‘Go to College’: A Mother’s Story
Beloved Dillard felt called to ministry ever since she was a young girl. Now an ordained licensed minister, she received a master’s of divinity at Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, GA, and is in the second year of her doctoral of ministry degree.
A recipient of the 2024-2025 UNCF Technology Assistance Grant, the nontraditional student returned to finish her degree after a 20-year hiatus. “I’m creating legacy for my children,” she shared.
“I became this well-watered garden as a result of UNCF,” said Dillard, a first-generation college student. “Hats off to UNCF and everyone who continues to support and sustain the programs.”
“I became this well-watered garden as a result of UNCF.”
Dillard has attended two UNCF-member institutions—she is currently attending ITC and is an alumna of Saint Augustine’s College, now Saint Augustine’s University (SAU), in Raleigh, NC, where she majored in communications and organizational management.
UNCF’s scholarship “alleviated financial burden and made going to college exciting and broadened perspectives,” she shared. “Every bit helps.”
The Power of HBCUs
To Dillard, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are a lifeline. There is a special camaraderie at HBCUs.
“The Black college experience is like second to none,” she said. “When [other students] talk about their college experience, they never talk about them like ours. We have a flavor like no one else has.”
“Professors were adamant about giving us life tools and historical knowledge about Black people that we didn’t learn in the classroom,” she continued.
“I was involved,” Dillard said fondly of her time at HBCUs. At SAU, she joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., served on the student government association, wrote for the student newspaper, sang the national anthem at Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association games and was homecoming queen. She was also a first runner-up and Miss Black and Gold for Alpha Bi Alpha.
Born in New York City, NY, Dillard moved to Atlanta to attend ITC. “I love the program because it really prepares you to present programs, to partner with others in community, to understand it’s not about you, it’s how can you benefit your community as you are a ‘doctor’ facilitating in the world,” she said. “I’m in Atlanta, there’s a lot to facilitate here. This is the capital for entrepreneurs.”
In March 2026, she will travel to Ghana with other doctoral candidates.
‘Go to College’
Her advice to current and future college students is: “go to college.”
“There is a transformation that happens at college that you will not get anyplace else in life,” Dillard shared. “Learning how to live in a community, without being violent or disrespectful to one another. There are relationships that, if you build them right, they will be with you for a lifetime.”
Her daughter didn’t want to go to college—she had a great job and was offered a management position. But Dillard was resolute. “I would say no matter how much money you’re making that college is a different experience,” she explained. They filled out college and scholarship applications together.
“There is a transformation that happens at college that you will not get anyplace else in life.”
All of the hard work paid off. Dillard’s daughter received several scholarships, even going to the White House four times and receiving a letter from President Obama. “She loved her college experience so much that she has a scholarship at school in her name in engineering,” Dillard said.
Dillard even urges her 37-year-old son, who has lived on every continent except Antarctica, is a prolific writer and has served in the Air Force, to attend college. “He said, ‘I’ve been to college, I’ve lived all over the world.’ I still tell him he needs to go,” she said.
A Resilient Spirit
One of the reasons Dillard was drawn to ministry is to be able to share her story and support others on their journey. Throughout her life, Dillard faced many hardships, yet her strong spirit is apparent to those who meet her or read her books.
Dillard is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. She wrote Out Of My Soul: Memoirs of Beloved, a powerful testimony of her own experiences as a survivor, and has become a nationally recognized advocate for survivors of sexual and domestic abuse.
“I felt like I needed to get this off of me and take the opportunity to tell my story to empower other children, other adults and teachers [in] how to identify the symptoms of a child being abused,” she explained. “As a young person in elementary school, I would go to the nurse at least five days a week. But a child doesn’t have the language for sexual abuse.”
Dillard wrote her book and continues to share her story through interviews and motivational speaking to help others know they’re not alone. She also provides trauma coaching, so people understand there is life after pain and trauma.
“Beloved is the woman that I became,” said Dillard in an interview for Unfiltered Stories, explaining the power behind the name she gave herself. “On August 10, 2021, I went and changed my name legally because I never felt beloved. I never felt cherished, or adored or treasured. And I knew that every time that name would go out into the atmosphere, I was changing my destiny.”
The dream of education helped Dillard through difficult moments. “I have a mantra: get the lesson or the lesson will get you,” she said. “I’m asking God ‘what is the lesson in this, how can I advance from this?’”
A Multitalented Woman
Dillard is proof that education and success have no timeline. “There needs to be more attention to people over 50, because there’s still life in them,” she said. “There’s still so much to offer.”
“A lot of times when you get to be a certain age, you can get discouraged from life,” she shared. “[People tell me] ‘you’re going back to school at 50, you’re going to be 60-something when you graduate, what?’ Scripture tells us the older are supposed to teach the younger.”
Dillard wears many hats—minister, relationship counselor, spoken word poet, author, motivational speaker, actress, recording artist and singer-songwriter. She was named poet laureate by both the Tennessee Black Caucus and the Judith Alexander Foundation. She’s written another book, Faith 4 Sex: For Couples Who Dare Intimacy, a self-help guide for using faith and natural desires to maintain healthy connection with your spouse.
She previously worked as the assistant campaign manager for Rochelle Robinson, the first Black Mayor of Douglasville, GA.
And she founded Beloved’s Sweets, a bakery featured by Walmart, Ashley Stewart and Tabitha Brown’s Very Good Mondays web series. She was inspired by Mary Bethune, the founder of Bethune Bethune-Cookman University, a UNCF-member institution, who baked sweet potato pies to raise money for her siblings and her education.
“As a woman, I don’t think I found myself until I was 50,” Dillard shared. “You can sit down in who you are. I don’t have to do this to please anybody else, this is between me and God. You embrace your body, especially being a Black American. I know who I am—if I want to wear a ’fro, I’ll wear a ’fro, and that doesn’t make me more Black or less Black.”
“When I walk in a room, people are like ‘oooh’ and I’m like ‘heyyy,’” she said. “I’m beloved everywhere I go. I love life, and I love people—and I’m so thankful and grateful because, going through all that abuse that I went through, I never imagined that I’d live to be beyond 50-years-old.”
UNCF is proud of our students and alumni who have received scholarships that help them continue their education and graduate. These scholarships are invaluable to students, and UNCF is accepting donations to support students like Beloved Dillard in their academic endeavors.