MEGA Dream Proudly Presents the Passion To Action Series Sept 25, 2010

MEGA Dream event producers Nefertiti A. Strong and Richard E. Pelzer II announced on July 19th the first The PassionToAction Series to be held at the Bennett Career Institute, 700 Monroe NE, Washington, DC 20017 on Saturday, September 25, 2010.
The first (50) attendances to purchase a ticket will receive a FREE copy of Author Thembisa S. Mshaka book PUT YOUR DREAMS FIRST: Handle Your [entertainment] Business sponsored by Joya Cosmetics. For more information or tickets go to ThePassionToAction.com Seats are limited. Group Discounts are available for 15 or more people.
Film/TV Casting Director and Producer Winsome Sinclair & Entertainment Branding Executive/Author Thembisa S. Mshaka have teamed up to engage, enlighten and empower professionals to discover a career in entertainment called The Passion To Action. This series, created and produced by Nefertiti A. Strong and Richard E. Pelzer II of MEGA Dream asks people, ‘How will you move from Passion to Action?’ Are you doing what you truly want to do with your career? Join this dynamic duo Winsome and Thembisa as they discuss career paths, entrepreneurship, family, the entertainment industry, life and living one’s dream. Their Passion To Action weekly blog is currently posting on Essence.com to provide their online community with expertise, testimony and hard-won advice available no place else on the Web.
Stay Connected!!!
Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Passion2Action and Twitter: www.twitter.com/_Passion2Action
Contact DeShawn Moody at (646) 320-2300 for any press request or interviews with Winsome Sinclair, Thembisa S. Mshaka or The Passion To Action event producers Nefertiti A. Strong or Richard E. Pelzer II.
GLO TV Network Rocks Pride Weekend @ the 1st Harlem Black Gay Pride in History & New York City's Annual LGBT Pride Parade!

President Barak Obama proclaimed June both Black Music and Gay Pride Month and this past weekend was filled with a lot of GLOtastic events that celebrated the month of June.
First, GLO TV Network started off the weekend with the kick off to the 1st Harlem Black Gay Pride in history. The intimate evening took place at Billie Black’s, located in the heart of Harlem. The night was hosted by none other than the Soulful Entertainer himself, Butterfly Soul and the house was packed and the weekend's MAIN EVENT on Sunday - The Pride March down 5th Avenue to the West Village.
Here are highlights from GLO's Float. Click here: http://thefutureforward.blogspot.com/2010/06/glo-with-pride.html
Greenlight Bookstore Hosts Mentoring Event & Panel Discussion: New Year, New Career!

Featuring Thembisa Mshaka, author of Put Your Dreams First!: Handle Your [Entertainment] Business
Moderated by Fiona Bloom of The Bloom Effect
Panelists include:
Independent recording artist Abby Dobson
Celia Faussart, co-founder of Les Nubians
Darnella Dunham, Radio Trade writer and producer
DJ Reborn, DJ instructor and Music Director of Def Poets on Broadway World Tour
Jackie Rhinehart, marketing veteran and author, My Organic Soul
Voice and stage actor Raqiyah Mays ("Platanos & Collard Greens")
The pre-event mixer will also include Rhonda Cowan, Vice President of BET.com, filmmaker/producer Nefertiti Strong of Catch-A-Dream Entertainment, and other music and media movers and shakers, and will offer attendees the chance to gain the benefit of the experience of women in the business.
Mandela Day at Radio City Music Hall

July 18, 2009
Nelson Mandela Day was held at Radio City Music Hall.
www.46664.com
Some of the world’s top musical talent gathered in New York tonight to put on a three-hour spectacle celebrating Nelson Mandela’s birthday and life as well as the launch of the Mandela Day initiative.
Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Chris Chameleon, Will.i.am, Jesse Clegg, Gloria Gaynor, Dave Stewart, Aretha Franklin, the Soweto Gospel Choir, Wyclef Jean, Cyndi Lauper, Queen Latifah, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Zucchero, Josh Groban, Angelique Kidjo, Freshlyground, Baaba Maal, Jesse McCartney, Loyiso, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, Vusi Mahlasela, Thandiswa Mazwai, Lil’ Kim and Suzanna Owiyo performed at a sold-out Radio City Music Hall in New York to officially launch the Mandela Day initiative.
The campaign, which was launched on Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday, is supported by the Nelson Mandela charities as well as a number of other philanthropists and charitable organisations. It encourages people to continue Mr Mandela’s legacy by “making an imprint” and getting involved in their own communities – ultimately creating a better world for all. In short, Mandela Day celebrates the idea that each individual has the power to transform the world, the ability to make an imprint.
Les Nubians perform at NYC Summer Stage

Les Nubians performed at the NYC Summer Stage in Central Park.
Put Your Dreams First with Thembisa Mshaka & Metropolis Books

