We recently connected with Andrew Bond and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrew, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My name is Andrew Bond and amongst many endeavors, I am the Founding Member/Executive Director of the Non-Profit organization BORN LEADERS ELITE SANCTIFIED SOCIAL ENTERPRISE aka BLESSE.

I have recently started this Social Enterprise on paper, according to registration, but the journey to reach to this point most definitely wasn’t over night.

To encapsulate my lived experiences as an Afrocentric man, growing up in marginalized communities and being objectified to the judicial system, I have encountered many of the “hurdles” that systemic barriers were designed and implemented for.

Growing up, I faced the challenges of the streets and unfortunately at the time, began a recidivist jail/prison voyage. Through those years of my life I seen the ails and determent that myself and others like me subject ourselves to on top of the plights our culture had been susceptible too. During my last bid, which was my longest, reflecting/analyzing my life during that pinnacle moment become a regular, gifting me the ability to were I gained immense insight into my spiritual maturity, intuitive knowledge & recognition of my value & purpose.

I’ve never had a co-accused/defendant and I always lead the way with what ever I do. So I made the choice and realized I could utilize the same skills, knowledge and resourceful thinking I gained from the life but in a positive way without comprising my integrity or principles to better my entire community, the people living in it and leave my contribution for the time I spent on this earth, which is my legacy. This is where Born Leaders Elite’s chapter begins, and you get to experience the mission.

Andrew, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As I mentioned previously, the steps that first brought me to this transformative change was being ready to be genuinely honest with myself in regards to WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN FOR ME, consciously & constantly choosing these pitfall/quicksand situations and RECOGNIZING MY TRUE PURPOSE for existing.

Throughout this process, I regularly challenged my desolate mindset and acknowledged from an internal source, that I have an assignment to complete and all the years of entrenched destruction, deception & detainment was just preparation for the person who I am now and was ALWAYS meant to be. Knowing the root causes to my circumstances allowed me to be mindful of the things, people and places that I encounter. “Money was my Motivation”, as it basically is for many individuals coming from a marginalized environment. Growing up in these communities, our relationship with money, who had it and how they got it was distorted by by false pretenses. We were never taught in school about the importance of financial literacy/wellness or the importance of cultural economical growth.

BLESSE’s initiative is to recalibrate and restore the essence of what self respect within the Black community looks like and to foster the establishment of Black Ownership (in all capacities) through various ventures & activities such as business, real estate, the trading market, construction industry, etc…

Have you ever had to pivot?

Growing up, music and entrepreneurship was always my passion. This infatuation was the driving force that lead me to pursue this and become an independent artist and label owner.

Throughout this time, I was depicting reflections of my reality and being honest about the situations in my community but I was narrating the negativity in a way that was inconducive to my goal of living a better life. In doing this, everything I was accomplishing was being filtered through despondency.

Fortunately, with age came wisdom and experience’s teachings were lessons well learned, cause during this intuitive moment, I made the pivotal decision to keep the same honesty but frame my focus on positive outlooks. Since that realization, I and my business have begun to see progress with support from other community organizations, I now engage in programing to connect with at risk youth in high schools, my artist under my management company @officialkaje’ is gaining great traction and I am in the process of releasing a book. This pivot was transformative, well needed & well deserved.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

At Born Leaders Elite, our objective and mantra are in our name. We want individuals to find the leader within themselves and understand the difference between a boss and a leader. We are in an era were everything is about followers.

Neither are negative, as both operate parallel but are in their own lanes. A boss gives orders or instructions to a task with an expectation of you following it through. A leader provides direction and will not only give you guidance, but will walk the path with you.

YOU WANT TO EMPOWER EACH INDIVIDUAL .

To manage an elite team, every member must share belief/interest in the objective and honor it. When a leader can connect each members specific skillset together and bring forth the vision of the objective outcome, to were everyone acknowledges the importance of the team’s effort, that is a truly elite team of leaders.

Contact Info:

• Website: bornleaderselite.com
• Instagram: @ble_sse1 & @bornleaderselite

Image Credits
Derrick Fagan pics 1,2