Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right! This famous Henry Ford quote echoes a fact nobody can challenge- our attitude towards obstacles can spell either success or failure. We need to accept the fact that obstacles are a given. It may come in many names and many forms but their existence is never to stop us from attaining success. They are there to remind us to keep going because when we begin to relax on our journey, we might think that we’ve already reached our goal even before we actually do. For Mona Dixon, obstacles are what makes her story inspiring and meaningful. Listen to her story and find out the secret behind her success.
“I’m not smart… I prepare. And that goes for anything in life.” –Mona Dixon
Highlights:
00:28 All Sorts of People Overcoming All Sorts of Obstacles
06:54 Homeless But Not Hopeless
13:54 $20 Worth More Than Chump Change
19:58 Mona in Action
23:01 Meeting the Big Names
25:46 Believe in Yourself
28:12 Be Genuine
If you believe you can, yes, you can! @arlene_gale shares an inspiring conversation with @MonaDixonSpeaks about overcoming obstacles. #homeless #BGCA #$20 #overcomeobstacles #believeinyourself #begenuine #inspire&impact Click To Tweet
Quotes:
“I’m not smart… I prepare. And that goes for anything in life.” –Mona Dixon
“No one really remembers your failures. They remember your successes.” –Mona Dixon“I always tell myself that I have to fail many times in order to win, in order to get to those successes.” –Mona Dixon
“If I wanted to be and do something else, I had to work hard.” –Arlene Gale
“So many people of a variety of ages sit around and complain instead of get up and do.” –Arlene Gale
“We’ve got to start making a difference in each other’s lives, no matter our age.” –Arlene Gale
“When you’re genuine, people will know; if you’re not, people will know.” –Arlene Gale
Meet Mona:
Mona Dixon- a name that inspires people of all ages. A few years back, the owner of that name was living in cardboard boxes, trying to get by each day. However, there is one thing that she held on tightly—education. Her mom taught her to keep education on the forefront no matter how tough the situation may get. Mona took this lesson to heart and believed that she too, deserves education like everybody else. Indeed, she was homeless but never hopeless. Her hard work has finally paid off. She earned the National Youth of the Year Award from the Boys and Girls Club of America, was appointed to serve as the youngest member of the US Presidential Committee, was named as one of the Most Influential Black Women by Essence Magazine, met with the big names in the industry and founded her own non-profit. Mona is also an author, Professional Keynote Speaker, Teen Empowerment Leader and a Success Coach. At 26, she is already finishing her PhD in Organizational Leadership. Mona hopes to impact the lives of others just as how her life had changed because of the people who believed in her.
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Transcription:
Arlene Gale: Today we’re talking about myths having to do with overcoming obstacles because, you know, if we look inside ourselves or look around our homes, we know that we’ve got obstacles. You know, for example, there’s never enough money, right? It doesn’t matter how big a raise you get or how good a job you have, you know, we managed to spend most of it, so there’s never enough money, but we also have obstacles that may be physical, or emotional, or mental obstacles that we individually have to try and overcome every day. But then if we look beyond our own walls at our house, and our homes, we can find there’s all sorts of people experiencing all sorts of obstacles out in the world. You know, there’s a hunger issue, there’s a lot of schools that are dealing with children who can’t afford to pay for lunch and are not getting fed more than once a day. We have homelessness issues, and that’s men, women, and yes, even children. Some of us have obstacles that we have to overcome because of the way we were parented. Some of us were parented more harshly than others, and it’s hard for some people to understand how those issues become obstacles, but they do. Or maybe there’s obstacles to how we’re parenting our children because, you know, some children are more challenging than others. But no matter what our obstacle is, you know, I remember my mom used to tell me as I used to gripe and complain as I was taking hand me downs out of the garbage bags my cousins would give me and I would complain about they didn’t fit right, or I didn’t like the colors, or blah blah blah. And my mother said something to me that always stuck, and I didn’t really, really understand it at that age because, you know, as a youngster going to school, it was more about the impression I was making on other people, what would they think? And those kinds of obstacles. But my mother said to me one time: “You know what Arlene, if you don’t like your shoes, just stop and look around you for a few minutes, and instead of feeling sorry for yourself, eventually you’re going to notice that there’s somebody out there that has no feet.” Hmm. So again, I didn’t understand that as a kid, but now I understand so much that there are obstacles that are bigger than mine. And what is my role in my responsibility in helping to address those obstacles, or the myths and mindsets around those obstacles.
