You’re probably not going to like hearing this, but you can’t make yourself into something you’re not. And if your life isn’t working for you, you need to face that and start doing things differently. That’s what Lionel T. Grimes learned the hard way in his life, how fear can hold you back from being so much and how you need to take responsibility for your life and your identity. In this episode, he joins his wife and host of the show, Dr. Kim Grimes, to share the journey that earned him these lessons. He shows us how to stop apologizing for our truths and start living them instead! We know that sometimes it can be hard to know what’s going on in your head, but we’re here to make it easier. If you feel like something is holding you back from being your most authentic self, tune in and see if it makes sense for you!
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How To Face Your Truth And Be Unapologetically You With Lionel T. Grimes
Welcome, everyone. Thank you for always loving on me and supporting us here at the show. I am so excited that you all keep following me, supporting me and loving me the way that you do. Thank you. I did the 1st episode by myself so this is the 3rd episode with our 2nd guest for our topic. You know what our topic is but in case you don’t, it is The Truth About You, Facing Your Truth. This is the topic for our series for the show.
We select a topic and find multiple guests to come on to speak about the topic. Why? It’s because we want you to hear from other people who had different perspectives and who walked different journeys in their life. That’s why we do it the way we do. Instead of having multiple topics, we keep it to a topic and look for 4 to 5 guests to speak on that topic.
We’re back talking about The Truth About You, Facing Your Truth. The fact is this and I’ve said it over and over again. The easiest person to deceive is the person in the mirror. It’s so much truth to that to the point that it will always be the person in the mirror that deceive you more than anyone else. How many times have you told yourself something that’s not true? 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10? We tell ourselves things that are not true a lot of times. How many times have you sold yourself on the worst idea or decision that you ever made? Take a moment and think about it.
What I want you to know is doing those bad decisions and ideas, we were there and you were there. You didn’t miss one of them. You weren’t absent from any of them. We have all done more to undermine our success, prosperity and progress. We have done so much more than anyone else on this planet to undermine our success in life. We deceive ourselves by lying to ourselves.
The question is, what’s wrong with us? What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with me? Why do we do this? Is there anything we can do about it? That’s what we’re here to talk about, to talk about the truth about you facing your truth. It’s your truth that you have to face. It’s the truth that I have to face. We have to face our truth. When we can face our truth, we can be whom we were created to be.
Before we jump into the discussion, let me share the definition of wisdom that I did on the last episode. I do this because everyone doesn’t jump in at the same episode. They jump into most current episodes. I want to make sure that everyone gets the gist of what we’re talking about. Book of Proverbs in the Bible, for those who are Bible scholars, you can find in the Bible itself, numerous definitions of the word Wisdom. I’m going to share the one from the book of Proverbs in the third chapter. It starts in verse 13:18.
This is the ESV version. Off the top of my head, I can’t even remember what ESV is. Google it and you can find it. It says, “Bless is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her prophets better than gold. She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long Life is in her right hand and her left hand is the richest and most honored. Her ways are ways of pleasant. All of her paths are peace.”
Let me share a famous pastor that I listened to and followed who shared definitions of wisdom. He said, “Wisdom is insight informed by the knowledge that life is connected.” His point is what happened yesterday impacts today and what happens today will impact tomorrow. Therefore, the decision you make today or yesterday impact today and the decision you make today will impact tomorrow because life is connected. That’s what he said. “Life is connected because the day impacts tomorrow and yesterday impacted today.”
When we make decisions, they’re not done in isolation. We make decisions every day and every single decision we make in some way or form of fashion is going to show up in the future. Wisdom surfaces when we ask ourselves, “How is my decision today going to impact me tomorrow?” Today shaped tomorrow and one thing leads to another. “Our past shows up in the future,” I said before. With that in mind, I’m inviting you to have this conversation with me along with the guest that I have.
I’m going to tell you about my special guest in a minute about facing your truth. Let’s talk about the truth about you. Not running from your truth but facing your truth. I started this episode by saying, “The easiest person to deceive is the person in the mirror.” Therefore, my ask is to tell yourself the truth. More specifically, tell yourself the truth about yourself. Face your truth. Tell yourself the truth about why you do what you do. Tell yourself the truth about why you don’t do what you ought to do. Tell yourself the truth about why you won’t stop doing what you’re doing.
