After speaking at the Christopher Lavell Jones Foundation's annual fundraiser event, I was asked to speak again to raise money for sex trafficking victims. On March 28, at Seventh Avenue Baptist Church located at 1740 7th Avenue in Oakland, I did just that with members of Respecting Our Young African Americans & Latinos (ROYALs).
Prostitution has been nicknamed the "world's oldest profession" for some time now. While I always knew that that was going on in the United States, up until a recent event on March 28, I was unaware that prostitution wasn't always by choice. Of course I was aware that prostitution may be looked at as a means of survival, but I had no idea of the modern-day slavery equivalent of it due to sex trafficking. Call me naive, but I'd always thought of this is as a third-world concern.
After speaking at the Christopher Lavell Jones Foundation's annual fundraiser event, I was asked to speak again to raise money for sex trafficking victims. On March 28, at Seventh Avenue Baptist Church located at 1740 7th Avenue in Oakland, I did just that with members of Respecting Our Young African Americans & Latinos (ROYALs).
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On December 10, 2014, CT Tobin Costen talked about his views on gun control in America. The speaking event was held at the Capitol Building in Washington DC. Skip to the 41:00 mark to hear Tobin speak. When I heard the news about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012, I was devastated. There's something about being a parent and hearing news like that that sends an indescribable sense of dread through a parent's soul. Finding out that the shooting lead to 20 children being shot and killed was even worse.
Schools and homes are places that everyone should feel safe. These young people were going to school to learn and enjoy the day with their friends. Senseless violence is frustrating regardless, but when it happens to innocent people, it pains me more. These victims were not active in illegal activity; they were just people going about their day. Living in the Bay Area, I have seen violence in a variety of neighborhoods. The time I spent in Oakland exposed me to a lot of violence, too. A few months ago, when I was presented with the opportunity to listen to people speak about gun control at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C., I didn't hesitate. I happened to be browsing on YouTube when I saw a recent interview with "Scandal" actress Kerry Washington on "The Jimmy Kimmel Show." One comment she made during the interview stayed on my mind while I was writing this blog: Check out: Why researching minority superhero characters would've done Michelle Rodriguez some good Washington spoke about how her mother insisted that she had African American Barbie dolls growing up. Even when Washington wanted to be Snow White one year, her mother was okay with it. But Washington smiled at the thought of young, African-American girls having a bigger variety of character to choose from now, including Pocahontas or Princess Tiara.
The same can be said for young, African-American boys in today's society. In almost eight years as an instructor and mentor, I've observed an ongoing struggle that some youth have with gaining employment as first-timers.
Simple things like going through the process of interviewing, writing thank-you notes by hand and figuring out how to sell themselves as a solution provider for the company are an ongoing challenge for the youth. Maybe you've already seen the Target video where people show a young man how to tie a tie. There are so many young people who don't know what's the right work attire or what's the right dress attire that interviewers want to see. There are so many who don't know how to do their resume, how to fill out an application, how to interact with people and how to follow up with hiring managers. Mentors need to be as useful to teens as these Target employees were in the video above. Although there are definitely young people who are successful in their job or career paths, there are still too many who haven't mastered how to use their personality to make a job interviewer take a chance on hiring that job candidate. |
Consulting with Costen
With over 20 years of business and marketing experience, both in and out of the music industry, my specialty is in business. Entertainment is a big part of my life, but it's not the only part of my life. In this blog, I want to use my teaching, music and business background to help your company succeed. I also want my readers to learn a little bit more about me. Archives
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