Meet Ignite The Dream!

Lighting the way to a brighter future for our generation is key for change + Ignite The Dream is blazing the way! Launched by Danielle Johnson + Shantinique Hendricks, ITD’s mission is to expand opportunities and enhance the lives of young dreamers. They strive to rekindle the fire and unlock the potential in young people and enable them to imagine success in their future.

Ignite The Dream is an young individual led team founded by two college students that saw a need to help youth follow their dreams. Many children are raised around poverty, violence, and illness, which may hinder their dreams of being a success. However, not every child is faced with adverse living situations but they may be hindered from reaching their full potential. Every child should be awarded the opportunity to reach their full potential and follow their dreams. These two dynamic women have been guest speakers at the ” I Am My Sisters Keeper Conference” as well as the “I Am Worth It Conference”. They also host their own events within the community and incorporate fashion in education!

Let’s get to know Ignite The Dream a little better…

ig2

Ignite The Dream is a powerful organization that inspires youth to shine bright in their future, what made you want to create a platform to encourage young people? Being from Alabama it almost seemed like everyone around us felt like they couldn’t make it or couldn’t completely follow their dreams because of their location or their limited resources. We too had dreams we wanted to achieve and places we wanted to travel to but we knew we would not achieve them if we had a negative attitude and focused on the little things. We started Ignite the Dream to help the youth get back to dreaming and get back to working towards what they really wanted in life whether it was to be a doctor, lawyer, actor, or even a talk show host. Whatever their dreams may be we wanted to be a support system and a encouraging voice to let them know its possible if they work hard and never give up.

Being a voice in the community motivates others to be great, what type of events does Ignite The Dream host? Ignite the Dream host events that we know will cater to the inner needs of the youth and how they are feeling but will never talk about. We hosted a Tea Party for a local Martial Arts Academy in hopes of helping build girls ages 5 to 18 self esteem when it comes to being around other females and how to dress and act like an young lady. ITD also hosted “ Young Black Kings Reclaiming the Throne of Manhood” in honor of Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin. We had a panel of guest speakers that were successful men in the area that spoke words of wisdom and encouragement. There were free haircuts being given and a self-defense performance by a martial academy. ITD was also guest speakers at the “ I Am My Sisters Keeper” conference and the “I Am Worth It” conference talking to young ladies about success, following their dreams, and self-esteem. We also did free tutoring during the summer.

We tend to pull characteristics from others in our lives or from people we admire, who inspires you and why? When it comes to who inspires us I think we could talk forever, but to keep it brief our grandparents, mothers, some friends and mentors inspire us because they all worked so hard to get where they are in life and it only motivates us to work hard no matter what. Our moms are truly our backbone and our support system and I don’t know where or who we would be without them.

If you had to give one piece of advice to teen girls who are struggling with being comfortable in their own skin, what would it be? If we had to give teen girls who were struggling with being comfortable in their own skin apiece of advice it would be that in a world where the definition of beauty is controlled by the media sometimes it feels impossible to be happy with who you are, but take back the power! Strive to love yourself just as you are because once you learn to love yourself nothing or no one can stop you, you are worth it!

ig3

Working with youth both parties learn from each other, what’s one trait you have learned from working with girls? One thing I can honestly say we have learned from working with girls is strength despite circumstance. We have talked to so many different girls from different backgrounds and have heard stories and situations that you would think played a huge role on who you are, but these young ladies are still striving to be better and to succeed and they don’t let money or material things define them because they know who they are and what they bring to the table if they are given a chance.

We’re all about empowerment at C.O.R.E Mag, what does EMPOWERMENT mean to you + your organization? To me empowerment means to be humble enough to look to the person next to you and say I wish you best even if you are going after the same dream. Empowerment means that you do not only want to make it to top but you are willing to bring other with you. To ITD empowerment means if we can say one thing that helps a young person or anybody reconsider going after a dream then we have accomplished what we came to do. We like to encourage and show young people how to work with a spirit of excellence in all that they do.

Fun Faves! Song? Food? Artist? Celeb Crush?
Shanti: Favorite Food: Chicken Alfredo
Artists: Monica and Tyrese
Celebrity Crush: Morris Chestnut
Danielle: Favorite Food: Any Soul Food!
Artists: Jazmin Sullivan
Celebrity Crush: Christian Keys
Find out more here!

facebook comments:

Leave a Reply