'Pastor Shaq' an inspiration to others and leader for Hamilton youth

Yahoo

07-03-2025

Mar. 6—Shaquila Mathews, a Hamilton minister best known as Pastor Shaq, wanted to be a neurosurgeon early in her life.
Thousands of Hamilton teens are likely thankful Mathews instead dedicated her life to the youth of the community when she returned to her hometown nearly a decade ago.
Mathews is the founder and CEO of HYPE (Hamilton Young People Empowered), which celebrates its 10th anniversary this summer, came about because a cousin invited her to a community meeting to address the violence that was happening in Hamilton at the time.
When the program started, it served 25 kids with $5,500. It now serves more than 500 youth in the summer programs, and between 350 and 400 for an open gym on a given Friday night.
"Youth have always gravitated toward me," said Mathews. "I always had a knack to be able to work with youth, and when I moved back home, there was a lot of violence going on with young people."
Mathews wanted to be a part of anything and everything to change her hometown, and provide a voice and platform for young people.
"Our young people needed an opportunity to be great," she said. "And I appreciate being able to be a forerunner for that in the city and creating that platform."
Though Pastor Shaq isn't as busy as she once was, she's still focused on youth. In addition to HYPE, she's president of the Hamilton City School Board, a member of the Butler Tech school board, serves on the Character Council of Hamilton, and is in civic groups Rotary and Kiwanis, both of which focuses on children and the community.
"God's allowed me to be successful in it and be a blessing to others because my life has very much so been about being a servant leader," Mathews said. "And it gets tough a lot of the time."
That philosophy has caused her to fall down more than once, but whenever she has hitch in the plan, Mathews said it's her strong will that pushes her to get back up time after time.
Her tenacity was part of why she was named Hamilton Citizen of the Year in 2018.
Tyler McCleary, director of operations at Tano Bistro, has worked with Pastor Shaq since 2020. They had a Thanksgiving dinner takeout promotion and made too much food. Within an hour of reaching out to Mathews, she picked up the dinners at the restaurant and had them delivered to families she knew were in need.
"From the first moment I met her, I could tell that she was an extremely genuine person who had a passion for taking care of the community," said McCleary, who said that act was the seed that led to the Hamil-Turkey, which provides meals to families in need. "Her passion is infectious, and she's someone I've looked up to since I met her. She's also had a huge impact on this small business by just being her caring self."
The future is to focus on what she's involved with today, because she cannot be as effective and impactful if she's spread too thin.
"I feel my life has given me a lot to share with young people about life and resiliency and getting back up," she said, wanting to explore public speaking opportunities to use her voice in helping, encouraging and inspiring youth.
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LEADING LADIES OF BUTLER COUNTY
This is part of a series of stories featuring women in Butler County who shape their communities. These stories will feature women who are leading small, business and large businesses, institutions, and organizations.