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itsthatsmith

All Around Ring Master | Black Belt Usability Specialist | Unequaled User Satisfaction Doer | Middleweight Content Evangelist | Director of All Things Talent! Cool fella that does dope work- "Make Moves @ The Speed Of Thought!"

FeaturedPolitics

All In: The Fight For Democracy

by itsthatsmith
written by itsthatsmith

Stacey Abrams: Politician. Lawyer. Voting Rights Activist. Author. For 6 of the 10 years that Stacey served in the Georgia House of Representatives, she served as minority leader. During that time she founded the New Georgia Project, which submitted more than 200,000 registrations for voters of color between 2014 and 2016.

Academy and Emmy Award-nominated director and producer Lisa Cortes(Precious, The Apollo, Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion), and two-time Oscar Nominee, two-time Emmy Winner, Peabody Winner, Grammy Nominee, and DGA-Nominated director Liz Garbus have beautifully highlighted what the LA Times called “an eloquent history lesson on voting rights.”

Stacey, Liz, & Lisa sat down with news commentator, political analyst, and attorney Angela Rye, along with NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson, to discuss the film, voter suppression, and the 2020 election.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/t6jVGswLPd8

The film is now streaming free Amazon

Go Vote!

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Relationships

Bizzle & Schivonne Celebrate 10 Year Anniversary With New Video For “Hold Me Down”

by itsthatsmith
written by itsthatsmith

I remember randomly stumbling on to GOM a few years back. I was going through a tough time, and a lot of the songs I heard from the entire camp really spoke to me. The year was 2016 and Bizzle dropped Crowns & Crosses, and one of the tracks that was heavy on repeat for me was Work It Out. And then I read byline from a Billboard interview

“I want to promote marriage. In hip-hop, we promote promiscuity, we promote not committing to anything. We objectify women. So I wanted to promote marriage, and committing to your woman. I always have these happy songs, but then when someone listens to the songs and their marriage does not reflect that, they might begin to question if they’re in the right situation. So I want to put our trouble out there, too, but it was very hard for me to write.”

Fast forward a few years, to see Bizzle & Schivonne Celebrate 10 Year Anniversary With New Video For “Hold Me Down”, we’re definitely encouraged, and want Happy Anniversary!

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FaithHustleRelationships

Burden & Purpose Presents: Great Conversations w/Eric Kellum

by itsthatsmith
written by itsthatsmith

A few years back, I was blessed with the opportunity to have met Eric Kellum. I was going through some tough times, and God saw fit for Eric and I to connect. That connection played an integral role in the birth of this platform. Fast forward to an unprecedented time, an age of social distancing, and an era of a new that most might have only thought possible in movies. It was a pleasure to catch up with Eric, share a little about his new book Sexual Healing, and the upcoming Virtual Locker Room series he’s kicking off May 23rd.

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FaithFinanceHustle

Burden & Purpose Presents: Great Conversations w/Urban Alliance

by itsthatsmith
written by itsthatsmith

As this will likely be one of the most notable #GivingTuesday‘s in the #NotForProfit community this year, Burden & Purpose’s Will Lewis had a #GreatConversation with Eshauna Smith, President & CEO of Urban Alliance. Urban Alliance is a national youth development nonprofit that provides economically-disadvantaged young people with access to the exposure, opportunity, support, and training needed to prepare them for lifelong economic self-sufficiency.

On this #GivingTuesday, please consider sharing your resources with this historic nonprofit that is making an impact in cities across the country.

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FaithRelationships

What Makes A Great Dad

by itsthatsmith
written by itsthatsmith

What Makes a Great Dad

One of my buddies on social media recently shared that he had asked his kids during this #COVID19 #HomeSchooling experience, to write about what makes a great dad.  And as I read the shared responses he got from his kids, I was reminded, kids aren’t looking for someone that is perfect in character.  They aren’t looking for someone that is amazing in sports.  They aren’t even looking for someone to buy all of the toys that they THINK they want.

What they are looking for is time together.

“What makes a dad great is a dad that will go play basketball.  A great dad is a dad that will play video games with you.  Now that’s a great dad” – My homie’s 11 year old son wrote.

One of the most cherished gifts we will ever have is time.  As adults, the one thing that we can never seem to find enough of is time.  It will be the best gift we can ever give to the ones we love.  Today was a reminder that we have have to make time together a priority.

Looking back at how my wife and I, my friends, family, and co-workers do this well with their kids, from taking them to the movies, to including them in special projects around the house, I can also see that there is always an opportunity to improve and do more.

Great Dads Spend Time Together with Their Kids

Its in those moments, the learning and teachable moments, that we’re able to SHOW them what it means to live as God intended.  That’s when the questions about life will be most personal and “real talk” will happen

Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. –  Deuteronomy 11:19

Dads remember that simply being present and spending time together is one of the greatest gifts you can give to your children. It’s a long-term investment into their lives that you will never regret.

Let Me Know 

How do you try to spend more quality time with your children, especially in the midst of the social distancing and shelter-in-place restrictions?  We’d love to hear from both the working and non-working moms and dads, about how you focus on carving out time in your busy lives.

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FaithHustle

Burden & Purpose Presents: Great Conversations with Prince William County Community Foundation

by itsthatsmith
written by itsthatsmith

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that 49.1 million Americans lived in “food insecure” households which is the official measurement of food deprivation in America. Seven years later, in the midst of a global health and economic crisis, those statistics have more than doubled. Food insecurity is defined as not having adequate or consistent food supply for an active, healthy life for all members of the household or a limited uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods throughout the year. Simply put, they are hungry or at-risk of hunger. Poverty and resources such as transportation are the leading causes of food insecurity. Unfortunately, people in the U.S. go hungry every day. Unfortunately, Prince William County will see about 14,000 children go hungry every day if the resources aren’t there to feed them.

As a response, Dr. Vanessa Gattis and the Prince William County Community Foundation launched the C.H.O.W. Initiative and put the C.H.O.W. Wagon on the streets. Aiming to help eradicate hunger in the Prince William County area for minors ages 18 and under, they’ve partnered with the Prince William County Public Schools system and set up a haven for children to receive meals, up to two times a day and on the weekends.

Burden & Purpose’s Derreck Smith caught up with Dr. Gattis for another #GreatConversation

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