Our society is built upon the success of the pioneers and legends who came before us. Moving forward it is important that we move to give all people the platform’s necessary to make their voices heard.
In the words of one Sir Isaac Newton:
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
Each of us owe our individual success to a collective that came before and made our journey to being great far smoother than it would have been otherwise. That inherent value in being the future as well as actively paying tribute to the past is what will push the website to be successful. The website but more importantly this idea will move forward its survival will partially depend on you. The ability to move society forward, to really define and exemplify progress is what will move this website and the conversations it facilitates forward. Up until this point most websites and publications just focus on producing a superior product: Progress is focused on trying to fixate itself as a part of the lexicon.
I believe that in life the biggest indicator of success is the level of hard work. What separates people who have the ability to change the world from everybody else having the opportunity, but just as importantly, having the work ethic. My work ethic I believe is unmatched, especially when it comes to delivering performances and .
I believe someone who is effective in tapping into the conscience of the people can interface with them on the same subject in different ways. For example, Kanye West in many respects has become an archetype for hip-hop culture because he's been effective in communicating what hip-hop culture should be in music through revolutionizing hip-hop with soul samples, in fashion with his Yeezy fashion line and shoe collection and business. Likewise with me, I've had times where people have seen me give speeches and lectures and thought that I incorporated spoken word and vice-versa, or looked at my writing as a means to bring two sides of an issue together. As I mature, I only look to further to blur that line.
You can never know where you're going until you understand where you come from. For me, understanding the rich heritage I have in being the son of Haitian parents and being born as a black man in the United States gives me a view of life that most people don't get to have. It is up to me to utilize that origin to understand what in this society needs to be fixed and who and how it will be accomplished.
The most valuable resource is people. None of this, the organizing, any of the art or spoken word or music can't happen with people. Human capital is the most important thing in any society and its the most important thing about Progress.
I am among the furthest things from perfect. However, in order to fulfill the promise of the United States and the credo of wanting to form "a More Perfect Union," has to come people willing to lead towards that goal. This belief is what motivates me to utilize my abilities, because of the more equitable world that I would like to see. With my business concept, the website progress.sitey.me works to increase levels of civic engagement and social consciousness. For me, this website is the first sustained opportunity that I've taken to use a platform to make my voice heard.
At my age, my experience in involving myself not only into the political discussion on my campus but also my community gives me a unique breadth of information that most young people don't have. Not just personal and political experience, but social experience has come a long way in what you are able to achieve with those experiences and the experiences of others.
One of the biggest criticisms that I've seen regarding the website is that starting out it has to produce content more. Despite myself having an audience before and real life through politics and performing, I have to be able to consolidate that base onto the website. Solidifying a loyal audience will be dependent on giving them a constant stream of content to enjoy and analyze. Another is involve other writers. I cannot be the sole producer of content, regardless of whether its through poetry or essays/articles, I have to be able to incorporate more conservative and more liberal viewpoints than my own. Another key factor was how I can incorporate other platforms, and making sure that I have platform-specific marketing, meaning that I can't use the same marketing that I use on FB or Twitter that I use on Instagram. I've tried to incorporate this into a more holistic approach on how I create marketing, which involves using tools like Canva for Instagram in particular. I tried to incorporate a playlist on the website as well, which allows for potential artists to have a platform to receive different levels of rotation on their music. I incorporated it into my "napkin" by making sure that I can incorporate all people into my outreach platform.