So I want to talk about three very distinct topics today that are about obstacles and that includes homelessness, education, and age. Did you know that there are 2.5 million children in the United States who are homeless? 60% of the homeless population is families. I mean, that number just blew my mind. I don’t know if you had any inkling or any clue that the population of children in the homeless community was so high. One out of every 30 children in this country, in the United States of America is homeless, it just floors me. And there are school districts throughout the country that are struggling to provide an education to this homeless population, to these children. There are school districts that are struggling to provide regular and reliable transportation. There are teachers, bless their hearts, they go above and beyond the call of duty to try and create a valuable education to this often mobile population and give these children a person that they can connect with, that they can believe in, who was willing to help them. And again, these are children so, what does it say to these children sometimes when they don’t make connections or long connections because they’re not around the same people very often at all. What does it say to these children who are homeless about the future? About the possibility about the things that they can do or not do based on where they are right now?
So, I want to introduce you to my fabulous young guest. Her name is Mona Dixon, and I think she’s going to have some things to say about obstacles, and homelessness, and education. And she calls herself a Teen Empowerment Leader. But really, she is so much more than that. She has wisdom that she can teach people of all ages. She has persevered through some amazing things. So I’m going to move quickly through the rest of her bio so we can get her on and talk to her. But she’s also an international speaker and a coach. She speaks about her journey from family homelessness to an appointment as the youngest person to serve on a presidential community service committee. She has received a National Youth of the Year, youth, let me say that again because that’s worth repeating. I get so excited, I get tongue tied sometimes. Yeah, and Mona’s laughing at me. She’s probably thinking, yeah, it’s my old age. She’s got youth, I’ve got wisdom and tongue tightness, anyway, she has received a National Youth of the Year Award from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. And at the age of 18, Mona was also named as Essence magazine, one of the most influential black women. Wow, at 18, she’s an influential young woman. Wow. Oh, and she shares this distinction with people like Oprah and Michelle Obama. And at the age of 26, Mona is working on her PhD. She’s finished all of the classwork and is just working on that pesky dissertation. And that PhD is in organizational leadership. So please help me welcome my special guests. A fabulous young woman, Mona Dixon. Yay.
Mona Dixon: Hey, thank you so much, Arlene.
Arlene Gale: How are you doing today?
Mona Dixon: Amazing, I’m so excited to be here with you.
Arlene Gale: Well, I’m excited that you’re here with me too because I truly do believe that as a young woman of 26 years old, you have so much together and so much to teach, so many of us of all ages. But let’s start, let’s step back a little bit and talk a little bit about your journey, how you became homeless and grew up in that environment.
Mona Dixon: Yeah. So my mom, my mom actually lost her mother at a very young age at 12 years old, and she ended up living with her grandparents, and ended up having my sister at 16 years old, me at 17 years old, and my brother at 23 years old, and when they passed away, my great grandparents, they lost the house, so that’s how we ended up homeless. We were in San Diego, California for a while, and I always talk about how I remember just going into dumpsters and pulling out cardboard boxes because that would be our bed. Then my mom, she would take whatever she had, whether it was her clothes, or a blanket, or you know something, and she would cover my siblings and I to try to keep us warm, and that type of situation, it was very difficult living out on the streets. Sometimes we would be able to live in a boarding home and my mom didn’t have enough money to stay there, but the person would let us stay there if my mom did work around on the house. However, if someone would come, you know, in the middle of the night, two o’clock in the morning, three o’clock and they had the money to stay there, then they tell us, they knock on the door and tell us, we just had to leave because that person had the money to stay there. So that was very rough. But even staying there, you know, there was roaches, mice, you know, things that you don’t want your kids to be around, and strangers that just got out of jail, or running away from being beaten by their spouses, it was all kinds of people who were there. But it was better living there in that house than it was to be out on the streets. And it was tough trying to get into short term shelters because you needed to be in line for the salvation army at like 3:00 PM but if you had a full time job, you got off at 5:00 PM, 6:00 PM, then you wouldn’t have somewhere to sleep because you didn’t get in line early enough to get a cot. So we were caught up in that cycle of homelessness for a while.
Arlene Gale: Tell me what age were when you were experiencing this homelessness.
Mona Dixon: I was a little girl probably from four years old all the way up till I was 13.
Arlene Gale: So you were 13, and so it was you, your mom, and how many siblings?
Mona Dixon: Two other siblings.
Arlene Gale: Two other siblings. So you know, and this is a common problem that we hear about in the United States, that homelessness can happen to single moms almost in the blink of an eye.
