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All right.
This is something that is dope to see because before the pandemic, I believe in twenty nineteen.
I believe, yeah, yep, I think of like the fall.
The fall of twenty nineteen, we were on a campaign running across the country, going to different places networking event, and we were doing free networking events and all of the major markets just to kind of you know, check the vibe, check the buzz, interact with people. And we started in Brooklyn, then we went to Atlanta, we did Houston, Texas, we did La and we went to Chicago. And we went to Chicago. It was the momentum had already been building.
So we had like five hundred people in Chicago shout out to the Bureau Bar and that was a super dope event and we met a lot of good people.
They actually mobile home investors, virus.
Yep, yep.
And then but we also met Ian. So at the time, how old were you at that time?
I was just turned fifteen, So I was a sophomore high school.
Okay, so you eighteen.
L seventeen, just graduated high school.
So graduations, thank.
You, thank you.
So when we met him, you know, he was fifteen years old and we met him with his parents and he was telling us about he had a program to teach kids stem and technology and he was actually doing that and it accelerated during the pandemic when everybody was at home and the kids was at home from school and they had developed like a whole program curriculum, and then we interviewed them again during the pandemic and that
was obviously in twenty twenty. So now fast forward two years, twenty twenty two, and he just said, seventeen years old, graduated high school, and it's about to take over the world. So this is going to be a dope conversation. It's a you know, tracking the journey of a young superstar. So first and foremot thank you for joining us.
Appreciate it, brother, Thank you so much for having me. It's crazy because the first time I met you guys, I was a sophomore. I didn't really know anything about what was going on. I didn't know what direction I wanted to go into. And so now I blink two years later, I'm an adult now, and so I'm just glad to be here. I appreciate shout out Earn your leisure. You guys have done so much for our community through
market Mondays, through the podcast, through everything else. You've taught me a lot, right, and so I'm still continuing to learn, and I just appreciate you guys for taking the time to have me on today.
Yeah, man, and our first conversation we had, you know, we were early in the stages of doing our podcast. I think we had maybe forty forty episodes at the time, and you had told me the list of people you interviewed, and I looked at you like wait what huh? Like you said whose name? And we were just like, all right, this guy's gonna be special. We may we need to keep him around. And you know, everything you've done, we've watched and we've supported and given guidance, and you know
we're going to continue to that. So congratulate to you, and congratulation to your parents or who I know who have guided you through this process.
So sleut to you, my man.
All right, So before we get this started, I gave you the backstory. What's it golled again, Future twenty two?
Yeah, all right, before we get this started, I gave you the backstory. But I just want to give you some kudos because you're not only doing your thing in the tech world with your website, but you also are working with McDonald's with their Future twenty two programs.
He's one of the rare people that selected.
Yeah, and that's that's super super dope, and I'm sure we'll talk about that during the conversation. But you know, to work with a fortune five hundred company like McDonald's, the golden arches is you know, it's an accomplishment within itself. And you know, you think of McDonald's, you think of a household name when it comes to food. But to see them in the tech world and to see them embrace young entrepreneurs such as yourself, I think it's really dope.
So yeah, I'm sure we'll have that conversation, but just wanted to congratulate you on that because I saw that, and that's that's that's big dream Hustle Code.
That's your program.
We spoke about that during the pandemic and correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the program that you started to tease kids how to colde right.
Yeah, So Dream Hustle Code. The whole focus in the beginning was to inspire kids and show them the possibilities in technology and show them that they don't just have to become an athlete, an actor and entertainer or rapper to be successful. But now we're most so focused on training kids to pipeline them and the job opportunities in the tech space.
So talk about that. What how is it currently? How's it scale? Since the last time that we spoke to you. And what is the curriculum that Dream Hustle Code encompasses right now.
