Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Ask The SEQ: Happiness

A Question from Facebook:
Is there really a key to happiness? Is anyone ever really happy? What makes us happy today may not make us happy tomorrow but next week it might make us happy again. I mean are we really meant to be happy in life or is the key to exist in each moment and not concern ourselves with the future? It seems like when we imagine what will make us happy in the future our present happiness is compromised and we then become unhappy. When does it end? Will there ever be a time where we reach a state of true happiness or is this all a lifelong game that we can never win? Just a thought....
For me, the key to happiness is all in your mindset.  "Are people ever really happy?"  Yes, there are a lot of people who are successfully navigating through life defining their own meaning to happiness.  The question for me is, "Is your happiness based on what you see someone else have that you would also like to possess, or is it based on your idea of a perfect life for you?  Happiness is living in your truth in EVERY moment.  I agree when you say, "What makes us happy today may not make us happy tomorrow but next week it might make us happy again."  I experience happiness with people, places, and things at the exact right time in my life. For me, happiness is a mindset. 

Knowing that each trial is meant to be a lesson leaves me happy that I'm worthy of instruction.
When I'm hurt or let down, I'm happy that I was given clarity.
If things don't work out the way I would have liked to see them work out, I thank God for leading me out.

In ALL things, even in the tribulations, I remain happy.  What is happy?  Is happy smiling all day while dying on the inside?  Is happy having all the money you need to attain the material possessions you desire?  Is happiness being at the right job, getting the recognition you want from your peers?  We each define happiness in, perhaps, a different way.  The happiest person is the one who is living each moment, aware of the future, reminiscent on the lessons of their past, and present in their "right now."


I love you, and there's absolutely, positively, nothin you can do about it!!!
Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™

© 2013 Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™ All rights reserved. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - With a knack for bouncing back when faced with the most difficult adversity, Dawn The Self Esteem Queen™ has quickly become known for her ability to get people out the “victim” mindset immediately. An Internationally Recognized Rescuer of Teenage Prostitutes and Runaways, Motivational Speaker, Author, Mentor and Spiritual Life Coach, Dawn “The SEQ” uses her experience with trials to mentor, minister, and coach people all over the World. One of today’s leading experts on Teen Mentoring, Self-Esteem Enhancement, and Servant Leadership, Dawn’s mission in life is to teach individuals how to BE BETTER Human Beings. 

NOTE: You’re certainly welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as its contents remain unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to info@selfesteemqueen.com

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Why I mentor - Spotlight on Studology101 and The "We All We Got" Movement


Why I mentor:
Studology101 and The "We All We Got" Movement 


Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person.



Studology101's Mission: To bridge the gap between gays and straights! Founders of the "We All We Got" Movement!

The "We All We Got" Movement's mission is to promote and recognize LGBTQ talents of all kinds.
In 2010 in the midst of a bad relationship, I was searching the internet looking for answers.  I stumbled upon  some YouTube videos of Pookz and DZ, better known as Studology101.  I decided to reach out to these two experts within the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer) Community to help me bring closure to this relationship.  After I sat and watched their videos, I couldn't believe that they were so young yet so on fire and so passionate about serving others.


My initial interaction with them was separate; I talked to Pookz on the phone before I had ever talked to DZ, and it felt like I was talking to my long lost kin.   It is rare that I interact with young adults and have this feeling.  I immediately knew after talking to DZ that I needed to be a part of their lives.  The similarities in how the three of us communicate, articulate our words, and subjects we were well versed on....I knew this was the moment I had been praying for.


Pookz (Left) and DZ (Right) of Studology101
See, I've mentored / been a Life Coach to "celebrities" in various industries for over 8 years.  There have been times when I felt like nothing more than a paid part of the entourage and other times where I've had to refund money because I couldn't see the difference I was making.  

As someone who has been involved in / co founder of / head consultant for various movements over the last 11 years, I look for certain criteria when mentoring people who have movements:
  • Criteria # 1 - IS your Movement MOVING?
  • Criteria # 2 - Are you doing this to be popular or to make a difference?
  • Criteria # 3 - WHO are the people that surround you and encourage you to keep PUSHING?
The list goes on, but most people who come to me looking to be mentored don't get past these three mainly because they believe that if their name isn't a part of the "movement" then they somehow won't be recognized for their part.

 With Studology101 the impact was made upon our first interaction......



I was SO impressed that I flew to Atlanta to meet them.  We had been interacting and I'm big on Human Interaction (capital letters on purpose), so I flew to Atlanta and knew immediately that they weren't supposed to be there.  The environment by which they were surrounding themselves was enough to make my spirit boil.  IMAGINE THAT: I was going to have to give Studology101 "constructive criticism" on our first face to face.


