It has always been a dream of mine to do public speaking. Today Unicorn Empress and I got the chance at Leadership Institute High School. This was my 2nd school appearance this year. My first was at Tottenville High School for the 'Don't Be A Bully Program' hosted by NYC ArtsCypher.

We were invited by Kleaver Cruz. Kleaver and I met at Afropunk Festival 2014 in Brooklyn. He visited our Stereotype Co pop up shop and purchased a bracelet. I gave him a bookmark with our slogan "Don't stop dreaming" and he mentioned that he was a Dream Director. I had no clue what this was. I was under the impression he listened to peoples dreams that they had at night and helped them interpret them. I was wrong.

He actually works for an organization The Future Project which hires Dream Directors to go into schools and show kids that things are possible. After a few weeks of correspondance we got invited to speak for his Dream Team.

The workshop today focused on project building. Kleaver mentioned that his students had projects they were currently working on.

I spoke on the 'Feel It, See It,Believe It' model.

Feel It - You have the gut feeling to do something

See it - You see it happening and can envision it happening.

Believe it - No matter what happens or what people say you believe it is possible.

We also emphasized how asking for help can help you effectively and efficiently get the job done. Watch the 1 min Steve Jobs video on 'Don't be afraid to ask for help'.

I spoke Michael Jordan and his former championship team the Chicago Bulls. No matter how good Michael Jordan was he couldn't have reached that pinnacle without his team. We encouraged everyone to build a team of people to help with their project. It's real important to have a group of people who are just as passionate about the project as you are. Without my team Musication would not have been possible this past weekend. 

Unicorn Empress and I emphasized deadlines. "Goals are dreams with a deadline".

Each Dream Team member got a Bucketlist handout

We gave the kids a proposal for project we wanted to create this winter. We then asked them to help us plan this event. We even made a live call to our friend Christian at Projectivity asking him to DJ this art fundraiser. He agreed. It was nice to see how the project started to shape up right before our eyes. We ended the class by starting to help a Dream Team member organize a Fashion Show she had planned for next May 2015.

Funny Moment of the day- at one point in the conversation I REFERENCED 'ROCKY THE MOVIE' AND NOONE KNEW WHAT i was talking about. luckily unicorn empress saved me and used a ariana grande reference that better connected with the team.

It was a great day in the Bronx. It has been a special week for Stereotype Co. It meant a lot represent Stereotype and speak about my experiences at LIHS. Thank you Kleaver, Karina, Unicorn Empress, the Dream Team, The Future Project and Leadership Institute.

-D Noodlez

Want the Stereotype Collective to run a Don't Stop Dreaming workshop at your school, class, organization email Stereotype2us@gmail.com