Tell yourself the truth about what’s hurting you. Why you won’t stop doing what’s hurting you? Why you won’t stop lying to yourself? Tell yourself the truth about why you keep making excuses and why you keep going back. Tell yourself the truth about why you won’t leave. What I learned is this. When I lie to someone, it damages the relationship. What do you think happens when you lie to yourself? When you lie to yourself, you damage your relationship with yourself. When you lie to yourself, you are no longer your true self. You are no longer you. Instead, you are lying. Are you the truth or a lie? We can’t be both.
Before we dive into this conversation, I have to introduce you to our guest, which I am excited to introduce you to. This person plays a huge part in my life. This guest of ours that we have on the show, not only does impact my life but is a huge part of my life. I asked him to be on the show and he said yes. Let me tell you about this amazing guest of ours. I’m honored that he is a part of my life. I’m honored to have him in my life.
He has known me when I was that bitter, frustrated, angry and lost person. I met him in that mindset. I was in the mindset of manipulation and being angry with the world. Our guest knows about this part of my life intimately because he was there. This guest, when he met me in that space, instead of judging me, what he did was loved me. He helped me in so many ways for me to see my beauty.
I used to cuss, drink, smoke, party all the time and do my own thing. I was so angry at the loss of my first husband. I was mad at the world and at anybody who breathe. When I met this person, it wasn’t like love at first sight. In my mindset, I was out to get, manipulate, use and abuse him. I tell people many times that when I saw him, I’m going to hit it, quit it and keep on moving. What this person did in my life is when he saw me in that space, instead of judging and making me feel bad, he loved on me.
He would say things like, “You’re too beautiful to talk like that. You are too marvelous to act like that.” He helped me to see myself. With his help, I learned how to fall madly in love with myself and it started with him, which in turn caused me to teach him how to love me. This person that I’m talking about has been in my life for many years.
He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the United States Army. He has over 25 years of service. He retired back in 2011. This marvelous, amazing and handsome eye candy of a man is my husband and his name is Lionel T. Grimes. He’s my everything and my world. I want you to please welcome my best friend, Lionel T. Grimes. I don’t call him Lionel T. Grimes but I’m just saying Lionel T. Grimes for you because that’s his middle initial. Are you there, Lionel?
I am here, Kim. Thank you for that wonderful introduction. I appreciate that. I feel the love that you have for me and I feel the same way about you equally.
I know you do. This is my husband. I have asked him to be my guest on this show for this particular topic. I’m quite sure my husband knew that one day, I was going to ask him and he knows that my expectations are not a no but a yes. Lionel, I talked about how amazing you are and how I met you. Feel free to share a little about you, about us, how we met and fill in anything that I left out.
Kim and I were both in the military and we were at a conference. All the members of the conference were in civilian clothes so nobody knew what their rank was. Come to find out I was an officer and Kim was enlisted and that’s a no-go in the military. She happened to be in the same class as I was by coincidence so she wasn’t supposed to be there. She asked me out for a lunch. We went to lunch and saw each other from time to time around the post. We talked to each other a couple of times and then it fell off. One day I saw her, we were running by each other. We were doing PT and I was like, “Who is that?” We started calling each other back.
For those who are non-military, PT is Physical Training.
We start talking but we still had other interests in other people. It worked out in the long run. We’ve been together and married for many years. If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it the same way. That’s what I wanted to add to her story.
It is our story. As you know here, I call him babe more than I call him Lionel. For this purpose, I will do my darndest to make sure I call you Lionel. With that being said, let’s jump into the discussion. With this show, our readers know what we’re all about and it’s about helping people to be true to themselves and be their true selves. We owe no one an apology for being who we are. It is who I am that makes me so great and owning who I am. With that, let’s jump into the discussion about our topic. First, I want to ask you, what does it mean to you, Lionel, to be you unapologetically?
To be unapologetically me is to just be myself. Whenever I’m out, wherever I am and whomever I’m around, just be myself. Don’t put on airs or change in any way to make the other people that are around comfortable or being phony. I learned that from you, spending time with you and how you act. You all don’t know that Kim and I are total opposites.
You can see how bubbly, bright and cheery she is. She’s like that all the time and I’m the total opposite. I’m a recluse. I’m not one to go up and just talk to anybody. For me being unapologetic is being myself. If there’s a dinner party or a wedding reception, I’m going to sit there until somebody else comes over to me and starts talking.
