“Follow your dreams, and don’t let anyone stop you or put you down.” Sage words from 10-year-old Jy’ana Wilson, also known as Jung Lady the Great, whom I had the privilege of seeing take the stage during our New Jersey Live Sonima Tour performances. As she entranced the audience it quickly became clear that she is a future leader who truly embodies the message and mission of the Live Sonima Tour.
Jy’ana’s passion for her art echoes an activity Stedman Graham conducts during each of his Live Sonima Tour engagements. He invites students up onto the stage and challenges them to name all the things they love in 30 seconds. This is an exercise in focus. Focus for the students on all the positive, important people, moments, and activities that bring them joy and that collaboratively define who they are as individuals. I look forward to this activity because each performance yields a new group, with new responses and excitement. Jy’ana applies in her every day what Stedman emphasizes in his exercise: Surround yourself with identifiable and positive people, places, and moments you love and utilize them to create a path to success.
Motivated and focused, Jy’ana creates music to fill an important void she feels exists in the music her peers listen to. Her music steers clear of profanity, violence, drug references, and negativity; topics she feels are all too present in today’s music genres. Instead, her tracks promote positivity and provide youth with a much needed role model, particularly in her hometown of Paterson, New Jersey, a place she sees as the heart of the issue when it comes to lack of positive influence and musical offerings.
I can’t help but mention that, on top of being an up-and-coming performing artist, Jy’ana maintains straight A’s at school. She is also the captain of her cheer squad and plays the saxophone, proving that becoming a future leader means affording yourself as many opportunities to be successful as possible.
The best part about the Live Sonima Tour is meeting people like Jy’ana, and the teachers that inspired them to become who they are—teachers and administrators like Zatiti Moody, Erica Ford, and Terry Corallo, along many others, who all stand out as role models to the students they teach. It’s obvious the second they take the stage that their students hold them in high esteem. It was an honor to bring the Tour to these schools.
Speaking of honors, it’s worth mentioning that a special dream of mine was realized at our Eastside High performance, a school made famous by one of my all time favorite movies, Lean On Me. I confided in the crowd that this was indeed one of my favorite movies and in turn, they treated me to a rousing rendition of the school’s Alma Mater, featured in the movie and lead by Mrs. Vivian Gaines, Principal of the School of Information Technology.
I was so inspired by each and every student, and I look forward to hearing their many success stories, including Jy’ana’s, as they continue to grow, learn, and succeed.
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