Most people wouldn't be able to handle it.  I've been known as a real "hard core" mentor and Life Coach.  What most people don't realize is that I mentored myself through a life of abandonment and teenage prostitution from the age of 14 until I graduated from a Prestigious Jesuit University in Los Angeles in 2000.  Many people cannot take my straight forward, no chaser mentality.  I was born to mentor.  I was bred to mentor.  I love to mentor.


Pookz and DZ took the lessons with stride.  They accepted what they already knew and moved back to Dallas to continue the movement.  I was so proud that they had the ability to resist the temptation to look at their brief Atlanta visit as a failure and instead chose to learn from the experience to provide even more to those who follow them.

I am blessed and beyond humbled to say I now mentor two of the brightest, intelligent God loving, motivating LIFE CHANGERS in the Gay Community. Pookz and DZ of Studology101 are celebrities who haven't realized that they are celebrities.  I want to share my story because I want you to know how amazing these two young studs are.  Not only am I their mentor, they are in turn my teachers.  I learn as much from them as they learn from me and their intelligence surpasses that of people in their 40's or 50's.  This is what just a few of their supporters have to say about them:







The video below is an example of just how God Driven these two are....
 
I was so proud of my mentees when they were contacted by the best selling Lesbian Magazine in the nation, Curve Magazine which has a predominantly older Anglo demographic.
 
With this partnership, Curve Magazine now have the ability to cater to a younger urban crowd thus showing how strategic Studology101 are, how open the Universe is to their accomplishments, and how driven they are to really bridge the gap within the LGBTQ community.   

A lot of straight people don't understand that Gay people have to encounter prejudice from within their own community AS WELL AS the opposition from those in the straight community.  Being gay is hard enough but imagine not having anyone to turn to for advice and guidance - that's where Pookz and DZ come in.  

Did I mention they're ONLY 22 years old?  


 



They were also hand picked to be a part of the Brown Boi Project,  a community of masculine of center womyn, men, two-spirit people, transmen, and our allies committed to transforming our privilege of masculinity, gender, and race into tools for achieving Racial and Gender Justice.


 Listen below as Pookz talks about her experience......
 
 


In late 2010 there were numerous reports of teenagers in the LGBTQ community committing suicide due to bullying.  



We immediately came together and founded ImGayNowWhat.com as a call to action from another project called "It Gets Better". 
 

With over 12,000 hits in under a year, ImGayNowWhat.com has become it's own mentor program with Ambassadors in The United States and abroad.  
 
All of this in less than 1 year......And so the We All We Got Movement continues to move and is now joined by The SEQ/Hope Movement to collectively bring ImGayNowWhat.com, free of charge, to all LGBTQ teens and their allies, to let them know that it DOES get better and WE ARE a team devoted to the well being of each and every teen who has ever been hurt, picked upon, discriminated against, to every teen who has been afraid to come out or has been shunned because they came out....We are here to make a difference not make a name for ourselves.  Our actions will speak louder than our words. 
 


 ImGayNowWhat, a website dedicated to the teen LGBTQ members who need a positive, SAFE, inspiring place to go online.  

 We have come together because we understand the NEED for a Teen LGBTQ community with no agenda other than to be a safe haven for mentoring & motivating LGBTQ Teens. 
Suicide is NOT an option. 
We want to HELP.
For FREE.
WE CARE and LOVE EACH & EVERY LGBTQ Teen Worldwide!
 

 I don't know what the future holds but I'm blessed to know WHO holds my future.  I am so thankful that I've had the opportunity to mentor these two bright Soldiers. 



In a World full of CHAOS I'd be remiss to not let you know to HOLD ON - POSSIBILITIES EXIST™ I love you, and there's absolutely, positively, nothin you can do about it!!! Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™ 

© 2011 Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™ All rights reserved. H.O.P.E (Hold on, Possibilities Exist) is a Registered Trademark for SEQ International, LLC. All rights reserved. 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR - With a knack for bouncing back when faced with the most difficult adversity, Dawn The Self Esteem Queen™ has quickly become known for her ability to get people out the “victim” mindset immediately. An Internationally Recognized Rescuer of Teenage Prostitutes and Runaways, In Demand Speaker, Author, Mentor and Spiritual Life Coach, Dawn “The SEQ” uses her experience with trials to mentor, minister, and coach people all over the World. One of today’s leading experts on Teen Mentoring, Self-Esteem Enhancement, and Servant Leadership, Dawn’s mission in life is to teach individuals how to BE BETTER Human Beings. 

