Soprano Abiodun Koya on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

 Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations, leaders, and volunteers who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations, leaders, and volunteers  embody, "Be the change you want to see in the world.

On Saturday, April 18, 2015, Living Your Best Life in partnership with GSH Media Group, listeners will hear Soprano Abiodun Koya share about her life, her musical and acting careers, her work with young performers and what keeps her inspired daily. She will also share about her upcoming performances for wedding nuptials for members of the military. The Nigerian native was recently featured in the Americolor Opera Alliance’s presentation of LaRoche, an original opera about the only black male passenger on the ill fated Titanic, where she assumed the role of “Madam Mae/Top Lady.”  

Tune in to hear how Holmes felt after hearing Abiodun Koya, known affectionately as Abby, performance in Atlanta. Listen to them talk about the text message to Soprano Karen Parks that sealed the deal for Abby to consider performing in the Bahamas. Since meeting, the two have been planning several upcoming performances to benefit military families and veteran nonprofits around the country and in the Bahamas.

Abby And Genma visiting the Parthenon in Nashville, TN

 

 

Abby on the campus of TSU with Music Major Darius Lewis

Abiodun Koya also is preparing for several concerts in Nigeria and an upcoming reality TV show. Hear hear talk future projects, her love of Nashville, and her desire to help others, especially women and young girls in her native country. At the end of this fun and lively show, you will also hear a melody of some of Genma's favorite classical songs performed by her friend Abby.

This interview promises to empower, inspire, and motivate you to live your BEST life. Living Your Best Life, can heard on 760 The Gospel in the Middle Tennessee region, Tune-In, www.UStream.TV and military bases from 9-10AM CST.

More About Abiodun Koya

Abiodun Koya in the Sirius XM Studios with Genma Holmes

Abiodun Koya, Abby, as she is fondly called, has sung for presidents, senators, ambassadors, governors, less privileged children, and Congress members to mention a few. A highlight of her career was an invitation to a black history month performance at the White House. Abiodun was recently featured in the Americolor Opera Alliance’s presentation of LaRoche, an original opera about the only black male passenger on the ill fated Titanic, where she assumed the role of “Madam Mae/Top Lady.”

Abby holds a B.A. in Business Management and devotes her time and resources to her charity foundation, the Courtesy Foundation, which raises scholarship funds for girl orphans in Africa. She uses her musical platform to shed light on issues affecting African children and women.

Unique Christmas Ornaments For Sale to Support College Fund

For the past three years, the Brentwood Woman's Club has offered hand painted Christmas Ornaments by local artist, Lori Wegenka, of local scenes in Brentwood, Tennessee. The beautiful keepsake ornaments are depictions of open green spaces, town structures, and homes that so many residents in the Brentwood area love and treasure. These ornaments will make wonderful gifts for families, friends, and neighbors to enjoy now and years to come.  

The ornaments sold this holiday season will feature two Brentwood icons, The Clock Tower and The Turner Barn. The cost for each ornament is $30 of which $18 is tax-deductible. Money raised from the sale of Lori Wegenka's Christmas Ornaments will support the GFWC Brentwood Woman's Club educational fund for Williamson County residents at Columbia State Community College. For more information or to purchase, contact Mary Phillips at map10@bellsouth.net

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The General Federation of Women’s Clubs is a unifying force, bringing together local women’s clubs, with members dedicated to strengthening their communities and enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service. With 100,000 members in affiliated clubs in every state and more than a dozen countries, GFWC members are community leaders who work locally to create global change by supporting the arts, preserving natural resources, advancing education, promoting healthy lifestyles, encouraging civic involvement, and working toward world peace and understanding.

The Brentwood Woman’s Club is celebrating 40 years as a 501(c)3 organization in Williamson County.

Teaching Children to Love to Learn

I grew up in a community that is now known as one of the poorest counties in Mississippi. When I return home for family visits, poverty is on every corner. Buildings that were once housed prosperous family businesses are now boarded up or burned down. Most residents work out of town or are unemployed. Whenever I ask my mother, a lifelong educator, about the stark contrast from the town that was part of my childhood, she replies in a sad voice, “Education, education, education. We stopped teaching children to read for the love of reading. We stopped teaching children to dream big dreams. This is what you get.” To my mother, education and economics are inseparable. She often told me, “Without an education, options are few. An educated community is crucial to its survival. Part of that survival is teaching children to learn to enjoy learning”. One of my mother’s core beliefs is to teach children to love to learn and they will become big dreamers. Big dreamers invest in their communities.

