Connecting Beyond the Mask with Young Men in Oakland

Stand out quotes:

I am not doing things to hurt my students when  I am firm with them… I am loving them by being firm with them.

When we are in a mentor-led circle…I want to let the wisdom of the circle come forward.  I am here to listen. 

When my kids are not being saved  then I am going to feel like something is wrong with me or something is wrong with you for not being willing to be saved.  I have to surrender.  My job is not to fix the broken.  My job is to say “hey, what do you need”.

Do you want to hear someone who knows how to be real and connect?  Ashanti Branch was raised by a single mom on welfare in Oakland, CA.  A fateful day, a teacher broke through to him and changed his life and he went on to one of the most prestigious engineering schools.  

Yeah, he likes math.  If that wasn't enough to admire the guy for excelling at a subject most of us dread...he was making oodles of money and he left it all!

He went back to become a teacher and impact lives... only...it did not go well and he wasn't reaching his kids.  Can you imagine what that would be like?  To give up your career only to realize "Maybe I am not cut out for this?"

He didn't give up though. Instead, he listened.

This is a story of youth and teaching but if you lead ANYTHING, big or small, Ashanti is also teaching us how to be an equitable, caring, humble, yet strong leader. Leadership requires the ability to listen.

From Fullbright Fellowship, Rotary Fellowship to Teacher of the Year, you won't want to miss the magic that is this human being and clarity that oozes from him.  

He is the founder and executive director of the Ever Forward Club that was the subject of the documentary film, The Mask You Live In.