NOTE: You’re certainly welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as its contents remain unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to info@selfesteemqueen.com

Friday, September 25, 2009

Day 20 of the Maia Campbell fast - The SEQ in RARE form! + ALL VIDEOS from the FAST!



Day 13:


Day 11: I'm goin' IN on YOU!




Day 3:


Day 2:


Day 1: Where it all started!


In a World full of CHAOS I'd be remiss
to not let you know to HOLD ON - POSSIBILITIES EXIST™
I love you, and there's absolutely, positively, nothin you can do about it!!!

Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™

© 2009 Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™ All rights reserved.
H.O.P.E (Hold on, Possibilities Exist) is a Registered Trademark for Dawn Johnson/SEQ Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Dawn The Self Esteem Queen™ is an internationally recognized motivational speaker, author, business coach & small business consultant, serial entrepreneur and spoken word artist. Founder of the SEQ/H.O.P.E. Movement™, Dawn uses her trials to mentor, minister, and coach people all over the World. One of today’s leading experts on teen mentoring, self-esteem enhancement, personal & professional leadership, and entrepreneur development, Dawn’s mission in life is to teach individuals how to BE BETTER Human Beings. Her goal is to raise awareness and eradicate the exploitation of teenagers all over the Globe. Her Current Projects include: SEQ Collection Clothing, H.O.P.E. Platinum Coaching™, Sessions with The SEQ™, Stop Teenage Prostitution™, What Does Cancer Look Like™, Consumer Vigilantes™,& the highly anticipated H.O.P.E. Mindset™ Program.


NOTE: You’re certainly welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as its contents remain unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to info@selfesteemqueen.com

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Day 3 / CALL TO ACTION / Prayer and Fasting for Maia Campbell

On Day 3 of my fast for Maia Campbell and our misguided American youth, I read on NecoleBitchie.com that Maia Campbell is now getting the treatment she needs! Who said there was no power in prayer????? Yep, so as a result of Maia being in a more controlled environment, I now am fasting for her complete recovery and also for her mind, body, and spirit.
Ask yourself: Am I a part of the PROBLEM or a part of the SOLUTION?????



Written by Necole Bitchie under Celebrities

'Last last week, actress Maia Campbell was ridiculed after a video of her sitting in a car circulated the internet. Some sites contributed her odd behavior to drugs while others claimed she suffered from schizophrenia. A friend of her mother Bebe Moore Campbell reached out to the website Black Web 2.0 and revealed that Maia had actually been diagnosed with bi-polar/manic depression and since substance abuse is involved, she has symptons that are similar to schizophrenia. She also revealed that your prayers have worked as Maia Campbell is currently in treatment:

Maia is in treatment. And she said that there is hope for Maia’s recovery but the prayers of “50,000,000″ people can make the difference, because Maia doesn’t like to stay in treatment, and her treatment involves drug withdrawal as well as treatment for her disorders. She asked me to tell you that Maia’s disorders are exasperated and sent out of control by substance abuse. Pre-existing and early onset bi-polar, clinical depression and schizophrenia can be sent out of control by marijuana (the worst culprit), alcohol and of course, synthetic and street drugs. Maintain your hope for Maia’s recovery. Nancy said, “She can use her beauty, talent, and celebrity for the good of others.”
This is good news and I truly hope she stays in treatment. This has been on-going for the past few years. Props to comedian Lil Duval for starting the “pray 4 Maia Campbell” trending topic on twitter. Prayer works! "





In a World full of CHAOS I'd be remiss
to not let you know to HOLD ON - POSSIBILITIES EXIST™
I love you, and there's absolutely, positively, nothin you can do about it!!!

Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™

© 2009 Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™ All rights reserved.
H.O.P.E (Hold on, Possibilities Exist) is a Registered Trademark for Dawn Johnson/SEQ Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Dawn The Self Esteem Queen™ is an internationally recognized motivational speaker, author, business coach & small business consultant, serial entrepreneur and spoken word artist. Founder of the SEQ/H.O.P.E. Movement™, Dawn uses her trials to mentor, minister, and coach people all over the World. One of today’s leading experts on teen mentoring, self-esteem enhancement, personal & professional leadership, and entrepreneur development, Dawn’s mission in life is to teach individuals how to BE BETTER Human Beings. Her goal is to raise awareness and eradicate the exploitation of teenagers all over the Globe. Her Current Projects include: SEQ Collection Clothing, H.O.P.E. Platinum Coaching™, Sessions with The SEQ™, Stop Teenage Prostitution™, What Does Cancer Look Like™, Consumer Vigilantes™,& the highly anticipated H.O.P.E. Mindset™ Program.

