Say it: I AM Brilliant! with Guests Shemekka Ebony & Michael Stewart-Isaacs

Episode 20: Say it: I AM Brilliant! with Guests Shemekka Ebony & Michael Stewart-Isaacs

We are so excited to welcome two inspiring guests to our show this week: Shemekka Ebony and Michael Stewart-Isaacs. They explain their backgrounds and work as community activists, public speakers and parents, before discussing their #IAmBrilliant program and the impact that it has on the people it reaches; this program works to validate each person and their gifts to help them ignite their spark. We also learn about their work in community engagement, including their journey with the Asheville Public Safety project. They discuss how community engagement relates to law enforcement and changing the systems in place; explaining how “change comes at the speed of trust.” Shemekka and Michael's gifts allow them to meet humans wherever they are. It is at that moment that they pour positive energy into a tired soul. They validate your Brilliance, so you can see your gifts.

Website: I Am Brilliant

 

More about Shemekka Ebony:

Inspirational, Gracious, Natural Born Leader and Dedicated. These are a few of the words that come to mind when you are in the presence of women and children advocate, community activist and public speaker Shemekka Ebony. As a highly sought after influencer in community engagement, Shemekka has been engaging and inspiring business owners, non-profits, and community leaders from all segments of the world for over two decades.
Growing up in poverty in a small town in Kinston, NC where the crime rate is high, unsolved murder rate is high and the education scores are low would be a deterrent for so many; yet, Shemekka used what many deem a glass half empty childhood as an avenue to empower others and restore love into their community. Being the first to go away to college in her family was one of the most impactful catalysts that spearheaded her desire to connect, engage and inspire those whose voices are often left on the backburner.
As a community outreach organizer and program developer Shemekka understands that there is no single approach in gauging the needs of those who want to develop a system of impactful wins in their respective communities.
Her calling to “Speak for those who can’t speak for themselves” is manifested by the plethora of platforms she anchors today such as her ongoing work with 100 Million Healthier Lives, the North Carolina Black Women’s Roundtable, her radio platform Sunday Stacks, and her captivating work as the director of #IAmBrilliant which has made its way to NBC’s TODAY Show.
Shemekka’s transparency is as engaging as it is effective in changing the hearts and minds of those within an earshot. With her relatable universal message of inclusion and team building, she breaks down barriers that stifle progress by digging deep into commonalities that tend to be overlooked.

 

More about Michael Stewart-Isaacs:

Michael is a collaborative influencer who knows how to speak to the heart of an audience and he enables people to tap into higher levels of leadership. He continues to give his story in order to inspire and help others just as people have helped him in life. Raised by the Diamond of Sierra Leone, his mother, who instilled in him a sense of artistic passion and his Jamaican father who instilled pride and dignity, Michael lives up to the standards by which they raised him. Michael invites everyone around him to incorporate those same values in their family, company, and community. With his confidence and all-embracing energy, Michael has an ability to charge the atmosphere whether it be in the streets, classroom, or the boardroom.
A prime example of leadership in action, Michael has been involved in the world of entrepreneurship for over two decades. His appeal is limitless and breaks the boundaries of all professions, ages, and cultures. Facing troubled beginnings in New York, it was the echo of his grandmother’s teaching of Luke 14:11 that recalibrated the way he used his gifts to serve the world.
At the young age of thirteen, Michael’s keen understanding about the lack of economic development within his community set in motion the concept for his very first company MOSAYK, which was featured in Black Enterprise.
Leveraging his experience as a serial entrepreneur and his belief in his own Motivation, Success, and Knowledge, Michael developed innovative programs to instruct others in becoming masters of their own fate as well. He continues challenging today’s leaders to be lifelong business achievers providing signature training programs, motivational speeches, and coaching.
The culmination of his mission has resulted in the co-founding of the #IAMBRILLIANT campaign which has been featured on NBC’s TODAY Show. This campaign has traveled the country helping citizens identify their skills and applying it to better their communities. Michael continues to challenge his audiences by motivating them to see their brilliance within and spread it abroad.

Read more about Shemekka & Michael here.