East Tampa Mural Celebrates Past, Inspires Future

“Be All You Can Be” honors six African-American women who left their imprint on East Tampa.

By 83 Degrees Media: Christopher Curry

February 5, 2026

https://83degreesmedia.com/east-tampa-mural-celebrates-past-inspires-future/

“Be All You Can Be” honors six African American women community leaders n East Tampa (Michelle Sawyer)

A new mural in East Tampa honors past community leaders and spreads hope the next generation will carry on their legacies.

Spanning a full side of the Corporation to Develop Communities (CDC) of Tampa’s Chloe Coney Urban Enterprise Center on East Hillsborough Avenue, “Be All You Can Be” depicts six African American women who have left their imprint on the East Tampa community and the city. Commissioned by Gasparilla Arts Inc., local artist Michelle Sawyer painted the mural with the help of 10 students from the neighboring Pace Center for Girls, Hillsborough, an alternative school and support program for at-risk girls. The butterfly is the Pace Center’s adopted symbol, representing transformation, growth, and hope. When “Be All You Can Be” was unveiled during a January 22nd ceremony, 10 butterflies on the mural represented the 10 Pace students who helped create it.

“Our girls live in this community,” says Pace Hillsborough Executive Director Davia Lerebours. “To have the opportunity to contribute to something that is going to be here for a very long time is very meaningful. The experience helped them build confidence —  to be trusted to contribute to something like that is pretty significant. And these women celebrated are examples of what we are preparing our girls to be. It was a perfect opportunity to learn about these women and aspire to be like them.”

The mural is painted on a building named for one of the community leaders the artwork honors, Chloe Coney, who founded the CDC of Tampa in the early 1990s to build East Tampa into a strong, vibrant community and create opportunities for its residents to build prosperous futures. 

The mural’s all-star team of community changemakers includes Frankye A. Berry, a segregation-era educator at Middleton High School who shaped a generation of community leaders through her commitment to students’ academic achievement. There’s Gwen Miller, the first Black woman elected to the Tampa City Council and a longtime civic leader. 

Patricia Pierce-Coleman was Tampa’s first Black female police officer and a community liaison for the department in the 1980s, during a time of racial unrest that followed the deaths of two Black men in encounters with white police officers. Pierce-Coleman was also a mother figure for many East Tampa youth.

Sylvia Rodriguez Kimball was a longtime educator and civic leader and the first Black woman elected to a major office in Hillsborough County, serving two terms on the County Commission. Theresa Manuel was Tampa’s first female Olympic athlete and the state’s first Black woman to compete in the Olympics. She went on to have a storied coaching career at Middleton High School.

The January 22nd community event for “Be All You Can Be” (Pace Center for Girls)

During the January 22nd ceremony, Coney says, of the six community leaders on the mural, she and Miller are the only two still alive. She shares stories of how the other women impacted her life. Rodriguez Kimball was Coney’s eighth-grade teacher at Just Junior High School and the person who convinced her to transfer to West Tampa Junior High in 1963 and integrate the school system.  Pierce-Coleman was “Mama P,” a mother figure who opened her home to East Tampa’s youth. Coney says during a birthday party at Pierce-Coleman’s home, she met her future husband of 57 years, Ernest Coney Sr., 

Sawyer has created murals across the Tampa Bay area. She says this one stands out.

“You never know how these projects are going to resonate with the community,” Sawyer says. “You hope it’s positive, but you don’t know. From day one, I was getting a positive response. From the first night I was out here. I had just gotten the outlines done, and someone pointed to the first image at the top corner and said, ‘Oh, I know who that is. That’s Chloe Coney. I love her. She helped me get my house.’ From then on, I had people stopping by to thank me for telling this story. I have never had that happen. “

Nonprofits working together

Gasparilla Arts Inc., which runs the annual Gasparilla Festival of Arts, used grant funding from Community Foundation Tampa Bay to launch the mural project as a vibrant, uplifting artwork celebrating six strong women who were the backbone of East Tampa. The grant money came from legacy gifts left by two Community Foundation fundholders. 

“Legacy giving allows generosity to live on in visible and meaningful ways,” Community Foundation Tampa Bay Senior Director of Community Investment Brandi Sanchez says in a statement. “Through gifts entrusted to Community Foundation Tampa Bay, we are able to support projects like this mural that celebrate history, culture, and community. It’s an honor to steward these gifts that will benefit our community now and long into the future.”

In addition to the mural, Gasparilla Arts used the grant to have Sawyer lead a two-part art education program with the Pace students. The first session covered careers in art. The second session was the hands-on experience of painting the mural on the CDC of Tampa’s building.

During the January 22 ceremony, CDC of Tampa Chief Operating Officer Chamain Moss Torres says the mural project shares the organization’s mission to build a strong, vibrant community and create opportunities to prosper.

“When young people build something, they begin to see themselves as owners, as stewards, and as leaders,” Moss Torres says. “The youth are not just our future; they’re our present. Their participation fosters pride, connection, and a deeper sense of belonging to East Tampa. So projects like this do more than just beautify a wall.”