Cannes

Well over a year ago I stopped asking and started acknowledging and thanking. Here are some important thank you’s that I never get tired of saying and some reflections on where this month is taking me.

Thank you, Universe for guiding me here. For allowing me to always breathe and take time to sit, reflect and feel.

Thank you, Dinorah (aka mom) for being strong enough to see that putting your life on the back burner was going to ultimately make mine what yours was not. I know you’re glued to your Facebook living through me/us and I see your eyes through mine when I look in the mirror.  You can read all about her here.

Thank you, Billie the Kid for teaching me how to be a man (you can read more about Billie here). This one is not one to miss.

Thank you, Coach, because through your piercing looks and yells, you taught me how to care about others in a human way (If you haven’t read that one I highly encourage you to here).

And thank you to all of my aunts who have been an invisible yet powerful and loving support system.

If you know me, you know that I value the reflective side of me, the side that our society and many cultures try to take away from us because we are men and “we are not supposed to show the byproduct of reflection”, which, in my opinion, is emotion. I used to hide the emotional side of me because of many of the same reasons some men still do. I used to hide it because I wasn’t truly a man but as I learned what it really means to have that luxury, I starting living in power and not fear. I earned the power that my ancestors, the universe, and those around me perfectly installed in me. I actually became happy when I stopped feeling less than because I was able to reflect and improve through increasing things like my emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and servant leadership. It’s like being in the matrix or when the game slows down for someone—it’s hard to explain from this side of the table but I am glad I am here.

I often get asked what drives me, what I value, and where I get worth from. My richness comes from travel, experiences, and reaching my audacious goals. Many of those goals have come from watching TV. That’s how many of us grew up—learning through watching TV. This is how I saw the world at that time through the pictures that were being fed to me. This is how I learned what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be, and where I wanted to go. I guess you can attribute much of my life goals and achievements to watching someone else doing them on TV. When I was a child and a teenager I dreamed of going to far and remote places around the world. Through those images, I’ve developed a deep love for Europe, France to be exact. The coast of France, Niece, Cannes, and others. I saw those unique places around the world as unattainable but because of who I am I knew I would get to visit many of them, which I have.

Next week I’ll be at the Cannes Film Festival—a place that I’ve always seen on TV with the beautiful red carpets and super fancy cocktail parties that I thought were unavailable to me. And to top it off, I’ll be there to drive the mission of my business forward which is to give the dreamers (content creators) visibility to continue to dream because the movies that they make give permission to many little kids everywhere to hope. I’m just as proud that my company has partnered with an organization called Diversity in Cannes to continue to put the needs and importance of diversity in media front and center.

The influence that media has on our youth is more powerful than you may think. One of my favorite quotes from Marian Wright Edelman says, “You can't be what you can't see”. Keep creating and providing children the ability to dream.

This one is special for me.