Once they come over to me and strike up a conversation, I’m all in. I can joke and be myself but I’m not one of those who goes up and starts the conversation. Some people think that I’m unapproachable. As Kim will say, “Why are you sitting over there with that scowl on your face?” Sometimes that is a defense mechanism for me. I don’t want to be bothered if I’m scowling. Those who don’t want to be around me will keep on moving but some people will see through it and see that I’m a kind and lovable person underneath.
Yes, you are. I can attest to that. Thank you, Lionel. Share with the readers if you’re happy with who you are or if are you still working on becoming the person you want to be.
I am happy with myself but there are some things that I can still learn. There’s always room for learning. Long ago, there are a lot of things that I could do. I was great at all types of sports. I played in the band. I was an artist. I drew pictures and took art classes. These things I could do well. I could play all sports well but I was never a big person so I lacked a little confidence.
When it came to playing baseball, some things are in the back of my mind through Tee-Ball through Little League, Minor League and Major League, although I was good at playing baseball because that was my favorite sport. When it came to high school, it was a different level. In my high school at the time, most of the players were White. They didn’t have Black guys on the team. There was that intimidation factor or fear.
I can’t go out for the team. They’re not going to pick me because I’m Black. I was still good. I felt that I was better than the players. Those things like that kept me from pursuing my goals and my dreams. In the back of your mind, sometimes you want to be a professional baseball player. You have these hiccups and things like that, which stopped me from playing and then I would quit.
I then played in the band, I was a trumpet player. My mother taught me how to play trumpet and she didn’t know how to trumpet. She taught me to play, I went on playing in the band in the sixth grade and wind up being the second chair trumpet player. For those who don’t know what that means, if you have 9 trumpeters playing, there’s number 1 down to 9, number 1 being the best and number 9 being the worst. I was never the 1st chair but I was 2nd, which was good.
I was a good trumpet player. I went on through the seventh grade, played trumpet the same thing and made all city band both years but in the back of my mind, it was like, “What are you going to do when you get to high school? Are you going to be better than those that are in high school? Will you be the second chair? Will you be the first chair? You can’t do that. I would do the easy way out. I would quit.” With art, I was drawing and could draw very well. I learned it from my older sisters, who taught me how to draw.
I was taking art classes and got into college. I was a Fine Arts major, sketching and drawing. I used to wear Converse all-star tennis shoes, the old Dr. J. One day, I drew a picture of one. It was a nice sketch of it. Since I was in art, they taught you how to map picture frames and that thing. I put it in a picture frame and it sat around the house for a while. One day my mother came over to me and said, “There’s an art show out at Fort Houston,” which is a military base.
She said, “You should put that picture in the art show.” I was like, “No, I’m not going to win anything. I’m not going to put it in.” Behind my back, she took it out there and entered it in the art show. She went on dinner shopping and came back. It had a third-place ribbon on it. That picture is still hanging in my mother’s room. These fears kept me back from doing things that I could have gone on and done great things.
Fears keep us back from doing great things. Share on XKim always gets on me. She says, “You could start your drawing and play your trumpet.” The way it hurt me was, for instance, baseball. I didn’t have those goals or dreams like a lot of these professional athletes have. That’s what they eat, sleep and drink. I never had that drive. I was good at it but it was never my goal to become a professional baseball player. Other things deterred me, even bowling. I was a good bowler too and I stopped. The trumpet thing was the same as the art.
I went into the military and was a logistics officer. It was one of those things that I enjoyed doing. Let me skip back for a bit. I was one of those who never knew what they wanted to do when they grow up and I still feel that way. I never had a plan. I’m the youngest of eight siblings and all of them knew what they were going to do once they graduated college. They went on to do that. I was never one. I might say I want to be a fireman but I never pursued and never did the research on what it takes to be a fireman, fire captain, chief or investigator. I never did those things so I never created that career path. These are the things that held me back or hurt me when trying to decide on what I wanted to do when I grew up.
Back to the trumpet thing, I went into the military as a logistics officer and then after I retired, you see the Army band going around to different ceremonies. You see them on TV. They play at parades and have concerts. Me being a trumpeter, I could have been in the band for 25 years. When you’re going into the military, you only think about if you’re going to be a support person or a combat arms person.
