PHREAdom Leaders: Brittany Yates

Brittany Yates, Executive Director &
Founder of Endless Dreams Foundation
http://www.endlessdreamsfoundation.org

Brittany Yates always wanted to start her own non-profit organization. Yates accomplished that goal in 2011, when she officially incorporated Endless Dreams Foundation while working on her Bachelor’s degree from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C.

“It was just in me,” the young entrepreneur said. “I love helping people.”

She is able to do so through Endless Dreams Foundation.

Endless Dreams Foundation’s mission is “to encourage the youth to set, pursue, and complete their goals.” The organization incorporates this mission by offering programs and services including mentoring, tutoring, and various workshops to help build a lasting relationship within the community.

The youth organization is based in both Charlotte and Washington, D.C. Yates lives in Washington, D.C. where she works full-time in the finance department at the Children’s National Medical Center. However, she travels often to Charlotte, N.C. She has a full team of interns, board of directors, and committee members who help with the operation of the organization.

Endless Dreams Foundation will expand its Academic Dreams program by the end of the year. The Academic Dreams will kick off in the Charlotte area to offer college tours, mentoring and tutoring year round, and parent workshops to help educate them about FAFSA and scholarships for their future college student. It will eventually expand to the Washington, D.C. area. However, both areas are currently looking for volunteers to serve as mentors and tutors.

What is Beauty

This past summer, Girl You Crazy and Endless Dreams Foundation teamed up to host the What is Beauty Campaign. The campaign featured a two month long discussion on discovering the true meaning and essence of beauty.

Yates said she started looking at statistics and realized that only one in every two girls felt like they were beautiful.

It was established to focus on self-esteem and build women empowerment as a unit and sisterhood.

During the campaign, the two organizations hosted a Women’s Empowerment Brunch which brought all women together to discuss beauty and self-esteem.

“Everyone’s definition of beauty was different,” Yates said. “It was good to see the different views.”

The Value of Time

The 23-year-old has a busy schedule, but her motto is that “everything can be done” with time management. Between Endless Dreams and working full-time, Yates is also working on her Master’s in Business Administration from Trinity College to become a well-rounded business woman. She blocks off time in her schedule to make sure she is able to accomplish everything she needs to do on a daily basis including her social life.

Passion to Serve

Yates is passionate about serving in different aspects of life. She loves serving her community and helping people out in general. She explained that if she meets someone or one of her friends are working on a new venture or project, she is always willing to lend a hand. 

"I always want to help," she insisted. 

Hope to Inspire

The business woman hopes to inspire other aspiring entrepreneurs by reading her story as an entrepreneur, leader and Endless Dreams.

She wants them to realize that they can do the same thing, she said. "I want to change the lives of others."

Respect in the Non-Profit

For anyone familiar with non-profit organization, they receive the majority of their funding through donations, sponsors, and mostly grants. However, Yates explained for non-profits you have to earn respect from the community in order to secure any funding especially grants. 

"You have to prove yourself," Yates said. "Nobody will give you money if they don't know you or respect you."

Most people are aware of the larger names like United Way and the American Red Cross versus smaller non-profits, she said. 

Endless Dreams works to build respect by consistently reaching out to the community and schools. They are making their presence known in both the Charlotte and Washington, D.C. areas.

Empowered to Do More

"When I get to see other people succeeding, it empowers me to do more," Yates said. The success of the others instills a self-empowerment for her to keep pushing and keep doing more.

One of her friends is a journalist, it empowered her to consider the idea of writing as well, she explained. Although her schedule is quite busy, she doesn't feel like she is doing as much. She feels like she can always do more. 

Ambition to Fulfill Goals and Dreams

Endless Dreams Foundation focus on helping the youth achieve their goals, therefore, it is quite fitting for the executive director to have similar ambitions. While Yates is ambitious about the community and helping people especially those who want to help themselves, setting and achieving goals and dreams are just as important. 

