It’s Not the How or the What but the Who: Succeed by Surrounding Yourself with the Best
Thank you Angela Herin.
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Small Biz Boomer
Life Lessons for All Generations
Inspiring Boomer: Toni Lewis, 10 Years of Bringing Music and More to the Lives of Children
In the spring of 2004, Bowie resident A. (Arethia) Toni Lewis decided it was time to leave her six-figure job at GSA. She wanted to pursue her dream of giving back to her community through education. One of the Washington area’s premier event planners, she had was involved in planning for both of President Clinton’s inaugurals and served as CEO for inaugural planning for President George H Bush.
Toni, and a friend musician Richard Payne, were concerned about broad cuts to music programs in the Prince George County school system and the lack of exposure young people in the region had to a broad range of music (other than rap and hip hop). Toni with her friends from all over the music industry (including jazz artist Ski Johnson and Jerry Butler) launched FAME: the Foundation for the Advancement for the Advancement of Music (www.fameorg.org )
A. Toni Lewis, Founder of
FAME:Foundation for the Advancement of Music and Education
To finance the operation, she just HAD just her retirement savings and initially held a fundraiser to offer scholarships.Since then, The Foundation for the Advancement of Music and Education has partnered with professional athletic teams, public schools, government officials, media outlets, theatres and dance companies. It sponsors concerts throughout the DMV with music of ALL KINDS.
Lewis and Gospel Singer Byron Cage
The organization has furnished public schools and youth with music programs with new & used instruments. It also sponsors -two intense summer music technology camps that includes music, technology and academic programs, giving students access to the finest college music professors, instructors, musicians and technology in the music business. The camps are in partnership with the University of Maryland School of Music & Bowie State University Fine and Performing Arts Center, Toni has advised the city of Philadelphia and the Lincoln Center in New York on youth music programs.
Lewis and students from the FAME Music and Technology Camp at University of Maryland
Life Editing: Whether It’s People, Places or Things
I find as I get older that I have to decide to do some editing. A lot of people, places and things simply are not good for me. This include negative people and time spent with negative people in forced circumstances (business, family etc.). The editing process can also include pruning the people who are simply dead weight. You know who I mean, the people who are consistently unreliable, or who put you down, or don’t return your phone calls, emails or texts but readily call you when they need something. No one is THAT busy. Move on and Let Go. 
Looking back – Moving forward
Motivational speaker Willie Jolley says there’s a reason the windshield of a car is so big and the rearview mirror is so small. Looking forward one can see the possibilities.
Memories of being 50 years YOUNG* Thanks y’all for being part of my journey..
Welcome Fellow Baby Boomer – Life Great !
Waving y’all! Quick break in a VERY busy day..It IS my 51st bday..Wooooohooooo!!! Extremely humbled by the amazing amount of Bday calls, texts, emails, ecards, gifts ..Blown my hair back & as I reflect on this year past? Flew far faster than I anticipated it would..Yet as I count off the goals I accomplished this year? Almost completed all of them..Progresssive year indeed..What was most important to me? Living IN the moment; and making those I consider dear feel as special as they are to me. Nothing more special to me than time spent & enjoyed! I learn & I yearn to learn even more. Thanks to all who have added to my journey. Thanks to all who taught me lessons I’d not have learned had you not entered my world. Most of all thanks be to my God for allowing me to learn the lessons a tad bit quicker..Embarking…
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Time: Your Most Valuable Commodity
Recently I had the opportunity to be around a group of the “unfortunately successful.” You know them, people who have acquired some level of success by society’s standards but who now, struggling to remain relevant possess an almost stifling air of self-importance. After about a half-hour with this crowd I left the event. Perhaps in the past I would have stayed but it didn’t seem like a good use of my time.
Time, I have learned, is valuable.
One of my favorite columnists, James Altucher author of the recent ” The Choose Yourself: Stories” recently published a column about regrets. In his column he says “Money you can get back, but even five minutes of time lost is gone forever.”
So true.
Time is the most cherished thing you will possess. It is yours as long as you are on this earth. Don’t waste it in pettiness, regrets or trying to figure out how to please people who can’t even please themselves. We are all here for a finite period. Spend time counting your blessings. Feel blessed.
Meet George Jetson – Watching Television Can Spark Your Creativity
We live in a new age. You can press a button on your phone and buy a cup of coffee. Soon you will be able to press a button your printer and make a cup of coffee. As a child I watched a great deal of television the Jetsons, the Outer Limits and Star Trek but actually having a robot clean up after me didn’t seem plausible. Yet there were other boomers like tech innovators Bill Gates, Steve Case and the late Steve Jobs as well as filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg who let their imaginations help them build into reality what they saw on television. Now as the TV shows of the 50s and 60s make a comeback with ME TV, Cosi, etc. With driverless cars and apps that can close our doors perhaps then watching television is still a good thing.
He’s BAACK – The Return of the Giant Plant
#Reinvention – The Natural Way
This Memorial Day Weekend, I’m spending time with my mom ” Miss Georgia” and the family. Couldn’t help but notice the giant monster plant has made a comeback. The plant in mom’ s living room fell off the table mysteriously in the middle of the night two years ago and was thought was gone forever (Planticide – July 18, 2010). After the fall what was left of the plant was placed in a medium sized jar of water on the family room table, later repotted and placed back in the living room. Now the plant is enormous, somewhat less menacing than before, (no scales so far) and quite glorious . That’s the thing about reinvention – sometimes it’s incremental and it often yields glorious results.
Memories from Talford Street: A Mentor Extradonaire
As Mother’s Day Approaches I remember one of my most important mentors, Gloria Chapmon.
I grew up on Cleveland’s East Side in a middle class neighborhood. My mom and her girlfriends would play bridge at one of the homes on Talford Street while us kids played outdoors rode our bikes, played kickball in the street, caught lightning bugs or would gather in the basement to watch “The Twilight Zone” or “Ghoulardi.” On weekends our Dads would gather at Mr Pace’s house on Talford Street to watch sports and barbecue. Often my family would join the families of Talford Street on trips to the West Side Euclid Beach Amusement Park or , Punderson State Park Lodge in the winter and the Jersey Shore in the summer.
The families central hangout on Talford Street was the home of Louis and Gloria Chapmon . I came to know the couple as Mr. Chapmon and Aunt Gloria. Later “Gloria” would become a lifelong…
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