Those are the things that I didn’t sit back and think about what I wanted to do. I never had a plan but I was successful in my life. Sometimes when you think back, you are like, “I should have done this and that.” I’m still proud of myself. I was never one of those who hated schools. I didn’t buckle down and do the things that I should have done to get good grades and get scholarships to pursue my dream. I had to work through college. That was a time when I started to buckle down because I knew I had to get out of college. I could have done some things differently but that was a path that I did. I’m still happy with it.
You shared a lot. I can tell that you went over the interview questions because you provided scrumptious information and tidbits. For example, you shared some of the incidents and situations where you weren’t truthful with yourself, which caused you not to do something that you should have done or caused you to do something that you should not have done.
You talked about not being truthful with yourself and identified it as a lack of confidence when it came to drawing, playing baseball or the trumpet and how that impacted you. You wind up quitting those things because of it. What I would like for you to share with our audience is to take us there. Tell us what was that conversation that was going on in your head.
What were some of the things that you heard in your head from yourself and what you told yourself that wasn’t true but you told yourself and fell for? If you can share some of that with us so we can connect the dots because we see and understand the situations and the things that occurred. Tell us what was said. What did you hear that made you quit and made you feel the way that you felt and be untruthful to yourself?
When I got to high school, the band was like, “You’re not going to be able to compete with these people. You’re in the 9th grade. You got people in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades that you’re going to be competing with. You’re not going to be able to make the grade.” I knew I could do it because I was good at what I did.
Everything that I sat down and learned, I was good at. I can hold my own but those little voices, that head chatter saying, “You not going to be the second chair here. You’re too young,” were the things that held me back. I quit in the seventh grade. When I got to college, I see the marching bands at the HBCU colleges. They’re out there marching and dancing. I thought, “I could have been doing that. That’s a whole new level.”
I could have been a drum major or led the group, the things that I know I could have done but it was always that head chatter saying, “There’s somebody always better than you are.” I never set those goals for myself like Michael Jordans, Tom Brady or Serena Williams. I’m going to be the best at it and put everything 110% to be the best that I can be and I never did. I always let myself talk myself out of doing what I knew that I could do.
There's somebody always better than you are. Share on XI never sat back and said, “You can do this.” I never allowed myself to do that. I just talked myself out of it when I should have just said, “You can do it. Give it your all because you’re going to make it. You can do it. I always had that chatter in the back of my head saying, “You can’t do this.” I park myself out of it and then the result was I wind up quitting.
We see how being untruthful to yourself or lying to yourself impacts you. Share with us how it also impacts the people that were around you when you were untruthful to yourself.
It’s those who were my peers, others who were in the band and those who played sports with me that I could have helped. I played basketball also and I was always a small person. I was a skinny little guy. I was short. I always thought I can’t make the grade because I’m too short and small. I didn’t think I was good-looking back then. I just thought I was a little kid too skinny to do anything. All my friends were big and muscular so I can’t compete.
I can do some things better than them. I would always talk myself out of it. “No, you can’t.” Going through life or school, I would see people who weren’t better than me stick with it and keep going. Some of them wind up in the NFL and NBA. All I had to do was stick with it, have confidence in myself and have that drive to want to do it instead of having that fear of failure. Failure only makes you stronger. I didn’t know that at the time. I felt as though if you fail, that was it. You couldn’t pick yourself, dust yourself off and keep going. I was afraid of failing.
I’ve shared this with Lionel, all my clients and our readers that failure is a part of success. You will not succeed unless you fail. You have to fail at something to succeed. No ifs and buts about it. There are several people whom Lionel called off like Michael Jordan and Serena Williams. They failed along their journey to success. That’s why they’re so successful. It’s not about being fearful of failing. You embrace failure.
It’s a part of the journey and who you are. That’s what makes you amazing. I call it experience. That’s how you learn through failing. Lionel, what advice would you give someone who is still trying to find themselves or lying to themselves or being untruthful to him or themselves? How can you help them to be truthful with themselves?
If you have the same fears that I have, believe in yourself. Don’t listen to the head chatter or naysayers saying, “Are you sure? You can’t do this and that.” Those people that I mentioned, there were people in their ears telling them what they couldn’t do. You got to have that drive. You got to ignore all that negativity that’s coming into your head and think positively at all times. Know that you can do anything that you put your mind to doing. What I would share with them is, “Believe in what you do. Find that niche and thing that you’re good at. Do the best that you can at it. Stick with it and you’ll see a positive result.”
