The Dare Dreamer Movement by Julene Fleurmond

I mentioned before that I’m finishing up my doctoral program in leadership for youth – which is a fancy way to say I’m working on making the world a better place for kids. (Look I made it here to the home stretch, I almost quit because I thought it wasn’t for me but then realized I was here for a greater purpose. School is the reason I had put my business and projects on pause for a long while so I could focus – so prepare to see more of me when I am set free). Though I was that nerdy bookworm who got good grades, school was never really my thing as an artistic ADD kid – part of the reason why I’m here to change the way things are for the next generation…

My motivation for getting through the program is that we’re creating something we can actually use and change lives with. The journey has been hard but surprisingly fun – I’ve gotten so inspired and found my passion to empower young people has grown even more. I get to work with kids every week and seeing the crazy pressures they go through in this world breaks my heart! So many of the kids go through a rough time at home, then they have pressures at school and with friends – so many ways for them to “turn up” and get in trouble…they’re so in need of positive role models and examples.

For my final project for school I’m working on my dream project and turning it into real life. My research is on how the arts can be used as a positive way to influence youth. I’ve always dreamed of creating a media organization that had only positive entertainment for young people – entertainment that inspired them to live a better life and helped them to become the changemakers in this world. So much of what’s in the media, the Internet, TV and in music today is so negative and it’s basically schooling kids in the wrong way. For my project, which is going beyond a school assignment into an actual living, breathing reality, I’m working with others to create entertainment with a greater purpose. This is kind of expanding on the work I did in undergrad at SMU when I got a grant to create workshops and a website to inspire kids to be creative and social entrepreneurs to change the world, DreamerENT.com. The goal now is to create positive original video content with substance, to begin with a fun but important “show” that delves into topics going on in the world today that affect young people (like my inspiration Oprah Winfrey did for me and my generation).