Mona Dixon: Yeah, I would say so. You know, different things happen, whereas obviously we had our family before, but my mom obviously wasn’t paying for that house, my grandparents where, and when they passed, that’s how we lose it. But then there’s other reasons like natural disasters, I remember being in middle school when hurricane Katrina hit and that obviously left a lot of individuals homeless. And I think we always have these assumptions or beliefs that people who are homeless are lazy, or they don’t want to get a job, or you know, they’re on drugs, all these different negative things. But sometimes people just hit hard times. There’s even a lot of people who are working for, you know, they work, but they still don’t have enough money to make ends meet. So they might go to shelters to get meals to carry them throughout the week. But there’s just so many different reasons why individuals could be homeless, and it could just be a temporary thing.
Arlene Gale: Absolutely. So tell me, what was it like trying to get an education and go to school? Because I know education is extremely important to you, and we’ll talk a little bit more about that in a minute, but what was it like for you and your siblings as youngsters to try and get the best education you can get?
Mona Dixon: Yeah, so my mom, she always told me that education was going to be like our key to success, right? And she only had the high school diploma, but she really knew, she still believed in education. And so, despite where we stayed, she always made sure that I had like my Ziploc baggie full of school books, and we all, we were always under some lights so I could do my homework even when we were living on the streets. Going to school every day was very difficult because my sister and I, we actually didn’t have enough money to get on the trolleys in San Diego, so we do this thing what we call charlie hopping. We’d get on and look out for officers, and if we saw one, we’d jump off and we’d get back on, and we were like nine and 10 years old doing this, trying to avoid police officers to get this, you know, this education that we thought that we deserve just as much as every other kid. And I always say when I got to school, you know, how was I expected to think about math problem, or vocabulary, or spelling, or whatever when I was thinking about where my next meal was coming from, or if my family’s okay or better yet, like where are we going to even stay at night? So that was very, very difficult for me. But my mom always, you know, made sure that we were working on our homework and kept education in the forefront, and I very much so that I actually skipped second grade.
Arlene Gale: Wow. And you skipped it not because you were just hanging out in bad places, you skipped it cause you’re super smart, right?
Mona Dixon: Right. I was one of those kids that, you know, I always say that I’m not smart, I just studied, I just do my homework, right? I prepare, and that goes for anything in life. But when I was younger, I remember getting packets for the whole week, homework, right? Monday through Friday. And I do all my homework on Monday, not because I was smart but because I knew if I finished it Monday, I wouldn’t have homework for the rest of the week.
“I'm not smart… I prepare. And that goes for anything in life.” –Mona Dixon Click To TweetArlene Gale: Well, young lady, let me have a moment of mothering you. You were smart, you were smart enough to know to sit down and do it. I mean, so yes, you are smart. So I will just lovingly hugs on you as my mother personality comes out.
Mona Dixon: Thank you.
“So many people of a variety of ages sit around and complain instead of get up and do.” –Arlene Gale Click To TweetArlene Gale: You have to know limitations, and boundaries, and capabilities, and you know, I’m the same way. When I went through high school, I wasn’t necessarily very smart but I worked hard, you know, for different reasons, I worked hard, and different obstacles I had to go through. I knew that if I wanted to be and do something else, I had to work hard. So that’s a great piece of wisdom for people of all ages. I think, again, to take from YOU, young lady, I keep calling you young lady because I think that’s such an important fact because so many people, a variety of ages sit around and complain instead of get up and do.
“If I wanted to be and do something else, I had to work hard.” –Arlene Gale Click To TweetMona Dixon: Yes.
Arlene Gale: All right, so enough of my soapbox and my mothering you because you’re doing a great job. You don’t need that from me.
Mona Dixon: I love all the motherly love.
Arlene Gale: Well good, I’m glad because I certainly do love you. You have inspired me and I know that this conversation will inspire others, so let’s move forward a little bit. Is there someone or something that you credit with helping you during that homelessness time, or helping you to move beyond the homelessness situation?
