In case you happened to miss
Made in America weekend, you also happened to miss out of the Dream
Chaser Summit hosted by Philly's own Dion Waiters and Meek Mill. Now, if
you weren't aware, Dion and Meek Mill come from the same part of South
Philly and happened to be very good friends, and even happened to be
represented by the same lovely publicists. The idea for the summit was
to inform and inspire the students and citizens in the city who want to
work within the sports or music industry.
The two men did not disappoint, bringing out some of the
industry's renowned, knowledgable and diverse individuals to discuss almost every aspect of the industry
from how agents and managers feels about sports to NBA players
discussing what part of the game they don't like. No topic was over
looked. The day started with two panels hosted by Philly's Spike Eskin,
the Voice of Philly Sports Talk Radio. The first group of panelists were
the men who represent your favorite athletes along side of Philadelphia
boxing legend Bernard Hopkins. Not only is Bernard a heavy hitter in
the ring, he manages himself and owns his own promotion team (yes, he's
doing the money dance!) The men discussed how they got introduced to
sports, what their individual careers detail, how individuals can get
involved in the sports industry and not having to actually play a sport. They also spoke on how working in the industry may have changed their perspective on
sports, amongst other things. Bernard being both an athlete and a
manager, discussed how he balances both positions and how it took him
almost 20 years to learn the industry outside of the ring. Eager patrons
of the event had their opportunity to speak to the men and ask questions.
That panel was followed by a panel with the Sixers
Thaddeus Young, the Atlanta Hawk and former Sixer guard Lou Williams,
and home town heroes Maalik Wayns and Markieff & Marcus Morris. The
men discussed their own experience within the NBA being that Williams
was drafted right out of high school, Thad was an "one-and-done" player,
the Twins were not only drafted as the #14 and #15 picks but now both
play for the Phoenix Suns together, and Maalik went to the league as a
free agent. The men talked about how their love of the game has evolved
among several other topics such as money, agents, and who their own role
models are. Spike also was the moderator for this panel as well and
opened up the floor to the audience for questions before a quick
intermission for the setting up of the Entertainment Portion.
Noel Lee, the founder of Monster Cable came out to
not only start the Entertainment Panel, he discussed his aspirations and
growth of the company and previewed for the audience Meek Mill's 24k
gold headphones designed by Monster. Once Meek Mill, Rick Ross, and Dion Waiters were introduced, of course, the audience went crazy. Meek touched on his heavy Instagram flossin' photos, which I found to pretty interested. He said he puts those pictures on Instagram to motivate young people; basically displaying his nothing to everything story. He also spoke about how he was in a group prior to his solo success. He said to never let anyone hold you back, which is great advice. He left the group because they lacked ambition. I was so happy that he said that because a lot of young kids in the street will follow behind their friends and end up not going as far as they could have gotten following their own dreams,
We spoke to a few youngsters outside of the venue, just to get some feedback about the event. They were very excited and thankful for the chance to hear stories from industry leaders. Well done, Meek & Dion! #DCSummit was a success!
We spoke to a few youngsters outside of the venue, just to get some feedback about the event. They were very excited and thankful for the chance to hear stories from industry leaders. Well done, Meek & Dion! #DCSummit was a success!
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