My mother taught me to love to read. My reading led me to becoming a dreamer. Dreaming taught me to face life without fear or hesitation. Reading was also my escape from country life. I grew up in household with very little extras but I had an abundance of everything. I was surrounded by educators, professionals, and kinfolks who showed me how things were done by allowing me to see them in their career settings. I also saw them with books in their hands at every turn.

I read books before I started school. My earliest memory of reading was to my grandfather. He would sit in his Lazy Boy chair rocking back and forth while I read to him from my small chair. Because he was hard of hearing, I read at the top of my voice. He had the patient of Job as I read one story after another. Reading to my grandfather was a routine I continued to end of his life. As an adult, my return visits to my grandparents always included stacks of magazines and newspaper from other cities. I would eagerly share with him who I met and where I have been while I read to him articles from places he never got to visit. He would smile and grin and give commentary on the politics and economics of municipalities as if he lived in each one.

When my grandfather became ill, I returned to Mississippi until he passed. Every evening, I read stories to him. Every evening. Often, I wondered if he heard me but I read to him anyway as I did as a child. Loudly. Bible passages, novels, news stories, even some of my favorite childhood books was read to him until he took his last breath.

My love of reading to my grandfather has transitioned to reading to school age children in area schools. I realized that my interactions with the many children I see during the holidays as Ms. Santa must go beyond giving them toys with a temporary shelf life. Catherine Ramsey, a lifelong educator and fellow book club member, taught me by her actions at Christmas. As a gift to her, she only wanted book club members to give books to young girls. She wanted to plant seeds of loving to read while they were young. Catherine Ramsey has never met my family but their philosophies about life and education are exactly the same.

Private, public, charter schools, and daycares have all called me to visit their schools to read. I have donned my famous Ms. Santa suit for the Girl Scouts. I have been the Queen of Hearts for Valentine Day and I have dressed as a Leprechaun to cheer on test scores in March for Buena Vista Enhanced Option School. I have been Spiderwoman at Grace Eaton and a Reading Princess at Hull-Jackson Montessori. Name a holiday or occasion and I have a costume to help incorporate into a story. My visits may seem outlandish to the casual observer but many educators encourage me to come often. My visits also bring community into the classroom and introduce children to professionals who not only work but serve. I have managed to recruit other entrepreneurs to join me. Why should I have all the fun?

My visits with the school children are not limited to the classroom. Escorting several classes, community groups, and families to the Frist Center helps incorporate the arts into story telling that is meant to encourage loving to learn. The visits to the Frist Center at the beginning of the school year have helped several students along with their families to become museum regulars. I have been told by parents and teachers alike that they have seen improvements in test scores and attention spans. The students come to the Frist Center to create their masterpieces inspired by their favorite books they have read at school.

No matter where a child attends school, all villagers must be active participants in helping create environments where loving to learn is at the forefront. We must all look for ways to make learning engaging and exciting to equip the next generation to help keep our communities vibrant and economically strong. Loving to learn produces big dreamers. And big dreamers invest in their villages and communities.

Creativity Moves on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes and Mocha Market Magazine as we spotlight young, talented, and out of the box thinkers who are business and social change agents. From serial entrepreneurs who will not allow the word “no” be a stumbling block on the road to success to leaders of organizations who challenge the status quo by leading by example to military men and women who are taking their military training that helped rebuild foreign countries and now applying their skills in their communities and in the marketplace. Tune in to hear best practices, how they became overcomers, and how they turned missteps into opportunities.

On Saturday May 5, 2012, Dr. Jacob Weiss of Playing by Air will share his latest project, Creativity Moves.

Creativity Moves is a 4-day event coming to Nashville on May 24-27, 2012 that will mobilize the city's creativity to benefit the Nashville community. The programs will bring together a wide range of the local community, including creative professionals, artists, entrepreneurs, non-profit leaders, meeting planners, educators, cancer survivors, families, and the public.

