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The First Annual K!dult Youth Leadership Conference took place at the Sheraton New York Hotel on Saturday, June 26, 2010. The Conference was presented by Producer and Grammy Award winning Artist Pharrell Williams and brought together over 500 students for a day dedicated to feeding their curiosity, sharing, connecting to, celebrating, growing and leveraging the potential of the impressive lineup of some of the countries most successful young business leaders on hand to work with the students. To kick off the day and set the vibe for the event was Karen Nethersole, Esq. CEO of Full Circle NY. Karen, like Pharrell has found success not only in business but also in finding the fountain of youth. The two are “kids at heart” who are passionate for their work and developing the young people who are our future.
In her keynote speech, Karen spoke about “What Do I Want To Be When I Grow Up?” “When I walked into the ballroom and looked out at the 500 pairs of eyes ready and waiting to learn, I couldn’t help but be excited” says Karen. She shared with the audience three lessons her grandparents taught her. First they encouraged her to dream BIG, audacious ridiculous dreams. Second, they taught her the love of sports and to always finish the race. Finally, they taught her to not be afraid of taking risk.
Karen is an attorney who transitioned from the law firm to human resources at a Fortune 500 Company in the fashion industry and now at Full Circle NY (FCNY), a career development company she started in 2005. After becoming a TNJ 40 Under Forty Achievement Award honoree in 2008 Karen transitioned to FCNY full time. Her unique and varied experience highlights how so much is possible when you AIM HIGH AND DREAM BIG.
It was a day dedicated to our young people. Karen’s teachings cannot be found in the school curriculum. They are lessons learned through life’s many experiences. She made sure they understood the basic concepts being discussed. They learned more than how to “think outside of the box”. Karen showed them how to “create their own box” helping them to climb the ladder towards success. “Students are smarter than the credit they are given. They know more about what's going on in the world than people realize. They are the true inspiration,” Karen states. “One of my favorite moments of the day was when I asked the students if any of them wanted to be the president of the United States and an overwhelming number of young African American women stood up to take a bow.” Karen shares. The excitement in the ballroom was definitely contagious.
“Another highlight throughout the day was seeing how well Pharrell interacted with the students and how they gravitated towards him. He spent a great deal of time with the students talking not so much about what he was working on but how they can realize their dreams. They were always asking questions, trying to satisfy their natural curiosity about anything and everything. No matter what it was they were learning they wanted to go further.
They fired away with questions and never ran out of ammunition. They told their likes and dislikes, their hopes and fears, and their plans for the future“ says Karen. She is thankful to Pharrell, Mimi and Shaunice for providing her with the opportunity to be Keynote Speaker. The day closed with the anticipated performance by Pharrell. “It was a day that helped to shaped the lives of our youth” Karen expressed.
ABOUT FULL CIRCLE NY:
FCNY works with professionals, including those from the sports and entertainment industry to take their careers to the next level. FCNY was created to connect people to each other and to businesses and economic opportunities- a timeless mission.
http://fullcircleny.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/FCNY
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/karen-nethersole/a/902/a09
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Full-Circle-Ny/111624105531295?ref=ts
CONNECT WITH K!DULT:
http://www.kidultleadershipconference.com/
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Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kidult/174351351525
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"Create your own box."
ReplyDeleteThat's REALLY important advice, Karen. :)
People are so busy trying to emulate someone else that they fail to reach their own personal potential, which is actually much greater than them doing a cover version of what someone already did.
Karen,
ReplyDeleteWhen are you going on Oprah? Big Dreams are Oprah's forte. If this is one of your dreams, I do hope that this is on God's Bucket List.
Regards,
Roxanne