Author and educator Stedman Graham in a motivational lecture talks about his own life experiences and King Jr.’s achievements.
By Olivia Damavandi / Staff Writer
Pepperdine University commemorated both the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama on Monday. The celebration, called the Martin Luther King Jr. Umoja Celebration, featured a motivational lecture by author, educator and entrepreneur Stedman Graham, and partnered inner city youth with Pepperdine students to expand their hopes and visions to attend college.
Umoja, the Kenyan word for “unity,” was the theme of the celebration, which represented cultural diversity and unification of separate individuals toward a common purpose.
In his lecture, Graham, who has built a strong reputation for helping corporations, organizations and individuals succeed and who is also well known for his relationship with talk show mogul Oprah Winfrey, integrated lessons from his latest 2006 book, “Diversity: Leaders Not Labels,” and his own life experiences with King Jr.’s achievements to teach others how to reach their full potential.
After a brief illustration of the struggles of his upbringing with two disabled brothers and his own race-based consciousness, Graham told the audience, “The only thing that makes us equal is one thing: everyone’s got 24 hours. The question is what are you going to do with those 24 hours?”
The answer, he said, was a series of nine steps to success he developed to help individuals reach their goals, which included defining what one loves, creating a vision, developing a strategy to achieve the vision, exuding confidence and being able to adapt to change, among others.
After being told at a young age that his family was “too stupid” and that he was “too young” to go to college, Graham said, “I started focusing on my passion and focusing on what I thought I was good at, my strengths. That allowed me to organize a foundation for growth. If you miss that piece, you’re just looking for the outside world to tell you what to do.”
Graham went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Texas and later earned a master’s degree in education at Ball State University in Indiana.
In an interview with The Malibu Times, Graham said he thought leaders were made rather than born.
“You can have the determination and perseverance from your mother and father, and the way they raised you,” Graham said. “They give you the stuff you need to prevent you from quitting, but leadership is a process of ongoing, continuous development.
“Leadership is a process of learning and putting it all together based on who you want to become,” he continued. “I think the most important thing is self-leadership; the ability to lead yourself first and then move into the position in which you can lead other people.”
Middle and high school attendees from the program Heart of Los Angeles, an after-school program that provides academics, art, athletics to inner city youths, listened intently to Graham’s lecture, after which they were mentored by Pepperdine students about their future college plans before finishing their day in Malibu at the beach.
Gita Wenaweser, development director at Heart of Los Angeles, said, “The kids had a wonderful time. I think it meant the world to them to hear Stedman speak on MLK Day. It’s so meaningful to them to hear a message of tolerance and diversity.
“His message was definitely ‘don’t let anyone’s perceptions of you box you in.’ You define yourself and you fulfill your own potential if you improve yourself everyday,” Wenaweser said. “It was an awesome message for our kids to hear because they are so often exposed to extreme violence and gangs in Downtown Los Angeles.”
In response to the question of what Martin Luther King Jr. Day meant to him, Graham told The Malibu Times, “It really means true freedom. It means the ability to process information and education, and make it relevant to my own life and then share with other people. That’s what it means to me.”