The entire community is invited to come together to celebrate a shared passion for creativity and giving back.

Along with Dr.Jacob Weiss, we will hear from Joy Huber, cancer survivor and author of Cancer with Joy, and Lu Sipos, founder of Gabe is my Heart. Hear both women share how cancer impacted their life and how they use their stories to empower, inspire, and motivate others to serve.

Living Your Best Life, is a radio show that empowers inspires, and motivates one to live their BEST life. Living Your Best Life can be heard on 760 The Gospel in the Middle TN Region, Inspirational Networks, military bases, and UStream.TV from 9-10AM CST.

More about Creativity Moves

Nashville, TN — On May 24-27, Nashville will come together to celebrate creativity and a spirit of giving back to the community. Creativity Moves Nashville is a four-day event mobilizing the city’s creativity to benefit Nashville, with programs for artists, creative professionals, entrepreneurs, non-profits, health care, and the public.

Nashville is home to a thriving community of creative talent, from musicians to startups, including a mix of amateurs and professionals. The same passion that drives these individuals’ creative growth also fosters a desire to give back to meaningful causes and non-profit organizations.

Innovative partnerships between creative and non-profit communities provide opportunities for individuals to develop successful careers that also benefit a greater cause.

From musical reviews that educate about cancer prevention to photographers capturing portraits for people in need, Nashville residents are finding meaning by applying their creativity to benefit the community.

Creative individuals are looking for ways to give back while developing their hobbies and careers, and local non-profits are seeking creative strategies to build awareness and fundraising for their programs.
Creativity Moves: Connecting Creativity and Causes

Creativity Moves Nashville nurtures connections and partnerships between creativity and causes, generating awareness for local community-building programs and resources.

The event will feature a half-day professional development conference for creative leaders and non-profit organizations, city-wide creative workshops, live performances, and a free program for young adult cancer survivors on the power of sharing one’s story.

The event will take place at Belmont University’s Black Box Theatre, hosted by Nashville’s Sideshow Fringe Festival, with additional locations for the creative workshops. All elements of the program include components of both creativity and giving back.

Artists, entrepreneurs, and other creative leaders will learn career-building strategies by developing mutually beneficial relationships with non-profit organizations and causes. In turn, representatives from non-profits will explore new approaches to connect with the creative community to achieve success in their fundraising and programming goals.

For more info about Creativity Moves click here.

More About Joy Huber

Joy Huber is a stage four young adult cancer survivor and the founder & author of "Cancer with Joy" published by Morgan James Publishing of NYC. She is an award-winning international presenter, individual coach, and the co-writer of the song "Bright Side Effects" (see the Music Video and additional videos on YouTube).

Joy helps the newly diagnosed and those on their support team discover how to transform fear into happiness with resources, support, and en'courage'ment. She wrote "Cancer with Joy" to be the essential resource for the newly diagnosed providing helpful and highly valuable information that saves precious time, energy, and money. Joy was professionally trained in coaching by Coach U, and she offers individual coaching on a limited basis.

At Creativity Moves Nashville, Joy will share her story of how she went from stage four cancer diagnosis to book deal in less than a year! Joy is professionally trained to coach others with a story to tell and presents an entrepreneurship program for young adults.

More About Chemo Duck

Gabe’s Chemo Duck Program® is a program of the Nashville-based nonprofit organization, Gabe’s My Heart. Established in 2004 to provide education and comfort to children living with cancer through medical play using therapeutic tools, Gabe’s Chemo Duck Program has provided more than 5,000 ducks to children around the world. Our goal is to enable hospital staff, parents and caregivers to prepare children for chemotherapy treatment and eliminate the fear of the unknown. We work directly with child life departments at our affiliate hospitals to ensure children and their families obtain the full benefit of our program. Chemo Duck is a stuffed yellow duck dressed in blue hospital scrubs with a bandana around its head, a chemotherapy port on its chest and an immobilizer on his arm. In a gentle, age-appropriate manner, children learn what to expect during cancer treatment and have a friend to share the experience. In turn, children can use Chemo Duck to help friends, siblings and classmates to understand and empathize with their experience. For information about Chemo Duck click here.