Mona Dixon: Yes, for me, I mean, there were so many different people who believed in me or invested in me from my sixth grade teacher, my first grade teacher, you know, like my basketball coach, different things like that. But I would say the most significant organization that impacted my life was the Boys & Girls Club. Before going to the Boys & Girls Club, I was obviously homeless. And then my mom was able to get on Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamp, and just so happen to be right behind my apartments was the Boys & Girls Club. And my friends would always ask me: “You know, Mona, you want to come to the boys and girls club?” And I would say: “No, I can’t come.” And I would just say that because, you know, I knew that it cost something and I didn’t know how much, but I knew that something would be something too much. You know, even a dollar, we could have spent that at the Dollar Store on toilet paper, or toothpaste, or laundry detergent, you know. So I didn’t want to burden my mom with one more thing that I knew that she wouldn’t be able to provide for me so I wouldn’t even want to ask her. But one day I built up the courage and I said: “Let me just go and ask how much it is.” And so, I went there and I said: “What does it take for me to become a member here?” And the lady said: “Well, you have to bring back this application form, and you have to bring back this $20 fee.” And I was like: “Okay.” And I was just going to walk out, you know, and never come back because I knew that I didn’t have $20, and $20 was for the entire year, just that to go there, right? But I couldn’t afford it. And it was almost as like that lady sensed it and she said: “Wait.” And she said: “Come back.” And she told me: “You know, just bring back that application and we’ll take care of the rest.” And the rest was history. So she ended up paying my $20 membership fee for me. And I always talk about how that changed my entire life. So the Boys & Girls Club just had so many programs there for me to get involved in that were free that came with that membership fee from, like Keystone, a team leadership program that focused on community service. That obviously led to me being appointed by President Obama to the Community Service Board later on cause it builds up the importance of community service in me. And then everything from tutoring, and the computer lab being open until 9:00 PM so I can get ahead of my college courses while I was in high school. And it just like eliminated those excuses to say, I don’t have the resources to be successful because everything was provided for me right there at the Boys & Girls Club.
Arlene Gale: That’s just, it doesn’t happen very often, but I’m kind of speechless at the moment.
Mona Dixon: Oh, yeah.
Arlene Gale: Well, because you bring up another great point, because $20 was a life savings, or beyond imagining ever saving for you at that point, right?
Mona Dixon: Right, right. And for some, it’s lunch money.
Arlene Gale: Yeah, exactly. So you know, again, your brilliance in your youth is that, for the rest of us is that, if you got the $20, think about how you can change somebody’s life. You may never know how you’re going to make a difference, but that’s okay because you made a difference. I mean, does this woman know that she made such a big difference in your life?
Mona Dixon: Yeah. See, I don’t even know, you know, I was so young then, and she wasn’t there for very long. I didn’t even know her name, but I know that if I saw her, I’d give her like the biggest hug ever. Cause she definitely changed my life.
Arlene Gale: Wow. That’s just an incredibly inspiring story on both sides of the equation. You know, $20 to someone who is successful, or somebody who’s living in a home clothing and feeding their children without a worry in the world, that $20 to them, it may be chump change, to me, it’s chump change. So, you know, I’ve worked hard for that chump change, don’t get me wrong.
Mona Dixon: Right.
Arlene Gale: You know, and I’m not in the habit of wasting money, but you know what? That $20, $20 changed your life and turns you into the young woman you are today. To me, that’s just, it’s amazing. We’ve got to start making a difference in each other’s lives, no matter our age. And that’s the whole point of interviewing you today. But Mona, I want to take a quick break and then when we come back, I want to talk to you about the top accomplishments that you’re making in your life now that you never thought would be possible. And let’s talk about where you are now, and what you’re doing now, so people get the full picture of Mona Dixon, the young lady who I know is going to change the world. So we’ll be right back.
“We've got to start making a difference in each other's lives, no matter our age.” –Arlene Gale Click To TweetSo welcome back. Today, we’re talking to Mona Dixon, and she calls herself a Teen Empowerment Leader. But I can tell you that as an international speaker and coach as well, that she can teach lessons to people of all ages. So welcome back, Mona.
Mona Dixon: Hi.
Arlene Gale: I want to ask you a question. So tell us where you are now? What you’re doing today? And maybe give us a couple of the top accomplishments that you’re involved in now that you never dreamed would be possible for you.
Mona Dixon: Well, starting back as you mentioned, I feel like I have to speak it because that’s where it all began. But when I was 17 years old, I became the National Youth of the Year for Boys & Girls Club of America, but that’s the highest award that a club member can receive. It focuses on your academic success, like your grades, your character, your community service, you get like nine letters of recommendations, you have interviews, it’s INSANE. And I competed locally here in Arizona, then Pacific region against like Hawaii, Japan, California, all of those, cause we have Boys & Girls Club on military bases around the world. Then I went to DC, Washington, DC and I competed there and that’s how I gained that title. Getting that title allowed me to be recognized by president Obama in the Oval Office, and I gotta go there with none other than the great Denzel Washington, so that was an amazing experience.