You’re happy where you are but you’re continually working. There are things that you need to learn even more and likewise me. What challenges do you have with you facing your truth presently?
I’m getting older. I’ll be 59 in 2023. My thing is my thinking and putting words together. Some of the fear that I have is speaking in front of people. Sometimes I’m like, “Am I going to say something stupid?” I need to be myself, get in the conversation when the conversation’s there, speak my peace and let it be known what it is that I’m trying to convey. Stop thinking, “Am I going to start mispronouncing words or doing this thing?” I’m always respecting my wife on some things.
I’m always saying it wrong.
You know stuff and then people say, “He’s got a Master’s degree. Did you hear all the dangling parts that she put?” I have to think things out when I’m reading things and understand what I’m reading. I need to take the time to read it, think about it and reread it. If it’s something I have to say, I say it. I don’t have a problem speaking in front of people because I was in the military. I use to brief all the time. It’s just I’m conscious of what it is that I’m saying. Is it coming out in a way that people can understand what I’m saying?
We’re getting older. We have to think things out. Share on XWhat I hear you saying is there’s always going to be a challenge of you being you. There may be people who have something to say to you or say something negative. There’s always going to be somebody that’s going to make you feel as if you second-guess yourself and all that stuff. Those challenges are there. They don’t go away.
What am I saying to our readers is being true to yourself and facing your truth is something that you have to do every single day of your life. You just can’t do it one day and say, “I’m there.” No. It’s ongoing and continuous. You have to make sure you put that in. That’s what I hear you saying, Lionel. We all are going to have challenges day in and day out. We have to stop and check ourselves. You’ve been around me for 31 years and you know my schism. I’m like, “How do you show up? I want you to be you.”
I want every single person that I meet to be themselves, the true you. What I know is that when you are you, your greatness comes out. You get to inspire and shine a light on people. You don’t even have to say anything. Your greatness comes out that way. Thank you for sharing your stories and for being a phenomenal guest. Thank you for being my husband and know that I love you as well. What I would love for you to do is share some closing remarks but before you give your closing remarks, please share how facing your truth made your life better.
I’m at peace with myself. I don’t have those worries but sometimes I worry about some of the things that I’m going to say or how I set myself so I push that self aside. When you do that, it helps you out. Kim, I owe all that to you by watching you and the talks that we have. With a lot of the sessions that you have, I don’t want to sit and listen all time but after we talk about it, I feel much better. You enlighten me with a lot of information that I need to know that I can apply to my life. That helps me out. It’s good to have the coach in the bed next to you. You’re showing and teaching me, even when we’re out and about.
You’re running up to people and helping people. I’m like, “Why is she doing all that? Why she doesn’t leave these people alone?” I see the reaction that you get from the people. The people love you. That’s not me. I’m not going to run up and talk about it. I’m going to be myself but once I start communicating and talking to them, I can open up. I’m then silly. I’m not trying to mask anything or be phony.
You’re so on point. You’re being you and that’s what I love about you. Lionel said we are complete opposites. One of my mentors said that I am the helium and he is the string of the balloon. He keeps me grounded because I’m always up here. I’m always high, empowering and encouraging and he keeps me grounded. It has been an honor to have you on the show but even more so to have you as my husband. It is great.
I wish that the women who are reading this show will find someone if they don’t already have someone to love them the way that you love me. That’s a wish for the entire population of women across this entire world because that’s what you have done. Do this for me. Share with everyone how to get in contact with you if anyone wants to reach out to you. Please share any closing remarks that you have for our readers. What do you want our readers to take away from this?
First of all, if you want to get in contact with me, you can reach me by email. My email address is LionelTGrimes@gmail.com. You can shoot me an email. I always check. You can text me. My number is (757) 897-8965. I’ll be willing to share and talk to you about anything. If you have some of the same issues that I’ve been through, I don’t mind talking with you. Give me a call. In closing remarks, I want to thank Kim for this opportunity.
To be honest, not all the time when she asked me to do these things do I want to do them but after I do it, I do feel better about it because I know deep down that I’m helping somebody out there. That’s the whole goal of it. It’s not doing it for me. It’s doing it for those who have situations or circumstances. I’m here to help. I’m not the one out to go out there, see somebody with a problem and help like Kim but if would like to talk, I am always open to talk. I like laughing, joking and stuff like that. It may not seem like it but I’m a fun person to be around.