Yates' vision board sits above her desk at work so that she is able to look at the goals and vision as well as look at what she already accomplished. 

The vision board has two sides, she said. Goals and vision on one side, and what was accomplished on the other side. 

"I work towards it every day," Yates said. 

She always leaves room for another venture to add onto her vision board. 

"I wasn't planning on getting my MBA," she explained, but she added it to her board once the decision was made.

Yates is a true definition of an entrepreneur. She takes risks. She sets goals and work towards achieving everything she wants to do. 

For more information about Endless Dreams Foundation, you can visit their Web site here, follow them on Instagram at Endless Dreams Foundation or Twitter at @NoEnd2Dreaming, and like them on Facebook here. 

PHREAdom Leader: Curtis Walls

Curtis Walls is more than what meets the surface. As one looks at Walls from the inside out, it is easy to realize that he is much more than a wide receiver and businessman. Does he love football? Yes, but it’s not his life. Is he a businessman? Yes, but he also loves reading philosophical books. In fact, the Charlotte native always had a passion for changing the world.

“I always wanted to influence the masses,” Walls said.

As a man of God, his ability to do so became evident through his leadership roles and experiences on the field and in life.

While studying at the North Carolina Agriculture & Technology, Walls wanted to do three things which were to play football, join Alpha Phi Alpha which is the first black fraternity within the National Pan-Hellenic Council and become the Student Government Association’s president. By senior year, Walls accomplished all, but one thing on his Aggie goal list.

He served as a leading wide receiver and captain of the Aggie team. He received a NCAA leadership award for his involvement in sports. He also gained the opportunity to play for the Black College All Star Football game. He became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha serving leadership positions in his fraternity. Walls’ senior year in college, he ran for the president of the Student Government Association. Walls won the popular election by 49%, but loss the re-election by three unique votes.

However, an opportunity opened for Walls to serve as the president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council. The National Pan-Hellenic Council was the second largest body of student government on the campus. He was able to meet great leaders and sat in meetings with other prominent leaders on the campus including the Student Government Association’s president.

 “It ended up being a blessing,” Walls continued.

Blessing in Disguise

After graduating with a degree in landscape architecture, Walls was torn between playing football and entering corporate America. The opportunity to play in the all-star game while in college became a pivotal moment in Walls’ life. His original plans after college was to begin a career as a landscape architect, but he realized the possibility of actually turning football into a career.

He chose to pursue a career in his major. He moved to Aspen, Colo., where he worked at Design Workshop. He was the first black landscape architect in the company.

In disguise, football would enter back into his life while in Aspen. In 2008, he was laid off from Design Workshop. It was at this moment, he knew this was his opportunity to pursue his dream of playing professional football.

Walls said, he left corporate America and went back to the football field.

He moved back to Charlotte and started training. He was able to play for a Canadian League football and Arena League football in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Walls as a Businessman

Walls has several titles to his name including Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of TIME as well as managing partner of both the Charlotte Greek Picnic and NXL21 Charlotte Marketing Agency.

TIME stands for Taking Initiative Moving Efficiently was created while Walls was brainstorming during his student government presidential campaign. TIME was just a theory, but it would eventually develop into much more.

TIME started while the creator was in college, he said.

There was a police incident in one of the dorms, and a group of students went to address the 21^st century students and bring awareness to the community of the different issues, Walls continued.

The young leader joined forces with the president of the Student Government Association who also had an initiative called MOVE to create a variety of platforms geared towards the men in the community. The rest is history.

TIME’s mission is to “take the initiative to provide efficient programs and solutions that will revitalize our community, social and economic value – EMPOWERMENT” (http://www.timetoempower.com/mission-vision/).

It is a service-based organization with a broad number of issues that are addressed, Walls said. There are three main concepts of TIME, which are the following: exposure of the mind, the next step and the state of.