So when we first started, when we first talked, we had just started our Computer science and Personal development after school program. Now, the first class we ever had was eleven kids, and it was because of the pandemic, but it really gave us the opportunity to see if everything that we had done previously in person would work in a virtual space. So since then we've been continuing that
after school program. In the summer of twenty twenty, we ended up hosting our summer program for free when partnership with McDonald's to on board three hundred students into that program. And so on top of that. One of the three one of in our curriculum and everything that we do is broken down in the three phases. The first one is inspired, the second one is the basic training like introductory training, and then the third one is a training
to pipeline into job opportunities. One of the key ways that we use to inspire kids is through one of our events called teen Tech Live. So teen Tech Live think of it is a combination of Coachella cees, a massive gaming tournament all in one. There's entrepreneurship, technology, motivational speakers, gaming sports. And our first one we hosted it was
during Black History Month in twenty twenty one February. We had over seven five hundred student participants with large corporations and guest speakers such as two time Super Bowl champ mister Ray Lewis Board. And then our second one we did during Black or during Computer Science Education Week in December of twenty twenty one. We had over sixteen thousand, five hundred students. We had Kyrie Irving come on board and that was just an amazing experience because I got
to meet one of my idols. I grew up watching Kyrie. Then we had Phase Clan, We have McDonald's come on board as well, and other companies and some tech billionaires, tech entrepreneurs come on board and share their experiences. And so what we're working on right now is also a multi million dollar project which will revolutionize the way technology is being taught to kids, especially in my generation generation Z to them popeline them into those corporations into the
tech space. So it's a lot going on right now. We've been able to scale up drastically and now we're looking to take it to the next step to impact thousands and tens of thousands of kids' lives directly.
You know, one of your courterstones you talk about is building wealth through technology, and so I'm wondering, at what point in your life did you realize that was possible and what has been the reception when you're teaching these students.
I mean, that's a lot of kids that you're talking about teaching, So what's the reception that you get from this this generation that you're teaching or is it a mix of gen z gen y and I guess, well, I don't even know what generation we are, but what is it like when you when you teach to different populations?
So I realized, I mean, the only one I knew because I'm a numbers guy, right, So I like looking at the numbers. And when I looked at what were the top ten wealthiest people on the planet, I saw that at least seven of them made their wealth through technology. Also most of them had investments, but it was all through technology for the most part. And so that's what really allowed me and gave me the opportunity to have a vision of Okay, technology is a pathway that I
can grow wealth. But you talked about how what was some of the impact and how was it received. The thing is, technology is self sometimes can't be born to people that come from our community because the only thing that we care about is sports, music and entertainment and video games. That's like one of the key stone that get kids on board. And so what we found is that finding a way to combine their interest and culminate
or combining that with technology, that's what grabs their attention. Now, I've had stories of kids who came into our program where it just changed her life forever. Like, for example, I had this student named Xavia. She came in to our program in the beginning of the pandemic. I think it was our third week, and so during that she had a brere a bunch of kids that were already
further along than her in our program. But she came in, was super excited, came in the chat, was talking, was doing her work outside of class, and she was doing so much work that she ended up surpassing the kids that had started three weeks before her. Come to find out, because of her excitement, she ended up inspiring her own dad to switch careers. Learned computer science and then going to the tech space, and then on top of that.
I was just talking to her yesterday. She's fifteen, turning sixteen. She's now working on a self paced certification for coding so that she can get an internship at MIKE herself by the time she turned sixteen. I have other kids, or I had other parents out there, not just Generation ZEB or Millennials, but I had there was a family
friend or a friend of the family. He was heard about the work I was doing, heard about all this computer science work, and so he decided to take into his own hands, him and his wife to learn computer science, and now he's getting a job into the tech space himself. So I've seen not only impact in kids my age, younger than me, but also adults who didn't even go through our program but heard about the work that we
were doing. So it just it is, honestly, it's an honor to be able to touch people's lives and the way that we do or the way that I do, because it shows that the work that I'm doing is important.
What areas of tech, you say, tech?
What areas of tech do you think are most beneficial for young people to learn or what areas of tech are you is your program focusing on, because you know, we talked about like cybersecurity is something that's very big different things, so what's your thoughts on that.
