It was August 2017, Dominique's Freshman Year and Shawn's Sophomore Year, at Ohio Dominican University. The University's Black Student Union was holding one of its weekly meetings and it was time for people to be elected onto the executive board. Everyone who wanted a position was given the opportunity to state what position they were running for and why they felt they deserved that position. Dominique, being the eager freshman she was, decided that she was going to run for Freshman Representative and Corresponding Secretary. She stated her case of her previous accomplishments and accolades and ended by saying she would one day love to become the President of the organization just for added effect (which we all know she got her wish during her junior year). A few more people went on then it was Shawn's turn to present himself as he decided to go head to head with Dominique for the position of Corresponding Secretary. He went on to include all of his accolades and achievements and made sure to present himself with class, dignity, and confidence. This annoyed Dominique instantly because her initial thoughts were " Who does this man think he is trynna out do me at my own game, he ain't even all that but I guess he is kinda cute". Later on that week ballots were casts and it was announced that Dominique, to her slight disappointment was voted as Freshman Representative...and Shawn was voted as the Corresponding Secretary. Dominique then decided to approach Shawn after the next meeting to congratulate Shawn (a little bitterly) but also to say she recognized him from one of the skits that took place at Summer Orientation and didn't realize he was new to campus as well since he was a Sophomore transfer. From that point forward Shawn and Dominique had been the best of friends but didn't actually pursue a romantic relationship with each other until March 2019.

After moving to Atlanta, Shawn had been planning to propose to Dominique for awhile. While balancing a new job in his career and trying to settle in to a new home, he knew the time was right to begin planning. He texted Alexis, his right hand woman in this case, and asked her to send contacts and help him create a list of Dominique’s friends and family. He set the target date to the day before thanksgiving because knowing his future wife, she’d want to show off that ring all Turkey day. He arranged for his parents to come in as a surprise and even a few of Dominique’s old mentors and friends were able to meet outside Pins Mechanical for the unknowing Dominique. They went to Pins as a regular outing with a group of friends and suddenly Alexis began feeling “sick” and was “throwing up” in the bathroom. Dominique urged Lexi that they should leave and go get help and as soon as they walked out the front door, she was greeted by her waiting family and friends Shawn coordinated to be there. As she stumbled in confusion at the large crowd, Shawn swooped in from behind and dropped to a knee before she could process the moment. Shawn proceeded to ask the special words and of course Dominique cried in happiness and accepted!

Our love blossomed over the years together and we had a dream of what our wedding day would look like but with the uncertainty of COVID 19 we chose to go a non-traditional route and went to the Courthouse on our 3 year anniversary March 12, 2022 and tied the knot officially. We had an intimate dinner with 30 family members to celebrate and later realized we wanted to include even more people in this joyous occasion.