NOTE: You’re certainly welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as its contents remain unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to info@selfesteemqueen.com

Monday, September 07, 2009

Day 2 / CALL TO ACTION / Prayer and Fasting for Maia Campbell






Day 1: The Fast:



In a World full of CHAOS I'd be remiss
to not let you know to HOLD ON - POSSIBILITIES EXIST™
I love you, and there's absolutely, positively, nothin you can do about it!!!

Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™

© 2009 Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™ All rights reserved.
H.O.P.E (Hold on, Possibilities Exist) is a Registered Trademark for Dawn Johnson/SEQ Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Dawn The Self Esteem Queen™ is an internationally recognized motivational speaker, author, business coach & small business consultant, serial entrepreneur and spoken word artist. Founder of the SEQ/H.O.P.E. Movement™, Dawn uses her trials to mentor, minister, and coach people all over the World. One of today’s leading experts on teen mentoring, self-esteem enhancement, personal & professional leadership, and entrepreneur development, Dawn’s mission in life is to teach individuals how to BE BETTER Human Beings. Her goal is to raise awareness and eradicate the exploitation of teenagers all over the Globe. Her Current Projects include: SEQ Collection Clothing, H.O.P.E. Platinum Coaching™, Sessions with The SEQ™, Stop Teenage Prostitution™, What Does Cancer Look Like™, Consumer Vigilantes™,& the highly anticipated H.O.P.E. Mindset™ Program.

NOTE: You’re certainly welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as its contents remain unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to info@selfesteemqueen.com

Sunday, September 06, 2009

20 Day Fast for Maia Campbell / What are YOU DOING?

When God calls on Soldiers to pray, what are you doing with your God-Given time?

Instead of laughing at someone who is CLEARLY mentally going through some things, how about we PRAY for someone like Maia Campbell who is in NEED of prayer, not false accusations and PRE-JUDGE-MENT.


I am going on a 20 Day Fast for Maia Campbell and also for the misguided youth in America. Stop talking so much and start walking a little more.....You would be surprised what it will do for your life!







In a World full of CHAOS I'd be remiss to not let you know to HOLD ON - POSSIBILITIES EXIST™
I love you, and there's absolutely, positively, nothin you can do about it!!!

Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™

© 2009 Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™ All rights reserved.
H.O.P.E (Hold on, Possibilities Exist) is a Registered Trademark for Dawn Johnson/SEQ Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Dawn The Self Esteem Queen™ is an internationally recognized motivational speaker, author, business coach & small business consultant, serial entrepreneur and spoken word artist. Founder of the SEQ/H.O.P.E. Movement™, Dawn uses her trials to mentor, minister, and coach people all over the World. One of today’s leading experts on teen mentoring, self-esteem enhancement, personal & professional leadership, and entrepreneur development, Dawn’s mission in life is to teach individuals how to BE BETTER Human Beings. Her goal is to raise awareness and eradicate the exploitation of teenagers all over the Globe. Her Current Projects include: SEQ Collection Clothing, H.O.P.E. Platinum Coaching™, Sessions with The SEQ™, Stop Teenage Prostitution™, What Does Cancer Look Like™, Consumer Vigilantes™,& the highly anticipated H.O.P.E. Mindset™ Program.

NOTE: You’re certainly welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as its contents remain unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to info@selfesteemqueen.com

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Dear Diary: The Book Forward By Tamon Pearson



Forward

By Tamon Pearson

It would be altogether too simple for one to casually dismiss Dawn Johnson’s story, thereby failing to see that - at its core - her story is a discourse regarding one’s personal struggle with God.


The naysayer will attempt to label her story hyperbolic, regarding the tales of drug abuse, teen prostitution, stays in mental institutions and dysfunctional families as nothing more than revenue-inducing fables. The critic will question the order and structure of the direction of her journey; in her writings, she seems to be on her way to attaining spiritual enlightenment on one day, but she is wracked by depression a mere twenty-four hours later. Still another reader will accept her story as is, but would condescend to tag her as a victim or a “poor, poor thing,” someone to be pitied and felt sorry for. Finally, a different soul will be enthralled by her overcoming the demons of her past to becoming a successful entrepreneur, writer, and motivational speaker.

Dawn would not have it any other way. She wants and demands each of those reactions.