I can attest to that. He’s a very good listener so take him up on it if you’re going through what he has shared with us and you need an ear. I want to say this about my husband. He has been able to give advice not only to males but also to young females because there are females that we come across who did not grow up like me with a father figure in the house. They don’t have a role model that they can respect and trust. Not to say that he’s interested in them. That’s not the case. They want someone that they can trust.
As they convey their information, Lionel is that person. How do I know? He’s done it numerous times to a lot of young women who want to hear a man’s advice to hear what they have to say and give their feedback without them having to worry about, “Is he trying to get with me, sleep with me or anything like that?” That’s what Lionel offers. I’m secure in who I am and what I do. It’s not a threat to me or our relationship. There’s no issue in that area at all in our relationship.
Especially when it comes to relationships, I had a good model from my parents. They were married for over 50 years. My father and mother interacted. I saw how he treated her and how she treated him. I can teach young women how a man is supposed to treat and men how to treat a woman. I feel that’s my specialty. Kim can attest that I did a pretty good job with her.
It’s phenomenal. For you who may be jumping into this show, you’re going to have to go back to the first episode where I’d lay out everything about me and my life. Lionel helped me. It was him but I know it was God using him because, in my story, I turned from God as well. God used him. Lionel put a mirror up in front of me. He saw so much in me that I couldn’t see for myself and he helped me to see that. Helped me to love myself.
He has his Master’s degree. Yes, it’s in human resources and he has his undergrad in Industrial Technology as well. Not only is he handsome but he’s intelligent. I’m biased. He’s my husband. Thank you, Lionel, for saying yes, for being here and for sharing. People need to hear different perspectives on different people and how we all individually struggle with what we’re dealing with from day to day. I want to say to you again, thank you so much.
You’re very welcome, Kim. Anytime.
See you soon.
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Here’s the question I want to ask you. How many decisions and ideas would you say you are away from screwing up your life and reckoned your life? Here’s the thing. For every decision and idea, we are part of it. We’re there making it. Don’t deceive yourself when you look in the mirror. It is easy to lose yourself in clashing ideas, conflicting beliefs and the flood of information that we have to sift through day after day with society’s rigid expectations and endless opinions.
Our self-expression and self-appreciation go out the window. It becomes challenging and daunting, to say the least, where most of the time when you feel like this, you going to push it away and dumb down. You going to hide who you are and go with the flow. You ride the wave. It’s an easy thing for you to do. I’m here to tell you, you are you unapologetically. That means being true to how you were created and not allowing people’s opinions to affect how you show up in life. People are going to talk and talk.
Take my advice. Let them talk. They’re going talk themselves silly. You don’t have time to be intimidated by the presence of others and think little of yourself. Let them talk. When you show up without pretense and hesitation and you show up being the true you, the world can’t dull your glamor. They can’t turn off your life. They will try but they can’t.
Most importantly, when you are you, you will be empowered and inspired to shine your light. You’ll be moved to share your light and help others to tap into their brilliance. Let’s all agree to put an end to this. Let’s put an end to the despairing mindset that keeps us trapped, lying to ourselves and hiding from the truth that we can’t face it. Let’s put a stop to that and begin to be your authentic self. Be yourself.
Join me here where we create a safe space and have this influential conversation about you being you. It’s about you being you because you are you unapologetically and no one is better at being you than you. Thank you so much for hanging in there, supporting me and listening to my show. You are the best. Don’t forget to share this with your friends. It’s a lot of scrumptious tidbits to share. Until we see each other again. Take care and God bless.
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About Lionel T. Grimes
A result-oriented professional with over twenty years of supervisory and management experience in human resources, logistics, supply management, warehouse distribution, training, and physical security. Lionel has been acknowledged for professionalism, leadership, team building, motivation, and staff development. He has over twenty-five years of increasing leadership and management responsibility within the United States Army Reserve as a commissioned officer. Lionel is focused, well-organized, and flexible in fast-paced and dynamic environments. He’s well-honed analytical and a problem-solver, committed to positive results. He has excellent communication, presentation, and customer management skills. Lionel (LTC) is now retired living his best life traveling with his beautiful wife, of 27 years, Dr. Kim R. Grimes.