***𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 “𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐃𝐎𝐍’𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐌𝐄?” 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐈'𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬!***
Read here or 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲
I am standing in front of a room of seemingly bored teeangers. Some are on their phones, some resting their heads on their desks and most are wondering why this blonde white lady with a fancy handbag is standing in front of them.
And then, I start to speak: "My name is Nancy and YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME. My mom was murdered in a home invasion and it crushed me, but determination and resilience got me through and led to the eventual capture of the man responsible.”
When I look around the room, I see thirty-five faces hanging onto my every word. They no longer see me as just a blonde white lady, they see me as someone who has confidently overcome an unspeakable tragedy.
“Okay,” I say. “Who wants to go next?”
When I first started AMBITION, people told me the mission was impossible. I would never make it into the school system. I persevered and pushed through the red tape, but when I finally got to the front of a classroom of teenagers, it became apparent that the bureaucracy would be the easy part. I quickly realized that if you do not KNOW them, you CANNOT TEACH them.
I designed “YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME,” an exercise in power-not-pity, as a way to connect. As a leadership platform that would allow the students to escape the image of “victim” that is so often projected onto young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. As a means to engender the confidence that any successful person–in business or in life–needs as their strong foundation.
And it worked. The AMBITION students stood up and told revealing stories about being the oldest child and caring for younger siblings. Stories about the deportation of their parents. Stories about escaping gang affiliation. Stories about overcoming the often brutal loss of a loved one.
They told their stories with a tone of empowerment and mostly importantly, they declared a path to resolution. And that was the start of the beautiful work we would do together.
Student & Mentor "YDKAM" videos
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 “𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐃𝐎𝐍’𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐌𝐄?”
𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
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#23YearsOfRamen #ALotOfFckngSodium #ShareYourDinnerTable #YouDontKnowAboutMe #PowerNotPity #BeWhoYouAre #NancyGale #AMBITION #JAMAH
