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Donald Brown
- Male
- Wolverhampton
- United Kingdom
- Entrepreneurial Art
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Obama and Our expanding Vision
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Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University. These students wanted to use their collective strength to promote academic excellence and to provide assistance to persons in need.
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A SuperWoman's Lifestyle
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Profile Information
- Why do you want to join Black Business Women Online?
- To identify individuals who would like to explore a short-term promotional position within my company that pays $100,000.
- What's Your Business?
- Entrepreneurial Art
- How did you find BBWO?
- BlackPlanet
- About Me:
- When I was about fourteen years old, I took a lump of soft, muddy clay home from school and created a head of myself, on the kitchen table. Seeing my passion and commitment for sculpture, my mother asked me, "What is playing with mud going to do for you?"
The general consensus amongst my immediate circle of influence was that one had to be exceptionally gifted, determined and extremely fortunate to garner the appropriate opportunities in order to avoid winding up as a failed and or starving artist. In Great Britain, a young black man, pursuing figurative sculpture as a serious career was as foreign to social thinking, twenty-five years ago, as I believe it is today. There were and are no black Michelangelo´s, Rodin´s or Bernini´s with whom others and I could identify with to celebrate and emulate.
Mother's concern later proved to be one of the most significant and motivating questions that helped in my development as an artist and as a man, by virtue of the seeming negative energy it imbued. I soon discovered the art of converting negative energy into positive energy and still find it to be a liberating and empowering experience and an ability that can be developed into one of many essential life skills.
It can be a natural reaction for individuals to internalize a negative comment that is directed at them, albeit with good intentions. For example, how many times have you had what you consider to be a great idea, or visualized new goals and dreams but upon sharing them with others you find they do not share your vision or enthusiasm? They have nothing to say by way of encouragement but instead they discourage and possibly derail you. If so many dreams are potentially lost, because others disapprove, what does that say about the insecurity of those who allow such negative energies to significantly alter the course of their lives? Ultimately, who really is the decision-maker regarding that particular aspect of your life?
When making a decision, it is better to maintain ultimate control of your mental journey, in order to maintain control of your life’s journey. Allowing others to make decisions for us can result in our suffering the consequences of their indiscretion. Being decisive builds confidence and character. Even if we make poor choices we can learn and grow from understanding our mistakes. However, by seeking the valued opinions of others, it is possible to be discreet with our personal information, whilst accumulating a range of experiences that can better position us to make our own decisions.
Unfortunately, there are those who cannot bear to see us progress and succeed. They instinctively suppress us from elevating ourselves above their level of normality, mediocrity or even wealth and success. Then there are those, like my dear mother, whose genuine concern, though seemingly negative, was predicted on her limited understanding of my true potential, the art industry and her desire to see her baby boy pursue and find "a real job." Granted, I did not and still do not know it all. However, I was aware that I had discovered the tip of a creative iceberg in a gift that I found stimulating, exciting, therapeutic, and empowering. I was not about to close the door to what might be one of the greatest artistic discoveries of all time... Me!!! Okay, so maybe living in cloud cuckoo land (British for, "having my head in the clouds") was my fantasy world. However, in that world I was free to dream without reprisal. I could formulate lofty aspirations that when shared, caused others to raise a cynical eyebrow in question of my sanity or place a condescending pat on my back to gently return me to earth, as seen through their eyes of course. And so it was then that I learnt to protect my dreams from being distorted, broken, lost or stolen by not putting them out there prematurely for others to consciously or subconsciously destroy.
I had chosen to specialize in an obscure field. So many of us have enormous potentials in areas that are not considered mainstream, but could lead us to new frontiers. Unfortunately, there will be those who choose to play it safe and select a ´proper´ job or a ´real´ career to gain the approval of those around them. This often falls into the category of a nine-to-five, with benefits and promotional prospects in a reputable company, earning a good income and so on. Fortunately, there are many who find pride, happiness, satisfaction and peace of mind with this lifestyle and that is to be applauded and celebrated. They are able to identify with it as a great life and know that in part; it was determined by a decision that was true to them and made by them.
