We had the pleasure of engaging in a captivating conversation with Hezzy, despite the challenges posed by an unstable Internet connection between New Mexico and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Regrettably due to the intermittent quality of our connection. Certain segments of our interview with Hezzy were affected by slight audio distortion. Nevertheless, we remain confident that Hezzy's incredible stories and remarkable achievements will continue to inspire and captivate all who hear them.
Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown!
Today we have again a special person that will be speaking with us on SpeakUP! International. I like to call all of our guests silent giants because in their own way, they are contributing something to our community and ultimately to the world. So today, ladies and gentlemen, and children and families, I present to you Hezzy Now you may ask who is Hezzy Hezzy is the author of four children's books. He is very passionate about motivating and inspiring people to live their best lives.
He has degrees in education and in sociology. Hezzy, he is one of the founding members of Elevated Grounds, which is an organization that uses the performing arts to teach young people about mental health and black excellence. Hezzy loves inspiring audiences to think outside of the box and to create new possibilities for themselves. He is also the recipient of quite a few awards, ladies and gentlemen, children and Families. Our guest today is Hezzy.!
Hey everybody. Greetings and blessings to you all.
It is so good to have you, as part of the SpeakUP! International family, given the fact that you are in Mexico and we're doing this conversation electronically. So in today's age, students are confronted with multiple distractions including TV, Internet, and games. These distractions can often hinder their ability to stay focused and achieve their goals, to empower students to unlock their full potential and create positive change in their lives. How do you keep students motivated and on track?
Excellent. Thank you very much for that question. What they're doing this for. I love purpose, right? And we also have to start to put things in place, things as video game addiction. Cause it, it is out there.
So what I always do is I put markers, I put timers on there for students when they're working on their tasks that they have to stay focused or we also, or we take away the technology, so this is a lot of communication with the students that the technology that is used in school is a tool for Elevation for Education a lot of communication on what the technological tool is used for, and that's why we're using the tool to do whatever particular task.
If we start to veer away from that then we revisit that with our conversation and our agreement. Before we give out the technology, which says, Hey, we're going to be using technology for this particular purpose because it can be very distracting, but it can also be very powerful to help people unlock their potential, unlock their purpose.
So that's what I always reiterate with students at in the school and also with my children at home, that there's got to be, it's gotta be responsible, there has to be guidelines to what you are gonna be using the technology for and as long as it's there to uplift you. And the way to do that, if we wanna talk about it in homes, is to also know your values. So another way how we keep our children or all the children locked in, is once you can establish the values.
Then now the technology will then have to undergird the value system that we've agreed upon. So if you don't agree with cussing or profanity, then that should not be anything the children are doing on the technological devices. Now that's in the home. Also in the classroom, it's the same thing. There are agreements, there's certain things that in the classroom that we are allowed to use the technology for educational purposes. If it is now within that framework, we can do it.
If not, then we have a conversation.
So true. I quite agree with you that we need to monitor the use of technology for ourselves as adults and also for children. So let's imagine Hezzy that you're doing a book display for a group of librarians. What would you tell them about each book that would convince them to purchase?
Perfect. Thank you very much. So I went and blocked the books here to answer that beautiful question if I was talking to a librarian, I would say, you wanna get, you can be here. You want this book highlights all of the possible. All the unlimited possibilities that a child has. So you wanna read this book right here to your child and let them know that all things are possible, especially now children of the Melanated hue. So you're talking about children who look like the protagonist here.
It's very important now to see ourselves in text. So when we start telling the young people that, Hey, you can be anything you put your mind to, and that in a text, that helps that young person believe it a lot more because they're seeing themselves in the text and inside the text it looks like them. They're feeling connected diversity matters, representation matters. So it's very important that they see themselves in the text. That's my son who sees themselves in the text as well.
So that is what I would do with you can be, I would tell the librarian that you definitely want this inside of your school because, or inside of your library, because this is a lifelong message that you can be anything. It's not only for children, adults could be anything they put their mind to as well. So this is a must have in your library. It starts to showcase all of the different type of possibilities, and it's all in rhyme.
All of my children's books are in rhyme, so it's very rhythmic, this universal message that you can be anything you put your mind to the second book. Now, if I'm talking to a librarian, I would talk to the librarian about this one here, Afro Pick Adventures Presents The Incredible Genius Imhotep. Now this book, now this is talking about genius.
Now I'm gonna talk into a librarian and say, Hey, I'm also an author and a teacher, a special education teacher, and all of us have genius inside of ourselves. So there's different types of geniuses and every single person has genius inside of himself. This will start the conversation about one of the earliest geniuses to, of humankind, which is by the name of Imhotep. Imhotep means he who comes in peace, and he was the one who created the step pyramid.
