In a couple of days, the 18th annual “I WILL GRADUATE Day” event will take place at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. The yearly event is meant to bring students together for an inspirational party! Household names such as this year’s host Terrance J, along with Shaquille O’Neal, DJ Khaled and more come together side by side with prominent political figures from the power 100 list to engage in a fun, informative and encouraging day for the youth. Founder Tonya Lewis Taylor spoke with us about the event and her goals for the program.
“My whole goal for creating I Will Graduate Day was to celebrate the power of education because what I saw in our communities, disadvantaged communities—I wanted these kids to value the opportunity they have and that’s what I was seeing there was a lack of, that these kids didn’t value education so we created this day as a way to get them inspired about their own life’s journey and how education plays a major role in that journey.”
As Parle prepares for the motivational and star-studded gathering, let’s learn a little more about the powerhouse and God-fearing woman manning the ship.
At just 11 years old Ms. Taylor began planting the root of her life’s work, directing a children’s choir and later becoming a youth pastor. The combination of music and mentoring would continue to be the backdrop of her career and the origin of her undeniably impactful work in the underprivileged community.
Her passion and expertise would later land her at Roc-a-Fella records as a music executive where she would spend several years in a fast-paced environment working with some of the most A-list celebrities. While her work was extremely rewarding, other priorities began to surface such as the building of her own family and after an 8-day long business trip, the reaction of her small daughter clutching to her mother sparked her decision to stay stationed in New York and find ways to merge her love of music entertainment, artistic expression of the industry and youth. This would include working with schools in Brooklyn.
After speaking with a principal from Williamsburg who was wanting some gift donations for his students – Ms. Tonya promised she could do him one better by bringing by some Roc-a-Fella artists, including R&B sensation Rell, to speak to and encourage the children. The assembly took place on a Friday and sadly the attendance was only at 50% that day. The principal had let her know that on Friday’s, the kids just didn’t show up and how once the children found out that The Roc had been in the building they were going to wish they were at school. Sure enough, the following week attendance rates for Friday were higher! She knew then that she was on to something great, and this is what sparked the idea to bring entertainment and education together.
She continued to do this kind of work as well as her work in the music industry. Two years passed and she asked God for a vison. While lying in bed one evening, it came to her. She immediately called her husband, J.P Taylor, declaring “this is it” and together they birthed the nonprofit Entertainers for Education Alliance. Since 2008 the program has been pouring into the community with its youth development programs that include, academic mentoring, college readiness, arts education, social-emotional learning and wellness programs, culinary arts, STEM programs and more. You can learn more about their programs and how to get involved at iwillgraduateprogram.com and stay informed on IG (@iwillgraduate) as we count day to event day!
Here’s more on our conversation with Tonya Lewis Taylor:
ParleNY: What would you like the major take away and outcome to be from all in attendance at the upcoming I Will Graduate Day event?
Tonya Lewis Taylor: What do you want – “What I want them to walk away with is to be encouraged, to know that they’re powerful, to walk away with a sense of ‘I can do anything’ because I saw people on that stage who came from similar backgrounds and they are doing it and doing it on a large scale and if they can do it, I can do it too. Our theme this year is “Be Great!” because we all have something on the inside of us that we want to accomplish and most of us don’t do it because of fear but if you can step away from that fear and tell yourself, speak to yourself, that I am great, I can do this. That’s half the battle.
ParleNY: Who would you love to work with for the program who you haven’t worked with yet?”
Tonya Lewis Taylor: My wish list! (laughs) I want to work with Aunty Oprah, she’s who I ran home from to school to watch, she was my unofficial mentor, I would love to work with someone like Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx at this level of celebrity, Robert De Niro, I like the greats, I want to be connected to the greats.
Ms. Tonya left us with a very powerful message in the interview, which was to stop letting fear stop you, just like this year’s theme for I Will Graduate Day, go out there and BE GREAT!
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