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Good self awareness is important for success in life.

By focusing on what we do naturally well, we can move into developing our most authentic and best self.

Tonight, we meet two people of excellence who use their talents to inspire us and make our community a better place.

I'm so happy you're joining us.

From Los Angeles.

This is KLCS PBS.

Welcome to everybody with Angela Williamson, an innovation arts, education and public affairs program.

Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

And now your host, Dr. Angela Williamson.

Bernie Hall, founder and executive director of Dream a World Education, is our first guest.

Bonnie, thank you so much for being here.

Oh, pleasure to be here with you.

Well, you know, you have this phenomenal series and we're going to talk about that series today.

But before we talk about that, why did you think it was important to start this nonprofit?

Well, back in 1999, I began doing some residency programs that I was asked to do in some underserved schools.

And I began realizing that there was not enough arts for children and being an artist myself, living as an artist my entire life, I was okay with me.

And I thought in the most creative city that exists, Los Angeles, every child should have the arts.

And so I began working on that.

It actually all began with this book series.

And as the series was developed, I learned to write curriculum.

I ended up founding a Dreamworld Education, a nonprofit, to be able to take arts based social emotional learning into schools in L.A. County.

And I mean, that is a big undertaking because we all know LAUSD is one of the most.

Not only enriching school districts, but it's one of the largest.

It is.

And so how do you actually start to go into these classrooms and introduce this education to teachers and educators?

Well, it began with an introduction to one single principal named Brad Rumble, and he was at Rosemont Elementary when I first met him.

And then he began working at Leo Politi Elementary, and he welcomed our program into his school.

Our program is for very young students beginning in transitional kindergarten and kindergarten, going up through second grade.

But in the beginning, it was just kindergarten.

And our Secrets of the Heart program that was developed from these books was the first time that we'd ever gone into a public school.

And since then, we've mostly actually gone school.

By school by school, it's been a word of mouth enterprise, I guess you'd call it, you know, just teachers liking the program, principals liking the program, understanding how it worked to change school culture, as well as the awareness that you were talking about earlier when you introduced the show.

It's bringing awareness to children at a very young age.

Which I think is so important because a lot of times when we think of bringing the arts to children, we think maybe a little bit later, maybe after second grade, but that you're getting them so young, this will become a habit for them, right?

Exactly right.

And that was why I wanted to work with the youngest students, because there was less available for the younger students.

Everyone wanted it's easier to bring it to students that are a little bit older.

You know, sometimes harnessing the energy of four and five year olds can be very challenging.

And it can be thankless too, because you can't ask students how they're doing.

You ask their parents how they're doing.

And so we had to learn.

I had to learn how to navigate this entire new process of being a nonprofit and reporting our successes, not only creating the program, but learning how to examine the program and the success of the program as we went.

And you talked about evaluating the success of the program and that you're dealing with such young minds.

But when we think about it, how we learn even our simple ABCs, what did we do?

We put music to it.

Exactly.

Did you take that concept because you're such a creative at heart when it comes to music?

So how does Bonnie create this process to get these little minds going?

Well, it all came from music for me because that's my background.

I worked in in the music industry for many, many years as a as a vocalist, as a songwriter, won a Grammy Award for a song called New Attitude.

So, you know, music has a message, and the message in the music can change minds.

It can change the minds of adults and it can form the minds of children by introducing the right ideas to them at a young age, when in their most formative years, when they're there, just like a little sponges, they're ready to learn everything and they believe everything you tell them, so that if you tell them their kind, if you tell them that really that their friendship is important and that their relationships with each other are important, they believe what you're saying and they begin to take all that in.

And you talked about the message and how important that is, because you've always written songs that have a message, you know, new attitude that has a message become an anthem for a lot of women.

But when you take a think about these little minds here, is that the reason why it was important for you to create this documentary?

It was the ripple effect was and we were nominated for an Emmy Award for that, my first directing gig I have to say, and our and my first nomination for an Emmy, which was very exciting, but it really documented our work in public schools in LAUSD and the work we were doing in a school called Esperanza Elementary, which is in the MacArthur Park district not far from here.

The cost to house a prisoner in the state of California year for one year is $75,560.

The yearly cost to educate a child in elementary school is $11,440.

