Dwight Braswell

My dad is a preacher and a retired Colonel in the Air Force. So that means I was raised in the church and I moved to a different city every 2-3 years. I started singing solos before I could put sentences together and grew to love music. Moving all the time made me play multiple characters with every new school I entered (4 elementary schools, 1 middle school, 3 high schools, and 4 colleges) so I was naturally drawn to acting. Did my first official play in 6th grade and never looked back. Fast forward a few years. 2 years after I married my high school sweetheart, we sold our house, packed up anything we could fit in our Jeep and drove from Denver, Co to NYC. At 4am on day 3 we arrived. Without a place to stay or a concrete plan we drove through Brooklyn and said "no." Then we drove through manhattan and knew our little budget wouldn't fly. At 4:45am we landed in Hoboken, NJ. We got a deluxe suite at the Sheraton on the water and celebrated our victory over fear. The next day we searched the newspapers for an apt and located a small 1 bedroom on the edge of Hoboken and Jersey City, NJ. We ended up staying in that little hood for 2 years. I studying acting and auditioned on a full-time basis while Maritza worked. We were growing our life together and excited for the future. After 4 years of chasing the dream, I had done several commercials, tv shows, independent films and finally landed a major role in the HBO mini series, "The Pacific." It was in Australia, doing research for the role that I realized I was called to do something greater. To help young people fulfill their potential and build up a new generation of leaders. I went back to school, studying management and leadership (something my dad always had a passion for). Senior year I wrote a thesis called "Millennials: A New Perspective on the Future of Business." This was the catalyst for an ongoing research project to learn as much as possible about the young generation and to be an advocate for their advancement in the corporate world. So in early 2011 I started an organization called Generation Young Leaders focusing on redefining the word "leadership." I interviewed successful young leaders and passed their insights and experiences onto others. That experience allowed me to build a community of mentors and eventually what led to my personal transformation from bunny2BEAR - from a place of fear, doubt and uncertainty to a place of Courage, Confidence and Conviction. I am now able to pass on my ex