Arlene Gale: Wow.
Mona Dixon: And then I was awarded over $100,000 in scholarships, so what my mom told me paid off. I went on to get my Bachelor of Business Management from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Then I kept going, I got my Master in Communication Studies with an emphasis in advocacy, and now I’m working on my doctorate in Organizational Leadership. I was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Corporation for National & Community Service. As you mentioned, being one of the top, one of 28 most influential black women in America at a very young age. And I’m recently, I started my own nonprofit inspired by Mona Foundation that focuses on teens and teen success. So I have my Teen Success Academy that just prepares teens with opportunities, and resources, and real-life skills to be successful before they graduate from high school and not after when it’s not too late, but later than it should be. And I just want to get them a great head start and teach them all a lot of the resources and tools that I had to pulled together myself, or from all these different places, I want to give it to them and like a one stop shop so that they can go off and be successful young adults. So that’s a lot of what I do. I’m on tour and doing a lot of speaking engagements. So that’s been exciting, and traveling the world when back then all I did was get on a Greyhound bus.
Arlene Gale: Wow. How times have changed, and you’re doing all of this at the ripe old age of 26?
Mona Dixon: Yes.
Arlene Gale: Gosh. Well, I’m tired just listening to you, but I’m sure, I was young once, I just don’t remember back that far.
Mona Dixon: Oh, my goodness.
Arlene Gale: See? And she’s so nice. She’s not even gonna say anything about me.
Mona Dixon: Definitely though, I’m looking at this picture, you look absolutely beautiful.
Arlene Gale: Oh, you’re a sweetheart, you’re a sweetheart. So tell me, okay, you’ve already named, dropped one name Denzel Washington, and my heart is beating really fast, and you know, he’s so talented and seems like such a nice guy, I’d love to meet him someday because he does so many great things. So I’m going to give you a minute to name drop. Who are some of the other exciting or interesting people that you’ve met as you’ve been a motivational speaker?
Mona Dixon: All right, well, I have to tell you my top three to start. So my top three it goes, number one is Denzel Washington. Number two is LeBron James, who, he gave me a sign shoe as a gift, so I love it. And number three is President Obama. And then some other people, everybody goes from Jennifer Lopez, to Magic Johnson, Mario Lopez, Cuba Gooding Jr, Martin Gene, Cuba Gooding, ah, I said that one–
Arlene Gale: He must have an impression on you?
Mona Dixon: –Yeah, Ron Howard. Yeah, Cuba Gooding Jr. and you know why? Because when I found out when I got to interview him that he actually used to be homeless as well.
Arlene Gale: Really?
Mona Dixon: Yeah. And he shared this story with me because all of these individuals are Boys & Girls Club alum. So they all went to the boys and girls club. And he said, that they never lived on the streets, but his mom would make enough money to where they could live in a hotel every night. And when he started going to the Boys & Girls Club, they told him once he got his homework done, that’s when he can learn how to break dance and do things like that. So yes. So I love Cuba Gooding Jr, I love his story that he had there, so yeah. But some other people, I did a commercial actually with Mark Wahlberg, and we raised over a million dollars to help teens graduate from high school in partnership with Taco Bell Foundation for teens. A lot of people, Sugar Ray Leonard, Smokey Robinson–
Arlene Gale: Wow.
Mona Dixon: –Kerry Washington, a lot of great people.
Arlene Gale: Wow. Are you old enough to really know Sugar Ray Rob? I mean, you know some of these people, okay, I’ll stop showing my age now and we’ll move on to more interesting topics. Wow, that’s just amazing. So Mona, I want to put you on the hot seat for a minute. Are you ready for that?
Mona Dixon: Ah, let’s go.
Arlene Gale: All right. So I’m gonna ask you three questions that I ask all of my guests. They’re rapid fire questions and kind of just off the top of your head, start with this one. What is one key mindset that you experienced either growing up, or today that may hinder your success, or you personally?
Mona Dixon: I think, if you don’t believe in yourself. So say, like, I always believe in like self-fulfilling prophecies. So if you believe that you can’t do something, then you’re right, you can’t do it. But if you believe that you CAN do something, then you’re ALSO RIGHT, YOU CAN DO IT. And I think that we put these beliefs into our mind and then that’s what we carry out, It turns into our actions. If we don’t think we could do something, then we’re not going to work at it because we already told ourselves we can’t do it. And then when we fell out it we’re like, see, I told you I couldn’t do it, right?