The average cost of dream world education arts programing for children for one year, $150.

Is it worth $150 to save a child living in the inner city in Los Angeles from despair?

How do you inspire them?

Give them self-confidence and an incentive to learn?

How do you give them hope?

Can the arts do all that?

Yes, they can.

But funding for the arts tells us we live in a system where the arts are not a priority.

We believe that arts for children is a small investment that causes a ripple effect, a ripple effect that can change the world.

The message was important and how we brought that message through and the ripple effect.

We showed our programs that were we were at that time doing the Secrets of the Heart on Campus program, our One World Drum Circle, our Dance in America program, and following children from transitional kindergarten to second grade and incorporating the ideas and the values that the secrets of the heart represent with art forms.

So and that's how the secrets of the heart works.

It's when we pair an art form with a secret, with a world culture.

So we're teaching children about the world they live in.

We're teaching them about the universal principles that live within them, and we're teaching them all about the arts, music, dance, theater, arts, visual arts.

Well, it's not just that you're bringing these, you know, visual arts to them, but what you're doing is you're changing their minds so that they can make our world.

Like I said in the open, a better place.

So my question for you is, how do you feel as the founder and director of this organization that's changing the minds of the young people?

Do you think of one story that maybe a parent or principal told you or just something that you started to reflect upon?

We started to see these minds change?

Well, I'm thrilled about what we're doing.

I mean, I've never been more I love being in the music business, but I feel very fulfilled more so doing what we're doing now because we are affecting the minds of children.

There's one story that comes to my mind, and it was a little little boy named Diego at a school in Hollywood who was developed, had some developmental issues, and he all through our very first workshop, he cried.

That's all he could do.

He held his ears and he cried.

And by the time we finished our program there, he ran up to me and threw his arms around me and said, Thank you, Miss Bunny.

Now, his mother, you know, followed that up by telling us what a change and a difference that she had seen in him.

And that's just one of the stories.

I mean, the the stories that I have so many of them and some that I'll probably never hear because we don't get to hear from every parent.

And so before we end our time together, it just went by so fast.

Is it over?

I know, I know.

But I will let my audience know you are going to come back because we want to talk a lot more about you.

So you'll be you will be coming back.

But regarding this organization, if there is one gold that you have for this organization as you move forward, what is that goal?

We want to be in every school, in LAUSD, every school in L.A. County.

We are a Web based program right now, can go into every school and be used by classroom teachers.

We have created an affordable program that is available.

And so if there are teachers out there that are listening to this, if there are principals, please contact me at dreamworld edu dot org.

You can email me through there and I would love to be able to talk to you about how we can bring this program to your school.

Bonnie I have so appreciated our time together, but I so admire with what you have done with your talent and craft and how you are shaping the next generation.

So I look forward to having another conversation with you again to hear a lot more about your background to share with our audience.

So thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

It's a pleasure to have been with you today.

Thank you.

And come back to hear more about excellence in our community with Chris Paine.

This piece that I want explaining to her that.

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Last week, Brandon met a girl on a dating app.

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She must be a keeper.

Welcome back, Chris.

Thank you so much for being part of this episode.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Well, there's a reason why you're here today.

But before we talk about that, I want our audience to get to know about you.

So can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Sure.

Sure.

My name is Chris Payne and married to my beautiful wife, Sunny.

I have a 13 month old daughter and that is my life right now.

You know, I own a financial services company and live down in Orange County and have had a bunch of different things.

I guess you could say I'm a serial entrepreneur, so that, yeah, I'm crazy enough where I ended up.

I'm I played music professionally for for ten years.

So I put a band together in college and toured around the country.

And and then at some point, I had to grow up, so.

Well, you did grow up definitely, because that's why you're here today.

But do you think that that path, being a musician, because now you're into finance, you think that impacted you choosing to be in finance today?

In a lot of ways.

You know, they say hindsight is 2020, but I just always felt like I wanted to do something with with my life and I wanted to do something big with my life.

I had no idea that it was going to be here, but, you know, make a difference, impact people and but have freedom.

And that's a big thing for me, freedom to be able to do, you know what?

I wanted to live the way that I wanted to live, raise my family, the way that we wanted to be raised.