Being true to your self sets you free. It is too easy to formulate an idea, or visualize a dream and pursue it with blind determination only to find that you are potentially more skilled in one or several different areas or that there are others who are better capable and prepared. Such a situation can present an opportunity to exercise the art of converting the negative into the positive.
When you eventually share your vision with others you may by confronted with questions like, "Is there a market for that?" "Can you make a living from it?" "Why would you want to do that?" "How will you survive?"" and "What if you fail?" If this is the case, then do the right thing and assess the validity of each question, not to protect your pride or to defend your idea, but for the purpose of creating a concept that is as air tight as possible. If, of your own volition, you continue to find holes within the foundation of your concept, it is quite possible that your idea belongs in the ´Ideas Anonymous Graveyard´. There is no shame in burying an idea and conserving positive creative energy for future endeavors. Take delight in knowing that you subjected your vision to a rigorous and honest examination, furthering your growth in wisdom, knowledge and understanding and better preparing you for your next venture. It is not always necessary to strike while the iron is seemingly hot in order to find success.
It is often said that a unique door that is opened to us is an opportunity of a lifetime. It is my opinion that we can spend our entire lives walking through many doors that are opened for us; however, very often we have the keys to the doors that only we can open. Look not to others to grant you that which you already have.
- Website:
- http://thehealingofafrica.com
- Favorite Website
- http://Blackplanet.com
- What are your most common online activities?
- Research
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The Southern Entertainment Awards, oringinally out of Nashville, at Harrahs casino in Tunica, Ms. I am nominated this yr. I need everyone support on this voting process. It take jus a minute to go to the site(link below) Click BALLOT tab..VOTE will appear..Click it...look for the catagory: INDUSTRY POWER PLAYER(FEMALE)..YOU DO NOT HAVE TO VOTE IN EVERY CATAGORY...they will send you a comformation email that you MUST click to make your vote count..I have worked soo hard over the years, especially being a woman in the music industry, dealing with men who have tested my Womanhood and Rank..and have LOST... I'm humble for this reconition by my peers, and would love to be the FIRST BLACK WOMAN to bring this award home..Please comment on my page after you have voted for me..so I can see who my voters were(email all your friends to do the same)..thank you..and I know I cant win without YOU!!Please add me...
http://www.southernentawards.com/ballot/vote.html
I have had friends who have taken a dance workshop in Gambia! We need the arts!
It is I who must thank you for your very kind words of encouragement. To be over 3,000 miles away and to know that my works can in some way empower you is both humbling and inspiring. It is my aim to continue using my God-given blessing to create a positive impact as far and as long as possible.
I will be more than happy to provide you with the information on my project in The Gambia. However, I am unsure if I can send you an attachment via this site. If you prefer I can send the said information to an e-mail address of your choice. Failing that I can cut and paste it in this comment box.
Please advise.
Kind regards,
Donald Brown
Thank you for the welcome and the invite. I hope to hear more about your venture. Combining humanitarian work and commerce is an interesting idea.
- Kim
This is a non-gender related venture. The premise of my humanitarian endeavours in The Gambia, and the related economic empowerment, is to bring people together to further ensure, schools, hospitals and homes are built for those in need. In order to achieve this, people have to be informed about the said endeavours. In order to do that one has to conduct research. In so doing groups, organizations, websites and networks are identified. To disseminate the relevant information to such websites as BBWO, their rules dictate that signing up is a prerequisite. As such, if the powers that be, the organizers of the BBWO, deem my submitted information appropriate to approve, then predicated on their determination, one could safely assume that would be in keeping with the ethics of their policy set out within guidelines of their mandate. BBWO is a source where people network. The fact that BBWO is a site for women dose not mean it is not a site for men. You may wish to take note of the first six images on the home-page for the BBWO that includes the picture of a man, strongly suggesting that men are also welcome to support BBWO.
I hope this answers your question.
Kind regards,
Donald Brown