The organization hosts YOUth EmpowHERment and YOUth EmpowerMENt Summits for middle and high school aged boys and girls annually. This September, the organization will kick off their MENtor Empowerment Network for 7 to 12^th grade boys in Charlotte to “develop a bond built on goal specific engagement and empowerment” (http://www.timetoempower.com/news-events/).

Currently, TIME is planning its inaugural Single Mother Empowerment Symposium this year.

Walls, who briefly was raised in a single family home, explained he realized the importance for a program of this caliber based on the assessments gathered from to the boys and girls empowerment summits.

“We developed a concept of hitting each family member – one at a time,” Walls said.

The event will be hosted by Yasmin Young of Power 98 and will feature a celebrity keynote speaker, dynamic panel of single mothers and a five star meal.

This is an opportunity to provide single mothers with resources for their children and for them as a woman, Walls said.

Walls’ upcoming projects with TIME are far from all that he is doing right now. He is also preparing for the annual Charlotte Greek Picnic weekend. The weekend officially begins September 5 and ends on September 7. This year, the weekend will feature a stroll-off competition in partnership with the University of North Carolina – Charlotte’s National Pan-Hellenic Council. The weekend will conclude with the picnic at Marshall Park and the finale party at Re:Public in Charlotte.

He said the overall mission of the Charlotte Greek Picnic is to revitalize the Greek culture in Charlotte and allow doors to open for everyone.

The planning committee members are expecting everyone to have a great time and leave the concept that the Charlotte Greek Picnic has arrived.

“We are officially creating our own weekend,” Walls said.

On September 29, NXL21 Charlotte Marketing Agency will host a Freestyle Comedy Show at the Comedy Zone in the Music Factory in Charlotte. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Passion for football and chasing dreams

By now, Walls’ passion for football is apparent. He loves the game of football beyond the plays, the number of touchdowns or yards, but rather because of the commitment and discipline of the game that can be used in everyday life.

“Football is life, but life isn’t football,” Walls said.

This is a quote he learned while playing in college.

He realized the quote could not only be applied to the field, but in life as well.

Football requires commitment and discipline and experiences in life require the same, he explained.

Walls also has a passion for coaching.

The value of coaching is developing a well-rounded man versus an athlete, he said.

He hosts various coaching camps in Charlotte for young boys and individual coaching sessions with youth athletes.

As a philosophical thinker, Walls is passionate about inspiration from a conceptual level and acting on possibilities.

“We all have dreams,” he said. However, few act on it.

Hope for a fulfilling life

Walls hopes for a satisfying life where he wakes up to do what he wants to do. He also hopes to eventually start a family.

A woman of God who is confident, doesn't have to be totally involved in his career, and he can support her dreams are the qualities Walls is looking in his future wife.

 “She knows her husband is invested in making her feel fulfilled,” he said.

Respect regardless of situations

Respect is “the value of being respectful to people regardless if they respect you or not,” Walls said. “As long as my actions are sincere, they will eventually see.”

Despite the circumstance and situations, respect can change perceptions.

Empowered by adversity

Different points in Walls’ life empower him to continue to move forward because the possibilities are limitless.

Walls explained that he’s experienced many blessings, setbacks and adversities, but they are all processes in life.

“I’m empowered by all processes,” he said.

Walls compares the instant rich person versus the person who becomes rich over time.

The person who becomes rich instantly misses the life lessons to understand how to stay rich versus the person who becomes rich over time will understand how to keep it, he said.

Walls’ calls those life lessons “moments of glory.”

Ambition to keep moving

Similar to Walls’ passion, hope and empowerment, he is ambitious to keep moving. He wants to continue to maximize his potential, which in turn equals quality.

“Quality is never an accident,” Walls said. “I never saw three years ago, I would be doing what I’m doing.”

Walls’ drive to keep moving and pushing towards his goals is what makes him the man that he is today.
Facebook: Curtis Walls
Twitter: @CurtisWalls
Instagram: @CurtisWalls
http://www.timetoempower.com
http://www.nxlevelent.com