And, you know, and I feel like we have that opportunity in this country.

But it's it's it's becoming more difficult.

And you mentioned freedom.

And what you do is finance.

And do you think that's why it is very difficult for people?

Because when you think of freedom, we don't necessarily consider finance part of that freedom.

So how do you change that mindset?

And then you can honest is probably wondering what does he do?

Yeah, you can definitely do it.

Yeah.

So, well, you know, the reality of it is, is that when it comes down to to money, you know, it's it's it's important for families.

It's important to it's important to live.

And I think sometimes we neglect that, you know, because you could say money is not important, but it's the number one cause of divorce is the top three causes of suicide.

So you know, and it and traps people, you know, and and really, you know, where they live and how they live.

And and and that's important, you know, and we are getting older, you know, And so looking at retirement and, you know, as we get older, we look at some things that our family has done.

Our parents, you know, are are we going to be in the position that they are?

You know, it's maybe it's not some things that you think about earlier, but it's but it's important to think about it now.

Me being a father, you know, it's even been enhanced.

And I'm so glad that you brought up being a father, because I was going to ask you that question, because in the the segment before yours, Bunny talks about bringing in music, in the arts in order to change those young minds.

But isn't that the same for finance as well, to bring that in at an early age so that as we start to get older, we treat finance differently where we can have that freedom?

Absolutely.

100%.

Well, any type of change I think that you want to have in life, you want to affect change.

It really has to come to the children, you know, and I'm a big proponent.

I was listening to them, a big proponent of music and arts.

And that creative side is something that seems to be being squashed a little bit and children and it's so important.

And but also from just the education about how money works.

I mean, most of those things that we learn, we learn in the household.

And then, you know, you talk about marriages when the husband learns what they learn from their parents and then the wife learns what she learned from her parents and then they get together and, you know, right or wrong, that's a challenge, you know, And so and so it is important and it's something that should be ingrained, is something that should be taught in schools, just like music.

You know, we learn a lot of things in school, but one might argue there's certain things that we learned that that might serve us a little bit, you know, more in life.

Well, in I, I love that you're talking about how we can start with the younger generation, but too, when it comes to I'll just say financial freedom, that also impacts different ethnic groups as well.

And so what's the challenges do you see there getting into different societies to let them know you can take power over this?

It doesn't have to have power over you.

Yeah, well, being African-American, you know, if it can, when it comes down to finance, we're at the bottom.

But we are at the bottom.

It's at the very bottom.

Very bottom right.

And then Hispanics and then others, which is, you know, Chinese, Asian, you know, Indian things like that.

And then and then Caucasian and white.

Right.

So we are the the median of of of of African-Americans, of blacks is like 15% of the median.

And here's the thing is that it comes down to the education.

And we live in a country that and it's no offense to that if someone's doing well and that's great.

You know, people come to this country for an opportunity.

They come ti they come to the country for the American dream.

But it's it's in some instances it feels like it's not being reached, you know, and I feel like we're in this age of information.

Right.

And they say that in the age of information, ignorance is a choice.

Right.

And so because there is so much information out there, but there's misinformation and so really getting it, you asked about getting it to the communities.

I think it's the community that needs to bring it to the community because that's really who who they listen to, you know, And it's not just communities.

You know, if you are talking to people who are, say, police officers.

Yes.

Right.

Well, if they have someone from a law enforcement background that helps to bring that that information, then, you know, and in teachers hearing things from teachers, because that's just we naturally gravitate towards those that are that are like us.

I mean, I feel like that's the human experience.

We appreciate other cultures and we find that we're more alike than different.

But at the end of the day, what do we want?

We want, you know, every culture, they they love their family.

Yes.

You know, a lot of them, I think, would like to make a difference.

They want to give their kids a better chance today than they had.

And they want to live a happy, fruitful life.

And just coming back to the finances that that, in my opinion, is a big piece That's that's that's missing.

You mentioned the community needs to be part of this.

So how can the community do this?

Because I'm thinking when you said that it's about the community brings us local sports, it brings us these local cultural activities.

Are you suggesting we should do that with finance as well?

I believe so, yes, because as a community, I think that we want to move our community forward.

We want to give our community a better opportunity.