So it also has history infused with a positive message. Okay? So that's what I would tell the librarian with that one. And then this one over here. I would tell the librarian that you definitely need to get Truly Melanin Present Self-Care Sundays because self-care is so vital, it's so important, especially in our community. We have to have a discussion about mental health and self-care.
First book that I have with the female protagonist, and over here with Truly Melanin, we are discussing different SI texts. It's easy to follow and it starts the conversation in the household about self-care. What does it look like, what strategies that we can employ in the home or in school or at the library, that we can develop our self-care routine because loving ourselves and taking care of ourselves is vitally important. So that's what I would tell librarians.
Thank you very much for a complete answer to Rita's question.
Thank you. Thank you.
I love reading children's books. This is something that Rita introduced me to, and I know now that children's stories have a place in the lives of adults. How do you see children's stories helping adults?
Perfect. Thank you. The beautiful thing about a children's story is that it opens up our imagination. It opens up conversation, and that's exactly what the these books can do. Now when we're talking about Truly Melanin Presents Self-Care Sundays. So I'm gonna go into specifics now. That lets us hone in on a topic and we can start discussing about the importance of self-care. When we talk about you can be now it let us hone in on the topic of unlimited potential.
When we talk about Afro Pick Adventures Presents The Incredible Genius Imhotep it lets us now focus on the genius that lies within ourselves. So that is the beauty of children's books. It lets us imagine, it lets us then get lost into a world of imagination and creativity, and then it now gets us to start thinking about other alternative realities that we can create in this present world. So it starts the it's an igniter to unlimited potential.
Once we start to see that, especially people who look like us in there, the books start to look like a mirror to us. We can look at ourselves and say, wait a second, this person can do it. So then that I can do it. Then that's where it starts to lead us to another type of intelligence, our imagination. So it's unlimited potential. When we're starting to deal with children's books, it helps us shape the world that we're in. It gives us the courage to create new worlds with our imagination.
So that's what I, you know what? I still read children's books to this day. I write them. I read them every day, they are very powerful.
It's fascinating. It is mind boggling that we label them children's books. Like you said, many of the themes as a matter of fact, I believe most of the themes appeal to us as adults as well. So adults benefit from reading children's books if they allow themselves to be humble and open-minded as well. So thank you very much for your response there. Now, your bio is very impressive. You do a lot of stuff apart from writing children's books.
While reading it a number of phrases jumped out at me and caught my attention. So here is one of those phrases that I'd like you to expand upon for us, please, is elevated grounds. Talk to us about what that means to you and how it applies to humankind.
Thank you very much Ms. Rita. For that. Elevated grounds means unlimited potential, with Elevated Grounds, you can do anything that you put your mind to, and that is what elevated grounds represents to me. Elevated Grounds was the organization she created that organization and that was all about youth empowerment. So that's really what it is about human empowerment. Elevate, rise up your grounds. We're all on the grounds.
Elevate, rise up your grounds, elevate your stature, elevate your life and that's what it really means. Elevate your grounds. Get to a higher level in all. When we talk about leveling up, level up, your education, level up your love, level up your self-care, every aspect of your life. You wanna level up
I hear your kids in the background. I'm, hopefully they're enjoying their trip to Mexico. And, it's so funny, when we were growing up, you and I, Rita, there were certain things that our parents would do and we said we would never do that, ever. And lo and behold, we've picked up on many of the traits belonging to our parents as much as we deny that, but just from reading your bio education is really important to you.
You received this New York Region Black History Month award for productive, interactive, visual and learner for firmly presentations. Was there someone in your life you saw as an inspiration? We're having technical difficulties.
In your last response, we spoke about excellence. And that gives me an opportunity to segue into my next question, which is, black excellence is one of my favorite terms, but I would not be surprised if you explain it differently. So talk to us about the term black Excellence please.
Excellent. Thank you very much. Now, to excel when we break that word down is to, to excel, to move forward, just like elevated grounds, to elevate to the next level, right? So we're talking about black excellence now. It's talking about us as the people who identify as black to excel to the next level.
Now, when we're talking about now, Teaching about black excellence is showing the world the positive traits, the positive contributions to humanity all across the world that go against the negative stereotypes of a go that are counter to black excellence, right? That keep showing the stereotypes, the negativity. Black excellence is totally the antithesis of the stereotypes that the media has given us.
So this is now when we start talking about the great civilizations that we have built, the great all the greatness that we have in different realms of humanity. That is what encapsulates black excellence and then we talk about it. You can encapsulate it within yourself, but it's also then a duty now to share it with the world because there is a darkness around the world when it comes to black understanding the understanding of knowledge.
So then now we are the light bearers in the world, and we are teaching about the greatness that lies within us in past, and also now talking about black futures, to use that same excellence to propel us forward to a brighter future. So that's what it really means to me, that you have to embody the excellence within yourself, but then make it a point and a duty to share it with humanity. Letting them know that they're coming from black people.