So in the beginning, we justocused on web development because that's just the easiest learning how to build a website.
But a couple week months ago, we actually had a chance the cybersecurity director from the White House actually reached out to us and asked to meet with us, and so we had a chance to discuss with them at a round table with some of the kids that were part of our program and also some other administrators, talking about the need for cybersecurity because they said that during the pandemic there were about five hundred thousand jobs that
went unfilled in that space. And so that's another thing that we're adding into our curriculum cybersecurity, because I mean, there have been a lot of hacks recently that we've seen in major corporations, and so that's a huge need that needs to be filled. We've seen that countries like China and Russia, they have their own people that are hacking into our own systems, but we need to be
able to defend our own systems as well. And so another thing that a lot of people and I love talking about this is web three point zero blockchain that to me is definitely the future. Now I'm not saying that it'll take over everything within the next ten years, but you definitely have to be abreast of what's happening in the future, because if you don't prepare for the future, you'll get left behind.
Yeah, you talked about your partnerships and corporations.
I know you're part of the McDonald's Future twenty two So tell me how did that come about.
What's experience has been like for you.
So I've had a relationship with McDonald's. As I mentioned earlier, they partnered with us during the summer of twenty twenty to onboard kids into our program for free. And honestly, it's an honor because like as kids, we dream about the fame and the spotlight and working with stars and
working with these big companies like McDonald's. But to actually sit here and say I got a commercial within with them and I'm working on the game Chainer's Future twenty two campaign, I mean, that's really just it's shocking to me, and it's kind of like an out of body experience, Like, man, I'm only seventeen years old, I'm really doing this with McDonald's.
But at the same time, it's really just a stepping stone that tells me the work that I'm doing is important, but now it's take time to take it to the next level to impact more. So it's an honor. I'm glad I'm a part of it, and I want to thank McDonald's for just putting me on and giving me the opportunity to share my story.
So what's next for you? Like, are you going to go to college or are you just gonna focus on your company?
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I should say it because I've heard a lot from your podcast and your ideas and thoughts of going to college, so I wouldn't say that played the influence, but I'm definitely taking a gap year this year because there are a lot of different projects that we're working on, a multimillion dollar projects that I'm working on this far. I'm taking a HBCU Systems for Success tour where I'm going to be going to four to seven different HBCUs and sharing with students some of the strategies that were for me.
Because the crazy thing about this, when I was doing research, they say that after freshman year, a large percentage of black students drop out of college, and it's even higher at HBCUs. Part of that is many of those kids are first generation college students, just like my dad was when he went to FAM. You, but they don't necessarily have the strategies to deal with all the stress not only that comes with college, but the stress that's at home and outside of school, and so going on that
HBCU to with as far is important. That's what we're working on, and on that multimillion dollar project. Again, we're working on board tens of thousands of kids into our program, train them not only with computer science, but also personal development and financial literacy, because once you make money, you have to know how to make sure that it lasts long and know how to invest it and to save it wisely. And so those are the big things that we got that I have going on for the next year.
But that whole college thing, I'm not going to put my ideas out there. I think that, you know, go to college if it's for you. If you have something else, pursue that dream and idea. But that's what I have going on for myself.
You know.
You know, being in the space, you know, one of the things that comes with it is that you have the ability to impact lives. So you kind of talked about how earn your leision has you know, played in some of the decisions that you're going to make about college. I wonder what it feels like from your end, knowing that you are now impacting lives and you know the future aspirations, you know, So tell me what that's felt like for you.
Being at seventeen years old, I.
