Attracting Your Desire

Met with two philanthropic partners to discuss the reception of an upcoming event. The event is an auction of 100 IKEA clocks that have been transformed into 100 works of art by various celebrities and professional artists. After reviewing the celebrity list, Jesse (one of our partners) said, "you should try to approach Ne-Yo about creating a timepiece." I said, never heard of Ne-Yo. Tell me more... He went on to talk about this R&B/ hip hop artist that was young but sophisticated, living in the ATL but worldly, hip hop roots with R&B sound, clean cut, yet hip. So I left the meeting, not giving much more thought to this Ne-Yo. The very next morning, my boss's assistant said that my boss wanted to know why we were meeting with Ne-Yo, a hip hop artist for lunch and what was on the agenda. After explaining that I had never heard of Ne-Yo prior to yesterday, I was certain, we were not meeting with Ne-Yo. It turns out that our meeting was with Simon Malls at Neo, a new restaurant at the Mansion on Peachtree. As I was driving to the meeting with my boss, I told her how comical this was that before yesterday, I never heard of Ne-Yo and now he has come into my life two days in a row. I predicted (out loud) that for some reason, Ne-Yo and I were destined to meet even though, I still didn't even know who he was or what he looked like. As soon as I got back to my office, I searched Ne-Yo and landed on his myspace page. I listened to his music and couldn't believe how musically diverse and talented he was, like an old soul in a young person's skin. He was like a cross between Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin and John Legend. I was so inspired by his music, I ran into one of my co-worker's office and asked if they had heard of Ne-Yo. Apparently, he is someone that all the 20 somethings know and once again, I was out of the loop. I restated again, that I must be destined to meet him for some reason. Literally, four days later, I received an email inviting me to a private reception, the Network for Net Worth, with you guessed it, Ne-Yo hosting. I rsvped to the event and invited Jesse and other philanthropic partners to join me. The networking event was being held at Dolce, another partner of ours that we were in the midst of organizing a bowling party with at their Ten Pin Alley property. When I asked William at Dolce about the networking event, he said they were not the organizers, just the venue, and that he would reserve the perfect table for us. We decided to go early, have dinner, and catch up on each other's lives. We were so deep in conversation, that we hardly realized when Ne-Yo's two Managers bumped into our table and introduced themselves. I never mentioned my story to either of them, but one of them sat with us for sometime as he waited for Ne-Yo to arrive. He was about to leave us to finalize details of Ne-Yo's arrival. I told him that I really wanted to meet Ne-Yo, but I could not wait much longer cause it was already past my bedtime. These urban musicians' night just begins when mine ends. Ne-Yo's manager reiterated that he would be arriving any minute. He gave me his cell phone number and told me to make sure to call him before leaving. I called him from across the room when I had too much networking and told him we were leaving. He said Ne-Yo had just arrived and they were bringing him to our table first. They were there in seconds and I could hardly believe that just 10 days earlier, I had never heard of Ne-Yo and now he was right before me. I told him about our clock project and he said he would love to participate, we talked, hugged each other (everyone does that in the South) and got our picture made together. As I was leaving, he said don't forget to get the clock to me tomorrow, so I can participate. I told his managers, I would text them in the morning. The next day, we connect, and I am delivering a clock to Ne-Yo's studio and touring this up and coming, soon to be R&B sensation's private studio. I believe he has the potential to be the next Michael Jackson without all of the drama. I am still in awe of how simple it is to state something out loud and then it happens. You really do have the power to attract your desires. What are you doing to attract yours? Would love to hear your story.