Arlene Gale: Yeah.
Mona Dixon: And then, and we just feel into that. But if we say we can do something and we work hard to do that, when we do it, then we’re like, see, I knew I could do it. So it all comes down to what you believe in yourself. And I think that that makes a total difference. I can’t do just one, but I’ll definitely say that, it’s all about, like, yeah, definitely just believing in yourself and pushing yourself forward.
Arlene Gale: Have you ever struggled with that?
Mona Dixon: You know, sometimes, actually that’s a great question. Sometimes I think that I’m afraid of failure, you know, I’ve done pretty well so far, but I think I’m like, Oh, my God, I don’t want to dream that big cause what if I fail? Everyone’s used to me, you know, being so successful or overcoming all of these things, what happens when you fail. But I always tell myself that, you know, I have to fail many times in order to win, in order to get to those successes. And no one really remembers your failures, they remember your successes. So I gotta get through all those no’s to get to the yeses.
“No one really remembers your failures. They remember your successes.” –Mona Dixon“I always tell myself that I have to fail many times in order to win, in order to get to those successes.” –Mona Dixon Click To TweetArlene Gale: Right. That mindset is common, I think it’s healthy and it’s dangerous. It’s kind of like a double edged sword because I think we need to have fear, you know, it helps us run away from the bear so it doesn’t eat us.
Mona Dixon: Exactly.
Arlene Gale: But if you get so scared that you stand there and you cower in front of the bear, you know, he’s going to eat you.
Mona Dixon: Exactly.
Arlene Gale: So yeah, fear, that’s a biggie. So, and you talked about believing in yourself, so that’s a mindset that I think is very helpful to people. And as you get ready to go out onto the stage and you think about meeting all these big deal celebrities and politicians, is there anything you say to yourself there that prepares you or scare you before you make that step?
Mona Dixon: Yeah, I always pray before I go on stage, and I always just ask God to, you know, to allow people to see my heart, and allow people to just take away one thing from what I say on that stage, and I asked that I can just impact at least one person in that audience. Because if I can change the life of one person, or help one person get hope, or think, you know, because of Mona, if she can do it, I can do it too. I can become successful whether that is going to school, or getting this job, or you know, getting a scholarship, or getting my first apartment, whatever it is. If I can just help someone believe in themselves just a little bit more, then I feel like I have accomplished something. But you know, before I go out there, I always make it a goal to just speak from my heart, even if I mess up, it’s okay because nobody knows my speech but me, you know, and I just asked that they just see right through me. And I think that it works because so many people come up afterwards and they’re just always saying like, Oh, my God, you’re just so genuine, or I just connect with you, or you just, you know, you so relatable, or you know, your smile just lights up the room, or your eyes, even before you got on stage and I didn’t even know you were going to speak I was like, who is that girl? Because she’s just lighting up the room. So it’s that, and that’s all that I asked for is for my spirit to come off as a very welcoming, and very, you know, loving of other people. And I just hope that everybody in that room leaves with something, and that’s all I can ask for.
Arlene Gale: Absolutely. And I think that you sum it up very well in the one word genuine. You know, when you’re genuine, people will know. Just like if you’re not, people will know.
“When you're genuine, people will know; if you're not, people will know.” –Arlene Gale Click To TweetMona Dixon: Exactly.
Arlene Gale: So Mona, it’s been such a great pleasure talking to you, but before we go, tell people how they can connect with you, follow you, find you and get more of your, your wisdom of the ages.
Mona Dixon: Yes. So on Facebook, it’s Mona Dixon – Teen Empowerment Leader, you can find me there. On Instagram, it’s Mona Dixon Official. And on LinkedIn it’s Mona Dixon. And on Twitter it’s Mona Dixon Speaks. And my website is monadixon.com.
Arlene Gale: That’s awesome. I encourage everybody to keep up with this young lady. Mona Dixon is doing amazing things, and especially for those of us who are older than Mona, you know, if you worry about the future and where we’re going, don’t. Get in touch with people like Mona and the people that she’s helping to bring up because our future is secure and bright with young people like Mona Dixon getting over to take, or getting ready to take over the world as we step back. So before I leave today, I want to leave you with this thought. Be mindful of the stories you tell yourself about what is or is not possible for you. Don’t let the world dictate your story. You get to choose to write your own story, your own way every day.