Feel like there's always been a part of me because when I was like two years old, my dad told me this. I was helping my sister raise money to build water wells in Africa. So we were standing outside in the summer, He's selling brownies. When I was four years old, I would take toys that I got for Christmas and for my birthday that I didn't use and give it to kids at the nearest hospital near me
I think it was Saint Jue's Hospital in Chicago. And so, like, helping others has always been a part of my life. I'm a selfless person. I'm not selfish. I love giving what I have, and so like giving back to my community. I think it's important. Look, I got big ideas, right, I'm like Dame Dash I have big ideas that I'm
trying to bring to impact the community. And so I know for a fact that you have through partnerships, through collaborations, and through some of the mentals I have, I will be able to take that to the next level because at the end of the day, it's not about me. I interviewed mss Oprah Winfrey one time. She said that your life is just a piece of the puzzle of the greater universe. So every single decision that you make could potentially touch thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands,
or even millions. So when she said that, that stuck with me even to this day. And so knowing that every single decision I'm making this moment could touch somebody that I'll never meet. That's powerful to me, and so I keep that at the back burner and keep that in the back of my mind and every decision I'm making. So that's why I move with the sense of purpose of focus on helping others.
So let's talk about like the business formation, like how is it starting your business? How much help did you get and where are.
You at now?
As far as like the employees, what's your day to day like business. Do you have like a CFO that you talk to or what's your official try.
To get a CEO, CEO and co founder?
So what's what's the business structure that you have in place right now?
So in the beginning, it's funny because we had a three man team. It's me, my mom, and my father, my dad. And so what we've been able to do is we've been able to actually take some of the students that have gone through our program and employ them to some of the mentors that we have. And so one of the things, like it's challenging as a starter because not having necessarily the resources or the funding. It's always tough. I mean, obviously you need money to grow
a business, but from day to day. We're always working on different projects. For this summer, we have different one weekend person programs that we're working on and travel to different states to teach our programs. This fall or no, this winner, we're working on Team tech Live three point zero to onboard fifty thousand kids virtually for that program.
Also the personal brand like my personal brand and Dream Hustle Code and so having a team around me with my parents and also some of the team members that have gone through our program at Dream Hustle Code that we employed. That's really it. But it's a small team. It's not as big as you would think. We have like five to seven members on board. But in terms of everything that we do, I'm responsible for everything marketing, building the program, making sure that I teach the students
as well, and everything else. That's a part of what my job requirement is that Dream with Hustle Code.
Yeah.
So one of the pieces that you have added to it, and I don't know if you had this last time, was a Dream Hustle colde book. What inspired that and how did people how were they receiving it thus far?
So okay, this project started in twenty seven, twenty sixteen, and the idea for that came when we were doing in person program. See one of the things that we noticed was that whenever a kid came across a challenge, or they came across a problem that just looked too hard and difficult, they wanted to give up and quick. And so I've been learning personal development since i was
four years old. Like yesterday or yeah, yesterday, I had the chance to interview or to be on a podcast with doctor Eric Thomas, my favorite motivational speaker, and so I've been listening to motivational speak speakers motivational videos since I was four. And so we came up with the idea, what if I interviewed different highly successful people, took the lessons that they learned from their stories, and then write it in the book through the voice of a kid.
So in the beginning, we came up with a list of three hundred highly successful individuals. We just put everybody down. Billionaires, millionaires, famous people, businessmen and women, entrepreneurs, you name it. And so to this day, I've interviewed fifty plus a highly successful people, from Miss Oprah Winfrey to missus Steve Harvey to even the founder of BT mister Bob Johnson, a real estate mogul, mister r Donna Hue Peebles, and a bunch of other amazing individuals that have allowed me to
interview them and take their lessons. But from those experiences, I mean, it's still a journey that I'm working on now. There's still other interviews I'm working on from mister Magic Johnson, so mister Robert F. Smith and others. But that book, I mean, it all stemmed from really just again, it comes back with trying to help others with the mindset development because as you know this, if you don't believe that you can do something, it's never going to happen.
So it started with just trying to reshape the mindset from kids in my generation and to believing that technology is for them and to believing in themselves as well.
So after somebody is finished with your how long is your program?
