Kaela Perkins – Staff Writer
Broward College recently held the Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart Webinar, hosted by the Arts, Humanities, Communication and Design department. This webinar was made up of four main guest speakers aiming to give speeches on who inspired them throughout their lives and showing thanks for them in the spirit of Thanksgiving. Students were also allowed to participate via open mic, allowing them to express their feelings for their loved ones.
The first speaker was Shani Curry. She is a personal finance advisor, author and occasionally a guest speaker on both Miami 4 and Hot 105 FM. The person she decided to speak about was her late grandmother who taught her many lessons like “If you are receiving love, allow that love to heal you and give you confidence and normalize difficulties, but never let it stop you from anything.” She believes that chaos plays a big role in creativity. Curry ended her segment by saying “after the effects of the past two years, it’s imperative that we all have learned to adapt.”
The second speaker was Eli Vazquez. He is a writer, director, entrepreneur, producer for Buzzfeed’s Latinx digital brand Pero like, founder of his own production company, Hype media house and CEO of a coaching program called Self-hype. The person who both shaped and inspired his life is himself. The gist of his segment was the importance of self-love and being your own cheerleader. He’s grateful for himself. His brand, Self-hype, is about looking in the mirror and admiring your own greatness. “You know yourself better than anyone and your hardships and still you preserve, to normalize loving yourself and thanking yourself,” said Vazquez.
The third speaker was Jefferson Noel. He is a speech professor at Florida Memorial University, founder of Barbershops Speaks, which promotes discussions inside local barbershops and beauty shops, and is a published author of Powerful Presenting: How to overcome one of the nation’s greatest fears and go: How to cross the starting line.
The person he’s grateful for is his uncle, Larry. Larry was tough and went to not one but three different colleges including Miami Dade College, Florida International University and the University of Florida and did very well. After graduating, he started his own law firm. One of his main focuses was to help other Haitians like himself even when they couldn’t pay him. He knew how difficult it was to be in a tough spot, but he still wanted to help others in similar situations. Noel always said that his biggest personal challenge is fear and doubt. Noel ended his segment with “we all face challenges, but you need to realize that other challenges are greater than yours.”
The last speaker was Frankie “Red” Rosso. She is a radio host, poet, entertainer who performs under the name Red wordz, and the business owner of a liquid lipstick brand called Besos by Red. She’s also the co-host of Red Light TV, which invites South Floridians to discuss relevant topics impacting millennials. The person that shaped and inspired her life is Professor Claudia Sahagun, a professor at Broward College. Rosso said Sahagun was and still is a big influence and support in her life. Sahagun impacted her life because she gave her the tough love she needed to become a better and more grounded person. During her segment she said “we want to gravitate to people we admire, we look at their career.”
Photo Courtesy of Honors at Broward College Facebook
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