When we are willing to unlearn what we thought we already knew, we are opening ourselves up to a new realm of existence and being which will then enable us to evolve to new levels.
When we are willing to unlearn whatever it is that we thought we already knew, we are opening ourselves up to a new realm of existence and being which will then enable us to evolve to new levels.
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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking brand strategist, curator, and educator. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development and social impact. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Behind The Hustle, Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about bridging the gap and building value between brands, communities, and culture. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.
We came across The Black Santa Company yesterday evening after noticing that the company followed our @aloversambition account on Instagram. Being as curious as we always are, especially considering our immense interest in emerging brands, culture, and lifestyle; we decided to dig into what the Black Santa movement is all about!
In search of discovering a larger purpose after sustaining a basketball injury, two-time NBA All-Star Baron Davis conceptualized the idea of “Black Santa” after dressing up as Santa Claus one year on Halloween. Realizing just how much of a hit his Black Santa persona was, he then thought to himself, “Black Santa can be someone super cool for the African-American audience such as a character or hero who we can all love and enjoy!” After identifying a real need to create cool contemporary content aimed at African-American and multi-cultural audiences, Baron founded “The Black Santa Company.”
The mission and purpose of The Black Santa Company is to inspire the world by building diverse characters and telling stories that reflect the change in culture. The Black Santa Company aims to create new characters, contemporary and engaging content, and high quality products celebrating diversity, fun, and positivity.
In an article courtesy of Blavity, Baron mentions, “This is a character-focused company that I want to use to expand people’s imaginations, we live in a world that needs a constant reminder of hope and positivity, particularly in neighborhoods like where I grew up (South Central Los Angeles). I want to give people the ability to dream and imagine something different. I want to make people feel good about themselves.” In addition, Baron also shares that The Black Santa Company is here to provide a feel good and positive angle and spin on storytelling. “I just want to make people smile” says Baron.
At The Black Santa Company, they also believe that giving has no season. They encourage year round acts of kindness and want to highlight the people who do too. “Our world is culturally diverse. That’s why our mission is to create positive characters that embody the multi-cultural spirit of our society.” – The Black Santa Company
Along with The Black Santa Company, we here at A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group also believe that the power of giving and gratitude should be celebrated and practiced all year round. Every season can be a holiday season when we decide to live in accordance with a compassionate, joyful, and grateful mindset and philosophy. We admire Baron for stepping into the role of servant leadership and leveraging his influence to create social change in an effort to inspire the world. As another favorite guy of ours, Gary Vaynerchuk often mentions, “It’s time that we begin to make positivity LOUDER!”
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A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group is a brand development agency that specializes in creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. With an emphasis on culture and lifestyle, the primary focus of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group is to help companies adapt to culture and build value between brands and their consumers centered around love. Our social mission is to leverage the influence of popular culture to create social change and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership. We are driven by AMBITION, fueled by PASSION, inspired by INNOVATION, and suckers for STRATEGY!
When we saw a Facebook post from one of our clients yesterday, we couldn’t help but to click for sound and decide to watch the video. We must say – we are certainly pleased that we decided to do so. We learned a lot!
Multi-vitamin fruit drink brand, Purdey’s teamed up with the multi-talented superstar, Idris Elba in an effort to help us get more out of life while introducing the world to Purdey’s belief that we should never stop growing.
What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
Seems like a simple question…right? At first, the question received many laughs, a few surprising looks, and some uncertainty. Then, we were hit with a follow-up question:
Ahhh…as adults, why do we believe that we’ve stopped growing? After all, we never stop growing…right? We actually don’t. In fact, when we are introduced to a fresh new perspective on life, it makes us view our potential quite differently.
Here are some of the inspiring answers we receive when we are able to get others to agree with the notion that we never stop growing:
I Want To …
… Make quilts, amazing quilts!
… Play drums!
… Be Madonna!
… Look after the people I love!
… Be an Actor!
… Be a Spoken Word artist!
… Be a Hot Air Balloon Pilot!
… Be a Football Coach – I think!
So…What Stops Us From Achieving Our Dreams?
There are an endless amount of reasons why we may feel as though we can no longer achieve our dreams. Age, time, discouragement, lack of ambition…LIFE?!? However, would we take the chance to achieve our dreams if we were given the opportunity? Can we get a HECK YES!!! Knowing this, what does it all come down to? It comes down to us, not life. Our lives are largely determined by the decisions we choose to make for ourselves.
From the land of “A Lovers Ambition,” we would arguably say that it’s finally time to spend less energy on creating excuses, and more energy on creating opportunities for ourselves to thrive and live the life of our dreams.
Thanks to Idris, Purdey’s, and Iris Worldwide for compelling us with the compassionate message to move forward and find our inner ambition to achieve our goals and thrive on!
Credits
Music by Baptiste Thiry, “Dreams Come True”
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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.
Having worked in “inner-city” schools for 5 years, I have personally experienced the barriers, challenges, and obstacles which we encounter as educators when it comes to connecting with our youth, especially our black youth.
On Thursday April 14, 2016 I came across a video on LinkedIn thanks to Danielle Lucido. This video consists of one of my favorite inspirational and influential figures, Dr. Eric Thomas. After being interrupted on several occasions, and out of nothing but pure love, Dr. Thomas feels the need to sincerely express his heartfelt message with a room full of high school students at Vashon High School in St. Louis, MO.
In this video, Dr. Thomas makes time to hit on many important points. Some of these points which he shares with both students and faculty include: the importance of taking care of the few people who actually care about us, being disrespected by his own kind whenever he comes back to speak at black schools, and being embarrassed by how people perceive our black youth.
Dr. Thomas mentions that while pursuing his Ph.D, he was embarrassed when his colleagues and professors would ask him, “What’s wrong with our urban schools?” and “What’s the problem in the school system?” He then brings up the fact of how resilient we are as black people and how our only true setback is due to a lack of effort. “You can’t take our people from Africa, put us in a diaspora, spread us all over the world, and we survive slavery yet we can’t pass a test” says Dr. Thomas, “Have you lost your mind? We are survivors! That’s all we do is survive!”
After offering up his very inspirational and moving message, he then challenges our black youth to go to class, sit down, listen, pay attention, and get an education. “You know how to sit down and shut up” says Dr. Thomas, “You do it when you’re watching videos.”
Despite all of the obstacles and setbacks Dr. Thomas had to encounter prior to achieving his B.A. and then his Ph.D, he did it anyway. “Win, lose, or draw…don’t die not trying” says Dr. Thomas. Keep pushing, keep pushing!
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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.
This has to be one of the coolest videos that I have seen in a while. How did I come across this might you ask? I was searching for a Halle Berry “Revlon” commercial to find out who did the music.
Funny enough, it was this guy right here. Coincidence??? NEVER. Check it out and watch the mastermind at work!!!
A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group 