So we have actually different programs. So we have our after school program which runs from the fall all the way to the spring. That we have our summer program which is six to eight weeks. That is all virtually now we do. Because of the pandemic, I mean, we're now opening it up and we're now going back in person, but we actually have one week intensive programs of eight hours a day, and so that operates in one week
programs in different cities. So we got one in Florida coming up, we might have one in Chicago this summer, and then the final program that we're working on is a one to two year program that will take kids literally from the beginning to educating with them with all the skill sets needed to be popelined in the cybersecurity
jobs or jobs generally and just the tech space. So it's not just one program, it's like four different programs individually depending on how old you are in and how deep you actually want to go.
So what would you say in an ideal world after somebody is finished with your program, what kind of skills will they have or what what will they be able to do?
So, going through our six to eight week virtual program, they will be able to build their own websites and web development, and they will also be able to have an introductory into creating their own video games because a
lot of kids they like video games. I love Minecraft Fortnite, I love two K myself, I handle anybody on the sticks if you want to play men get to but you know, having those introductories into building a website as well as video games and so far a two year program, that program is based off of connecting with those companies who need that employment, right who need that employment in cybersecurity.
They'll be able to be workforced ready when they come out of that two year program to come into a job. Because again, not every kid is not going to college. I'm taking a gap year. Not every kid sees college is of value or seese college is an opportunity for them, but they still want to go get a well paying job. And so that's what I want. A two year program or program and project that I'm working on will give them into that opportunity to be able to be placed into the workforce.
Yeah, I want to go back for two seconds, because now I think about it, Yeah, you did have a partnership with McDonald's early then you had the commercial for the Future twenty two program, and so I wonder, is there a long term relationship here with McDonald's where they're aligned with your mission for the future, And if so, how do we learn more about Future twenty two Because I'm sure that somebody out there right now is like, hey, I want to be part.
Of this absolutely. So McDonald's they're definitely in live. They're like family over here. I've been working with them for the last two years. So we always want to build those long term relationships, and so McDonald's is one of our own long term relationships. And so for those of
you who are interested in Future twenty two. For more information on McDonald's Future twenty two, you can follow We are Golden on Instagram as well as check out the remaining Future twenty two specialists are on the Reason on McDonald's YouTube channel as well well.
I appreciate it, brother. Before we leave, what would be your words of encouragement to young people? A lot of people, you know, might not be able to figure it out. We headed towards economic you know, uncertainty. A lot of people are unemployed, Like you said, they might not be in school and a lot of times that leads to crime, that leads to you know, making bad decisions. So you, as a young man that's on the right path, what's your message to the youth?
Let me say this you all you guys always say this every week, but I am not a financial advisor. Make sure that you do your own research. Okay, but I will say this, make sure that you get your mindset right, because if your mind isn't right, then it doesn't matter how skill, how many skills you have, it doesn't matter how many opportunities you have, you won't be able to succeed. So during these times of uncertainty, obviously watch earn your leisure, learn how to invest, learn how
to save your money. But find a skill set, whether it's computer science, whether it's building something, whatever it is, find your own skill set or even marketing on social media. Find the skill set you're really good at it, and then find a way to bring value to those around you. And so also try and keep a positive mindset because again we are going through tough times right now around the world, around the country. Stick take time to spend time with your loved ones because you never know when
they'll be gone. But again, find a way to create a skill set and bring value to others. Invest your money, watch earn your leisure, make sure you do your own research on the financial advice has given to you. Of course, but yeah, I will say that, and keep your head up because look, if you keep going even in the midst of adversity, if you keep going on the end. At the end of the tunnel, you will see some
success that you're looking for. You will look for the light and you will see the light that you were looking for in the beginning. So just keep on going, keep your head up, and just know you can always reach out to me on Instagram, on YouTube, discord wherever if you need help as well, and shout out to the earn your leisure folks, shout out to McDonald's. It's always a pleasure being here. I appreciate you guys for having me on board.
Special young man love his love man, appreciate you.
Thank you.
Love is love.
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