Dear Diary: A Letter to my Sister is unapologetic as it takes you through Dawn’s five-year journey from an abused and abandoned teen to a high-school honor student to homeless college undergraduate by day and hard-working escort by night. What rivets you to Dear Diary is the very fact that it is indeed not hyperbolic. There is no exaggeration in this story; in fact, Dawn has publicly stated that Dear Diary is perhaps no more than one-third of the story. The story elicits a wide range of emotions from the reader - sadness, anger, pity; humor, refection - because it is not pulp fiction, but one hundred percent truth. The streets of Hollywood, Compton, and Westchester are all real, and you feel the grit of this realism as you read. Because of this realism, Dear Diary grabs you in its beginning pages, and holds you closely and tightly, with you scarcely able to breath, until the very end. It is multi-directional and choppy because the directions of our minds are often multi-directional and choppy - especially the minds of the young. We would like to think in order, but often we form our thoughts haphazardly, seeking to find forms in the disorder - “eidos in the chaos,” as Plato once said. We seek unity and order for our souls and thoughts. Dear Diary is a glimpse into one woman’s successful attempt at finding that order.


Does Dawn appear to be up and down throughout the pages, mind-of-a-saint on one day, mind-of-a-sinner the next? Yes she does. Dawn reveals, in her up-and down writing, the heart and mind of so many of us. In Dear Diary, she visibly struggles with herself, with her family, and with her God. This internal conflict is honorable and to be commended, not dismissed. After all, the Scriptures themselves tell us that God renamed the patriarch Jacob “Israel”-meaning “one who struggles with God”- after an impromptu bout of God versus man. The difference between Dawn and any of the rest of us is that Dawn, in this novel, has put her spiritual wrestling match on display for all of us to see. She shows us how she asked profound questions at an early age regarding God’s sovereignty, man’s free will, and how the two could harmonize. She allows us to see inside of her, inside her heart, mind, and soul. Through her family, friends, schooling and personal tragedies, she reveals to us-in a manner not unlike Job-how “bad things do happen to good people,” and what one can do about that inevitable fact.


Dawn, in this writing, has given us permission to see - via the lens that is her life - the eternal battles that we all must contend with. She shows us the war between the ease of acquiring money and the dangers that can come with excessive desires for such; she has manifested the internal struggles between her hatred for the men whom have used her and harmed her and her still - enduring desire for that one man who will love her and take care of her. She has shown us both the socialite and the homeless woman. She gives us the paradoxes of the nerd who is popular and the escort who treasures her relationship with God. These struggles are not unique to Dawn, for all of us who are honest enough with ourselves to take inventory of our own struggles can relate to these very quandaries. Each and every single one of us has done the Jacob thing in the midnight hour, struggling with God, weighing the balances between doing what is right and doing what is profitable, wondering if God hears our cries; questioning whether or not our sins can be balanced by God’s mercy and/or judgment. Which of us has not questioned God’s will, or even our own sanity? No one honest with his or herself can avoid seeing themselves in Dear Diary.


Lastly, Dawn is also very conscious of the fact that her struggles are not unique, and she takes great pleasure in the fact that others can be reached and helped through her story. Proudly, and yet humbly, Dawn has come through her struggle with God and has emerged intact. In Dear Diary: A Letter to My Sister, she has returned to tell the tale to the rest of us.

It would behoove us to take heed.



In a World full of CHAOS I'd be remiss
to not let you know to HOLD ON - POSSIBILITIES EXIST™
I love you, and there's absolutely, positively, nothin you can do about it!!!

Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™

© 2009 Dawn The Self-Esteem Queen™ All rights reserved.
H.O.P.E (Hold on, Possibilities Exist) is a Registered Trademark for Dawn Johnson/SEQ Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Dawn The Self Esteem Queen™ is an internationally recognized motivational speaker, author, business coach & small business consultant, serial entrepreneur and spoken word artist. Founder of the SEQ/H.O.P.E. Movement™, Dawn uses her trials to mentor, minister, and coach people all over the World. One of today’s leading experts on teen mentoring, self-esteem enhancement, personal & professional leadership, and entrepreneur development, Dawn’s mission in life is to teach individuals how to BE BETTER Human Beings. Her goal is to raise awareness and eradicate the exploitation of teenagers all over the Globe. Her Current Projects include: SEQ Collection Clothing, H.O.P.E. Platinum Coaching™, Sessions with The SEQ™, Stop Teenage Prostitution™, What Does Cancer Look Like™, Consumer Vigilantes™,& the highly anticipated H.O.P.E. Mindset™ Program.

NOTE: You’re certainly welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as its contents remain unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to info@selfesteemqueen.com