Girls Night Out

Had a most amazing night! Met 8 new girls out at a friends house in the ATL. She purchased a cooking lesson with a celebrity chef, Virginia Willis, at a local charity event. Did not know what to expect! Our most charming host had talked her husband into going out of town so the girls could come over for girls night out. It is never a good idea to have preconceived notions about new folks you are about to meet. My first conversation centered around everyone trying to guess which hip hop star lived on West Paces Ferry. Some thought it was Usher, others Big Boi, Jermaine Dupri and then Ne-Yo. To settle it , I called my real estate friend that covers that territory. It wasn't a hip hop artist that lived there at all but a strip mall mogul from Columbia. Met Ms. Chattanooga next, a blonde version of Linda Dano. I was so intrigued by her beautiful blue eyes and yes, her golden ring. She designed, molded and made the ring, very Bvlgari meets David Yurman but so unique and truly a one of a kind. Every time she opened her mouth, we finished each other's sentences. She even knew my friend Happy that lives in Chattanooga, such a small world, truly six degrees of separation. Met another woman that divides her time between Hong Kong and the ATL, how exciting! She had all of the hook ups for bling and couture there. We drank wine, champagne, laughed, and believe it or not, the discussion turned to politics several times. We found out that about half were democrats and half were republicans. Despite the fact that the DNC was broadcast tonight from Denver, not one of us got into an argument and left early to listen to the discussion. We talked about everything from the love of our lives, to the women who lost their loves to women just like us. We talked about how China had taken over the world and how India wasn't far behind and how America had lost its soul. There were even discussions of our favorite libations, how each course was so simple but so tasty and how at the end of the night, no matter how freshly caught the halibut was from Alaskan waters, which local farm churned the goat cheese, to which vineyard in Napa Valley corked the wine, not one of us could wait for the chocolate pot de creme. Just as we thought we had solved all of the world's problems, my friend's 21 year old showed up with her friends and their case of beer and bags of chips. Life was simpler then but not nearly as fun. It was interesting that their party was just beginning as ours had ended. When is the last time you had a girls night out? Would love to hear about it...

Hip Hop Girl

I heard a song yesterday called Sincerely Jane by Janelle Monae, a rising star in the R&B/ hip hop world. She looks like a protege of Grace Jones, which is why I listened to her song anyway. I was looking for someone to perform at an upcoming conference on teen pregnancy prevention. Her lyrics kept sticking with me. She says "Left the city, my momma she said don't come back home, These kids round' killin each other, they lost they minds, they gone, They quittin' school, making babies and can barely read, Some gone off to their fall, lord have mercy on them, One, two, three, four, your cousins is round' here sellin' dope, While they're daddies, your uncle is walking round' strung out, Babies with babies, and their tears keep burning, while their dreams go down the drain now, I've seen them shootin' up funerals in they Sunday clothes, Spending money on spinners but won't pay college loans , And all you gangers and bangers rollin' dice and taking lives in a smokey dark, Lord have mercy on you, Teacher, teacher please reach those girls in them videos, The little girls just broken Queen, confusing bling for soul, Danger, there's danger when you take off your clothes, all your dreams go down the drain girl." WOW, POWERFUL WORDS. I work in a non profit where we work really hard to inspire futures and change lives every day in the inner city. The entire song seems to capture the spirit of what these young people go through every day. It reminded me of all of these hip hop artists/professional athletes and other celebrities that start their own foundations because their managers advise them that this is a good idea or maybe it is their own ego. I am not sure, either way, they will start out by investing a $500K to $1M then they will ask their manager or mother to manage the Foundation. A year or two later, they host a fundraising event, and with their cache as a celebrity, actually get people to sponsor to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars. Then at the end of the day, they actually paid so much for the party and entertainment, that their is not much left for their cause. Then they will host something for a day or a few weeks for inner city kids so the world can see how generous they are with all of the money they are making on the ringtones that that the inner city kids just paid .99 cents for. Truth is, many of these athletes/hip hop artists and other celebrities will spend more money in an evening at a gentleman's club than they will on the kids in the neighborhoods in their own backyard. What would it take to get these guys to invest their money in existing non profits in their own backyards? Instead of hosting a one day or two week event that essentially does nothing for the young people, you actually change a young boy or girl's life by investing your time and your money in a non profit that is professionally staffed and poised for change. Like Janelle says in the song "spending money on spinners but you won't pay for college loans"?

changing lives, inspiring futures

I heard a story today about a guy in Afghanistan that was climbing there and when he finsihed, these locals asked him to build a school there. When he got back to the states he decided to send letters to several celebrities and ask them to send money to help build a school in Afghanistan (12K for one school) The only celebrity that sent him money was Tom Brokaw and he sent a $100. This inspired him to send letters to his friends and their friends to ask to help him build a school in Afghanistan. In two short years, he has collected millions of dollars and he found out in the course of his work that people all over the world were more interested in making peace than making war. As a professional partnership builder helping those with less partner with those with more, I found this an intriguing concept. I have been reading blogs for months and it struck me that oftentimes, the blogs are about beefs or gripes or negative things in general. It propelled me to want to start my on blog and see if bloggers are more like politicians, enjoy making war than making peace or if they are like this climber in Afghanistan that says humankind is really more interested in making peace than making war. What do you think?