Black Families Flourishing (BFF) is thrilled to kick off our “Spotlight Connections” interview series with Graciella “Chella” Drew, a descendent of one of the world’s most impactful surgeons and innovators, Dr. Charles Drew.
BFF Spotlight Connection interviews illustrate how Black families across the country are experiencing flourishing and how family legacies contribute to the strengths and well-being of their descendants.
Watch our short interview with Chella to learn how her family, including her three children, continues to walk in the powerful legacy set forth by Dr. Charles Drew by living the principles he embodied of compassion for humanity, love, and hard work ethic.
Video Transcript
“And if I were to kind of put an umbrella over my definition and understanding of flourishing, for me it’s when we experience peace and joy.
“From all aspects of our life, right? And not that we don’t face challenges and that we don’t have stress, but when we have that, that love that holds us center and we’re thriving, we’re thriving.
“And so examples of, you know, what that would look like for me and feel like for me with my family. So my most intimate circle, of course, is my husband and our three children.
“We have a 31-year-old son, Doctor Jordan Drew, who goes by Rue, our youngest son, Justin, who’s 27 years old, Justin Drew, and our baby girl, Journey Drew Hargrove, who’s 25 years old.
“They’re the center, right? They’re the focus. My husband and I are, let’s see, this is 2025, so we’re coming up on 27 years of marriage this fall. My mother, Lorraine Drew Dia is 87 years old, so she’ll be turning 88 this year.
“And my husband, Walter Hargrove is his name, but we call him Joe. So Joe’s mom, Gwendolyn Gregory, just turned 75 years old and Gwendolynn Gregory
“And then as we continue to expand, we have aunties, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, so many layers of our family.
“And then we also have to acknowledge the family that’s family by choice, not by blood.
We have a circle of friends who have held us and supported us and loved us. And honestly, we couldn’t have gotten to these 27 years of marriage without them.
“Both my husband and I are business owners and I have been an educational consultant for over 10 years and I’m now branching more into focusing on self-love and nurturing and wanting to work with people around healing
“ So it’s just beautiful to see like how, you know, everything evolves and you know, with our children like.
“If they’re not examples of how we’re flourishing as a family, you know, our oldest son completed his PhD in neuroengineering 2 years ago and Oh my goodness, I was, you know, just so proud of, you know, who he is becoming and continuing to evolve into.
“And then our younger son, I mean, 27, just bought a home last year, 26 year old homeowner., you know, just seeing that celebration.
“And then our baby girl who graduated summa cum laude with a biology major and minors in chemistry and psychology.
“And it’s like, you know, we just see them thriving. I mean, just thriving. Everyone is just doing work that they believe in, that they love, that contributes to our community, that helps build us up, lift us up. We have educators in the family, we have folks in the medical field.
“Doctor Drew or Uncle Charlie, as we call him with his legacy to me, it’s just it’s multi-layered, again, when I think about clearly his contributions to the medical world.
You know, his pioneering efforts in saving lives, his advocating for equity.
“So I think about the things that he fought for. I think about him as an educator and you know what he poured into the students that he was training up, the surgeons and the other medical doctors that he trained up so that they could go out there and have a positive impact.
“Oh my gosh, I just see, you know, as our family continues to grow and we have generation after generation, I see. Mothers and fathers and how they’re nurturing their children. You know, I’m seeing my nieces and nephews who now have children.
“I’m so proud of the example that he has set for our family that we have the privilege of walking in right to you know the invitation and the privilege to really walk in those footsteps because he showed us the way
“My desire is to leave a legacy that can be even a fraction of the impact, you know, that he has had on our world and our lives and our future generations.”
