Simply Elevate February 2014 | Page 27

Read 1 Write 1 Meet Kwame J R ead 1 Write 1 as a company has a mission to empower people of all ages through the arts (written, musical, film, paintings, etc.). Our goal is for people to recognize their talent but use that talent to promote positive thinking and role models in the community. All of the products that we have do just that. Currently, we have several children’s books all of which teach children a lesson (i.e. thinking about what they want to be when they grow up, teaching little girls that they are beautiful just the way they are, etc.). Then for the teenage audience, we support a young man who is an artist but all of his music is clean and fun. We want young people to know that there is an alternative to what they see and hear in media. We even have something for the more adult crowd, which is a motivational book on how character flaws can hinder our success. Kwame J. is a young writer and music producer from Greensboro, North Carolina. He was born in the Bronx in 1980 and moved to North Carolina when he was 9. His mother struggled to support his family, and Kwame often had to take care of himself when