We I mean, the last two years with the pandemic, you know, inflation is, you know, maybe almost 20% over the last two, two years.

So unless someone got a 20% raise over the last two years, they're behind and they could be behind what already wasn't enough anyway.

And if that's the case, what do we bring our children into?

You know, and that comes back to that idea of the the American dream.

We want to be protected.

We want to provide for the future.

You want to be fruitful, you know, And so and I believe that because if we care that that that should be that should be a part of it's obviously not the only part, you know, but but just an understanding of how that works.

Because if a family is in a position where they're in, they're in debt or they're just unsure or unstable about their work or, you know, the American dream is to own a home.

Right.

But, I mean, we live in Southern California.

And I mean.

Yes.

You spend $1,000,000 on something, you may still have bars on the windows.

Yeah, it just depends on in some places.

So, you know, And why shouldn't someone be able to have that, you know, a home and be able to to raise their family and, you know, get the opportunity to go to school, All those things cost that they cost money.

So if we can get that into the community and have that conversation and get that into the households, you know, we can help move things in my opinion, if they will.

If we can, we can move things forward faster.

You have done such a phenomenal job with financial education and your your heart is really for the community and the underserved.

So my question to you would be is if I'm a community leader and I'm watching this right now, what is one thing that I can do to implement right now to help my community strive for that financial freedom, to maybe own that home or make sure that their children have their college fund.

Because, you know, we think about that.

Well, just saying the one thing is, is is kind of difficult.

I think that if I would say one thing, it's awareness.

Right.

How do you how do you work on fixing something if you don't know it needs to be fixed?

Right.

And so I think that's what it is.

I mean, and there's a lot of great resources out there, and I don't know if there's a place to mention, but they can reach out to me on on Instagram at Chris Dot D Payne, PR Waianae.

And so that's a great place.

And so, you know, we have different things going on in communities.

But but just I think it's just it's awareness and because I think that's when we recognize something is is a problem because I feel like we go through life and you know, we live in an interesting time where it's very much like this.

It's give it to me now.

Give it to me now.

I mean, you could put on a TV show.

You don't have to watch the commercials.

You can just DVR it, Right?

I mean, I'm sure you've had a chance where you sit in front of a computer that is super fast, but you're like, this thing's not going fast enough, you know?

And so in that world, we're used to the to the here and now, you know.

But if we just take a little bit of time to think about some things that we would like our our future and our lives to look at, then I think that's where the difference starts.

And I do like that.

Not only are you suggesting that we as community leaders start to make, you know, are the community aware of how they can have their own financial freedom?

But I also like that you're offering us a place to get those resources.

So thank you so much for sharing your information with us as we finish our time together.

Now that you are a new father, what do you envision a world that has financial freedom for your daughter?

Yeah, my daughter.

A daughter.

So.

Oh, yes.

So what do you envision?

So I'll start with at least what I would like to see.

And I don't feel like I am far off from from other parents, you know, is that I want my daughter to be raised in a world where if, if, if, if she's having health challenges and I don't like the direction that it's going with the doctors, that we have an opportunity to go somewhere else.

You know, if I don't like what she is learning or being taught in school, we can make that change.

You know, if we feel like there's a better environment or a better place to live in the in the country, we're able to do that to affect if she wants to do something and she or she, you know, I want to be the one to say, hey, either you can I think that's a good thing for you to do, or maybe it's not a good thing to you, but not have finances dictate that, you know, I don't want the thumb on there and I want to let her know, just like my parents did, is that look, that there's there's a great world out there and you can do whatever it is that you want.

I'm a big legacy person.

I'm hoping to instill some things into her that then she can instill that into her children and its legacy.

You know, and I feel like if we as parents look at that, then I know that the world can be a better place.

I mean, that may sound cliche, but it's one person at a time.

That is a perfect way to end our conversation.

And thank you so much for not only bringing this insight to us, but also giving us the options in the way that we can change our community to experience that financial freedom, but also to we can be legacy makers as well.

So you are a legacy maker.

So thank you, Chris.

Thank you so much.

And thank you for joining us on Everybody with Angela Williamson.

Viewers like you make this show possible, join us on social media to continue this conversation.

Good night and stay well.

Hi, I'm Angela Williamson, host of Everybody With Angela Williamson.

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