, Preston decided that silence was no longer an option for black men. It was time for this particular community to see a new vision for themselves and realize that being outwardly communicative about their feelings and emotions will allow an inner peace, break internal battles and decrease the deadly war within oneself. He started a virtual discussion space called “The Morning Sips Café” during the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic with Darius Williams, and opened the floor to anyone, specifically black men, to talk about a variety of topics that are typical discussion points in an everyday conversation. These discussions led to 2 more team members (Shaquon Howard and Naas Yancey), an increase in topics, and so much more. Amazingly enough, after two very different Cafe’s, Preston was given the news that a few gentlemen were having thoughts of committing suicide because of their different circumstances. If it wasn’t for the Café conversations, and the identifiable group of men, they would have carried out their plan.

The Morning Sips is currently growing as an organization and finding more effective ways to be present for the men that need an outlet. The organization is building partnerships with local therapists, counselors and businesses to guide those in need of resources and a starting place for help.