Mecca Patterson-Guridy says she was shaped by the women in her life who never made her feel small and demanded she speak up for what she believes. Now, she wants the same for her generation and the next.
By Nigel Thompson. Edited by Jensen Toussaint. On October 23, 2026.
Mecca Patterson-Guridy is proud of where she comes from in the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood of Philadelphia, and wants to take everything she learns back to her community to make it better. (Photo: Nigel Thompson/Inti Media.)
At Cheyney University, Mecca Patterson-Guridy likes to say she’s part of two legacies: attending the country’s first-ever HBCU, and as part of Delta Sigma Theta, the country’s second-oldest Black sorority, able to call Civil Rights giants like Shirley Chisholm and Dorothy Height her sisters.
“I’m just really proud of myself,” Patterson-Guridy said in a moment of reflection. “Not a lot of people from North Philly get to go to school, especially school for free.”
She can also count her Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood as part of her own legacy. Growing up, Patterson-Guridy can remember her tight-knit block, and playing with the many kids her age who lived there during all hours of the day. It’s changed now for her younger brother and sister. Many moved over the years, and the violence that came to the neighborhood during the pandemic made playing outside for kids more of a safety concern than a fun activity, but she still tries to get them out when she can.
There’s also her elementary and middle schools — Lotus Academy in Germantown and Sankofa Freedom Academy Charter School in Kensington — both African-centered schools that grounded Patterson-Guridy’s identity in both African and African-American history and experiences.
“My people are really resilient,” she said. “Even though there are things that might be happening, we always have each other’s backs.”
One of Patterson-Guridy’s biggest inspirations in life is her mother, Maritza Guridy. (Photo: Nigel Thompson/Inti Media.)
A line of entrepreneurial women
Her parents also helped her find self-pride, instilling in Patterson-Guridy “to always be unapologetically myself and never be ashamed where I come from,” she said.
Maritza Guridy, Mecca’s mom, is a first-generation Dominican-American. Guridy’s mom, Mecca’s abuela, was the first to make the journey to the States from the Dominican Republic. An entrepreneur from day one, Mecca said she battled through a language barrier to found many of her own businesses, some of which she still owns today.
“Just to see her, and people thinking that she wasn’t smart enough or intelligent enough because she had broken English,” said Patterson-Guridy. “Now, seeing her kind of be her own boss and owning things, is really inspirational to me.”
Guridy is also a big inspiration. When they were kids, Patterson-Guridy said her mom was always involved in her and her siblings’ lives. For her brothers, it was as the team mom when they played football with the Olney Eagles. For Mecca, she can remember her mom as part of the Parent Teacher Association at her school, pushing for a better classroom experience for her and other students.
“Growing up, I always saw her advocating for other people,” said Patterson-Guridy.
That was especially prevalent in her mom’s work. Guridy was a community advocacy manager at Mastery Charter Schools of Camden, where Mecca said she was a constant presence at Camden School Board meetings, always advocating for non-English speaking parents and providing translation for them when necessary. Guridy would do the same in later years in roles at Concilio, the School District of Philadelphia, and as part of the National Parents Union. Today, like Mecca’s abuela, she also runs her own business.
“It made me want to serve others who don’t have a lot of resources for themselves,” said Patterson-Guridy.
Community service and political campaigns
She said her first foray into community service came at 15 during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was a camp counselor at a program called Royal By Nature. It’s a summer camp by the ECO Foundation and takes kids from primarily West and Southwest Philly into Bartram’s Gardens to learn about the nature in their backyards.
In 2023, Patterson-Guridy helped produce some social media content for The Kids Campaign, an effort from the Children First Action Fund to center issues most important to Philadelphia youth during the 2023 Mayoral Election and demand answers from the many candidates for office. She said it was a harsh introduction to politics in Philadelphia.
“I think a lot of times when people are running for office, they have really good talk, but sometimes they’re not very faithful with their actions,” said Patterson-Guridy. “I do think word is bond, so if you’re gonna say something, you should at least try and do it.”
Her experience on the campaign, she said, was one of most candidates never answering their questions, and if they did, it was done by an assistant and not the candidate themselves.
“Not everybody deserves to be a politician,” said Patterson-Guridy. “They might say they’re gonna do a lot of things, and then never do them.” Nationally, Patterson-Guridy points to leaders like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as leaders who show it’s possible to do what they said on the campaign trail once in office. “There’s no excuse for anybody else,” she said.
Finding BOLT
After The Kids Campaign, Patterson-Guridy found B.O.L.T., which stands for ‘Build Our Lives Together.’ The organization works with youth in Philadelphia and residents to be the changemakers they want in their communities.
“I didn’t realize I could do something like this in my own city and meet people who are so involved with their communities, actively doing things in real time,” she said.
At BOLT, Patterson-Guridy found a passion for guiding Philly’s youth to solve the problems they see in their communities. (Photo: Nigel Thompson/Inti Media.)
Patterson-Guridy started as a fellow, then became a coach, and was an intern this summer, helping lead a class of high schoolers to make an impact in a community on an issue of their choice.
“I think a lot of people don’t think that a lot of Philly students know what they want, or they automatically categorize them as bad kids,” she said. “If you really start to talk to them and you really nurture what they want to do, the sky is really the limit.”
When discussing things like civic engagement, Patterson-Guridy said her approach is as a guide. “I don’t want to just be teaching at them,” she said. “I want them to actively tell me how they feel about things.” To her, it’s also important to be someone her students can look up to.
“Having somebody in their space that cares about what they have to say and also still being a role model to them, is really important to me,” said Patterson-Guridy.
A creative at heart
For her, that nurturing came from not just her mom Maritza, but also her older brother Elijah, who is a performer. “Seeing how open and free and expressive they were with themselves, that just poured into how I am as a person now,” she said.
After her time at Sankofa, Patterson-Guridy went to The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA). She said performance has been a passion since she was a little girl — starting at 13 in plays put on at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center in North Philly.
At Cheyney University, Patterson-Guridy has pursued a communications degree, gaining experience in radio, television, film, and journalism. Though becoming an actor is her first dream.
“I love portraying characters that aren’t a monolith, that aren’t stereotypical,” she said.
Mecca knows she wants a career in media to tell Black and Brown stories no one’s heard before, and to be able to continue giving back to her Philly community. (Photo: Nigel Thompson/Inti Media.)
One idea she’s kicked around is a story about Black and Brown skateboarders — pulling again from one of the many outlets of her childhood.
“We deserve things that are not traumatic about ourselves,” said Patterson-Guridy. “Sometimes those traumatic things do happen, but that’s not all of us.” She’s also not limiting herself to just being in front of the camera to showcase Black and Brown stories. “That’s always been the mission and goal,” said Patterson-Guridy. “I can start writing those stories myself.”
And her best inspiration beyond herself? The kids she’s met from her own neighborhood and those like it across Philadelphia.
“Whatever they want, they’re able to obtain it,” said Patterson-Guridy. “Your voice matters, and you shouldn’t feel small about anything.”