Spend Your Lunchtime with Business Guru and Motivation Speaker Thembisa S. Myshaka
There is a great mystique about the entertainment industry and a fervent desire in many to be part of it. But what many women don’t realize is that most entertainment career guides are written from the point of view of the male executive, or are filled with industry and legal jargon-making them difficult to read and understand. Now, in PUT YOUR DREAMS FIRST, Thembisa Mshaka uses her 15 years of experience in the music industry to expose the hidden truths that women need to know as they aspire toward entertainment careers, such as how to avoid compromising one’s self-respect and the little-known fact that women run a large part of the business. This highly informative guide is for every woman wanting to know how to navigate the entertainment superhighway and find that job of a lifetime. A cornerstone of integrity and stability in a highly competitive business, Thembisa has worked for over 17 years in service to the entertainment industry, spanning the areas of touring and management, magazine publishing, recorded music and technology, advertising, music supervision for film, voice over and most recently, television in her role as the Telly Award-winning Copy Director for BET Networks. The former GAVIN rap editor has also written for Honey, essence.com, LAUNCH, and served as contributing editor for The Hotness.com and BLAZE. A native of Los Angeles, Thembisa is an alumna of Mills College in Oakland, California. She now resides in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn with her husband and son.
http://metropolisbooksla.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/lunchtime-with-business-guru-thembisa-mshaka/
72nd Annual Stern Grove Music Festival with Les Nubians

June 29, 2009
Les Nubians headlined the 72nd Annual Stern Grove Music Festival in San Francisco on June 29, 2009. Bringing their unique "Afropean" sound to the people of San Francisco, the sisters performed together for the first time in several months.
Sisters Helene and Celia Faussart are responsible for the rich harmonies of French duo, Les Nubians. Their smooth R&B influenced jazz has gained them recognition as Best New Artist, Group, or Duo at the 1999 Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards and two NAACP Image Award nominations. The single “Makeda” from their second album, One Step Forward, introduced audiences in the States to the sisters as a Billboard R&B Top Ten Single.
For Faith, For Love, Forever together with SF Pride

The documentary, For Faith, For Love, Forever, directed by Nefertiti A. Strong which highlights gay marriage and the black church got a big boost from the Board of Directors from the San Francisco Pride Celebration when the Board invited Ms. Strong to San Francisco as their guest.
Andrea Shorter, Lisa Williams, Josh Hardwick, www.AndMarriageForAll.org
The documentary's website can be found here: www.forfaithforloveforeverthemovie.com
King of Pop, Michael Jackson, dies at the age of 50

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, dies at the age of 50.
Thank you, Michael, for your contributions to the arts.
62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival

The highlight of the short trip included the Un Certain Regard screening of Precious by Lee Daniels starring Paula Patton, Mo'Nique, Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey, as well as breakout star Gabourey Sidibe. The movie is set to debut in the US in November 2009.
Actress Mariah Carey, Director Lee Daniels, actress Gabourey Sidibe, musician Lenny Kravitz and actress Paula Patton attend the Precious Red Carpet held at the Palais des Festivals during the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2009 in Cannes, France.
Concerts in Kenya & Sudan with Emmanuel Jal

Catch A Dream Entertainment, Inc. traveled with Emmanuel Jal to put on concerts in Kenya and Sudan.
Metropolis Books Reading & Signing of War Child by Emmanuel Jal

Emmanuel Jal will be appearing at Metropolis Books in Downtown Los Angeles on Friday, March 27th from 6-8pm for a reading and signing of his book, War Child: A Child Soldier's Story.
Time Magazine Book Review
NY Times Book Review
Washington Post Book Review
Facebook Event Invitation
NYSE Celebrates Black History Month with Emmanuel Jal

February 12, 2009
Wall Street, NYC
International Hip Hop Sensation, Author, Documentarian and Activist Emmanuel Jal visits the NYSE in celebration of Black History Month. In honor of the occasion, International Hip Hop Sensation, Author, Documentarian and Activist Emmanuel Jal rings The Closing Bell®.
Watch a live webcast of The Closing Bell.
ABOUT EMMANUEL JAL:
Emmanuel Jal has won worldwide acclaim for his unique style of hip hop with its message of peace and reconciliation born out of his experiences as a child soldier in Sudan. His music can be heard alongside Coldplay, Gorillaz, and Radiohead on the fundraising ‘Warchild - Help a Day in the Life’ album, as well as in three episodes of NBC’s hit television show, “ER,” the National Geographic documentary “God Grew Tired of Us,” and most recently in the feature film “Blood Diamond,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Emmanuel is also featured on John Lennon’s ‘Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur’ amongst the likes of U2, REM and Lenny Kravitz.
Emmanuel Jal was born in war-torn Sudan, and while he doesn’t know exactly when, he believes it was in the early 1980s. He was taken from his family home in 1987 when he was six or seven years old, and sent to fight with the rebel army in Sudan’s bloody civil war. For nearly five years, he was a “child warrior,” put into battle carrying an AK-47 that was taller than he was.
More information on Emmanuel Jal
Photos of the event