Rickey wrote his first stage play “Praying in the Dark '' while in high school and premiered it at his local church. It was in this moment when he realized that becoming a playwright was what he wanted to do in life and with hard work, his dreams would become a reality. However, on December 20th, 2005, a day that changed the lives of Rickey and his entire family forever.

It wasn’t too long after this time that Rickey’s family fell on hard times and lost the house they were living in. Rickey recalls, “I will never forget the feeling of my family and I waking up and spending Christmas in a motel…not to be mistaken for a hotel!” They were homeless for four months before finally moving into a two-bedroom apartment. But his mother wouldn’t allow him to drop out of college, instead she constantly reminded him that their current family situation was only temporary.