And there's this one, Jacssel Concha, that has newly captured my attention. She is creating a campaign to encourage teens and children to identify what they believe their lives are for in an effort to combat teen suicide. She knows that once she was clear that there was something far bigger than her to live for, suicide was the furthest thing from her mind. I considered suicide at 16 after the death of my first real boyfriend, again at 19, and attempted at 24. I respect her work ethic, her creativity, and her stand. She will be leading a week-long campaign from May 7-12 in high schools and colleges with tool kits and online engagement. One aspect of her campaign is to gather 1,000 reasons to live. She is asking people to tweet them to @nowlivelife or email them to livelifeendless@gmail.com.
I wanted to share my fifteen here.
- To see what is in store for me around every bend and after every heartbreak and beyond every fear
- Demonstrate to the Most High that I am grateful for life
- To inspire my family
- Provide an example for my nieces, nephews, and mentees
- To create a foundation in my grandfather's name to enable all children to go to the schools of their dreams, to travel, and to become young entrepreneurs
- To provide others with a reason to smile and laugh
- To ensure that every child has a Dream Manager, PurposeFinder, and Future Coach in their lives that helps guide the trajectory of their futures in the way they want it to go
- To ensure there are more places to imagine, create, collaborate, laugh and smile than there are any other standing buildings for all other types of engagement
- To transform life on the planet for all children to know they are loved, cherished and respected
- To experience motherhood
- To help nurture the world's next leader(s)
- To help free all political prisoners and end the prison industrial complex
- To end the education industrial complex
- To help erect schools of love, think tanks that help us to understand & practice love, forgiveness, and compassion, a diverse & large body of insightful writing on the subject
- To ensure that all people are empowered to take the first step toward pursuing his or her dreams - putting every shrink out of business, empty every prison, collapse the alcohol and tobacco industries, make junk food, cosmetic surgery, and rehabs obsolete, and ending domestic abuse, addiction, obesity, migraine headaches, anxiety, road rage, and sleepy leg syndrome
On Oprah’s heels, Jacssel Concha is media maven in the making. With philanthropic and motivational speaking experience - S.W.A.G Girls Club and three coat drives - this attempted suicide survivor is harnessing the healing power of purpose and self-love to promote Live Life: a suicide prevention and awareness campaign. She is a youth representative for a national promotional campaign and an intern with Too Qute Productions, providing production support and research for online, radio, digital video and live events. Jacssel is committed to encouraging youth to celebrate the beauty of life and achieve their pot of gold. Follow Jacssel: @nowlivelife.
She is facilitating a workshop at Gye Nyame Empowerment Project's 5th Annual Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit in Brooklyn, NY on Saturday, March 31 and has recently published an interview for CARTER Magazine, Fe Noel: Simply Intricate NYC.