And then understand that we are all one and we start to show that we are the first people on the planet. We have created amazing things and we cannot be We can't get to possessed by the spell of negativity that is put around the world, which is just filled with the, and lies about our heritage for that is programming. So when you start to focus on black excellence, who are now eradicating the negative program that is put out there by certain people.
I remember when I was in, in grade school, this is talking first, second grade. The books that I had to read had characters look nothing like me. It was that the book was, I remember one clearly called Fun with Dick and Jane and it had just white people. There were no anything else in, in there. Even the sheep was stark white. I remember it clearly. So since none of the characters looked like me, I think I felt slightly deprived.
How important is it for children to see characters in the books that you are creating, they are now reading that look like them?
It's very important. For the children. This, I have one of them right here to see themselves because they know that they are included and representation matters. So it's very important because before that, children would feel that they have not contributed to the landscape of humanity when they're reading books inside of their classroom. They're not seeing themselves. So that sends a very strong message that you do not matter.
But when you start to see yourself in the landscape of children's books and that you are there, you have contributed to the whole fabric of humanity. It starts to build your self-esteem, starts to build your self-confidence, and then that allows the child to say, wait a second. And I am part of humanity. My story is worthy. The last statistics had it that most of the children's books are usually about white children.
Then it goes into animals, and then there's about 12% of the children's books are people of color. So that is something that gives a very strong message to children of color, people who identify as the bipo community that you have not contributed at all. So that starts to affect their self-esteem from a young age, especially in their subconscious mind. They start to down deal with low self-esteem when they go to the classroom, and then they're starting to operate from a negative mindset.
So when you start to deal with the truth, for the truth shall set them free. They understand that they're the originators of humanity. They understand that they have contributed to society and that's gonna keep them on a forward trajectory to do great things all throughout the world.
Thank you. Our job is cuted for us, isn't it? We have to intentionally and consciously keep on attempting to elevate our children and ultimately our peoples. So thank you for that. Now many individuals are giving it, I believe, their best shot to live their best lives. What tips could you offer to help people along the way?
Some of the tips that I would say for anyone to live their best life is to be authentic. Be authentically themselves. Their passions and their gifts and go forward and use those gifts and passions into service. Do not just keep those gifts onto yourself, but go in to find something that you're passionate about and serve humanity with those gifts. And that's what I would tell someone to live their best life is all to know what that looks like. I'm very big in visualization.
Have that person draw it out. I. Have that person, have a vision board, and then put intentionality, have intentional thoughts, inspired actions for them to then now move forward to make that vision that they have for themselves a reality.
It's all ties into the concept of excellence doesn't it.
I'm really en enjoying our conversation. I really am. You used a lot of visuals in your work. I'm assuming also in when you're handling kids on an interactive level. Was it difficult for you to find illustrators that were able to understand exactly what it is that you want in describing the characters in your books?
Perfect. Thank you very much. That was quite the easy part. That was my cousin that I went and found because he was writing, he drew, he illustrated another children's book about Queen Enga and he drew this pictures very beautifully. So I knew that was the young man I wanted to get and he's been doing my, he's done two of the stories.
He's also gonna do my my fourth story and so that wasn't a problem because I saw his catalog, he was drawing, he draws amazing, he draws our people amazing and I'm just gonna continue to use them as long as I possibly can. So that was not a problem for me. And once I was on that journey, I'm starting to even find more and more people are coming out of the woodwork saying that their illustrators, illustrators beget more illustrators.
And I'm finding more people who are, that the artists are coming out, springing out. I'm also venturing into different type of arts. So there's visual art, but I'm also working with DJs. I'm also working with other international reggae artists. So there's a lot of things happening through just finding an illustrator. Who was really tuned in to black Muslims.
And then you start to find a whole community who was really vibrating on that same frequency between that same vibe that they want to elevate nations and talk about the positivity that lies there within our ancestry and wants to elevate and teach the young people
Well Hezzy SpeakUP! International seeks to inspire, to educate and to inform, and I have no doubt that today you have helped us to do those things. And so I say a hearty thank you to you for joining us today on SpeakUP! International and we often will say to our guests, let us know when you want to join us again. You may need to speak about something else. You may need to, you may want to speak about something else that we didn't ask you a question about.
So when you're ready, just let us know and we will be delighted to invite you back to SpeakUP! International. Hezzy we thank you.!
Thank you very much. Stay elevated. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you. Have a good day.
All right then. Bye-bye.
Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International. To contact our guest Hezzy and to find out the release of his next book, please visit his website at Hezzy H E Z Z Y elevatesminds.com/. If you would like to have a conversation with us. SpeakUP! International, please drop us a line containing your name, company name, the service that you provide to your community and email address to info@speakuppodcast.ca. You can reach us and using Facebook, Instagram. Twitter and LinkedIn.
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