We recently connected with Emmanuel Glaze and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Emmanuel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

My goal is to create a legacy where I am known for caring about the growth and experiences for my community. Whether it was through my non profit Optimize The Vizion, where we expose students to different possibilities and opportunities that the world offers. Or through my media platform OTV Media LLC, where we work to create media where healthy conversations happen. When I have finished my journey I want to be able to say that his organizations made a difference in our community.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I serve as the Founder and CEO of Optimize The Vizion and the OTV Media Network For the past 9 years I have served as the Co-host of The Crush Sports Talk. . I also worked as the Host of the talk show “What’s Next” on the Next Level Sports and Entertainment Network.

Optimize The Vizion is guided by goal to enhance the vizions of children’s futures by exposing them to countless possibilities and opportunities that the world can provide. This is created by taking middle and high school students from the Metro Atlanta area to various events in the city provide the participants a more wholistic and opportunistic view of the world.

My roots run deep into the red clay of Georgia. Born in Fort Gordon, Ga, I was raised and lived in Lincolnton, Ga. During my high school career, I lettered on the perennial powerhouse and multiple state champion Lincoln County Red Devils Football team. I continued my athletic prowess at Morris Brown College where I lettered in football and track and graduated with a degree in Mathematics in 1996. After graduation, I never lost my desire to compete and fulfilled that need by coaching football programs at Kell Middle School.

I am married to my college sweetheart of 25 years to his Jennifer. We have produced two beautiful daughters Nia and Nadiyah. Nia is currently attending Savannah State and working on a degree in Biology and Nadiyah is a attending Georgia State University and working on a degree in Biology.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Allowing profits to be greater than you passion. At one time during the process of running my businesses I only focused on the income that was coming in. I was so involved with that part of the process that I forgot why I was doing. In allowing myself to focus on profits, I nearly lost everything. Honestly I was doing more to give it away than lose it. After I reached failure, by not gaining the profits I was looking for, it took me a time to recover. Through my recovery phase, the passion came back and now I do what I love again. And with this I have stronger beliefs in the work I am doing and the businesses are growing again.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

During 2020 Covid struck. My organization Optimize The Vizion, was built with the idea of taking different middle and high school students to different live evens to help them gain exposure that will help them see the possibilities and opportunities that are available to them. Well when Covid struck, live events weren’t as available. So we had to find a way to continue providing our students the type of opportunities that would keep them on path with our mission. So we decided to create virtual sessions that we called OTV Goes Virtual. We used these sessions to introduce our students to different voices and faces in our community from the business, entertainment, political and sports arenas. This pivot created was hugely successful for us and allowed us to continue growing as an organization.

Contact Info:

• Website: OptimizeTheVizion.org
• Instagram: @EGlazeOTV, @OptimizeTheVizion, @OTVMediaNetwork, @TheCrushSportsNetwork
• Facebook: Emmanuel R Glaze, Optimize The Vizion, OTV Media Network, The Crush Sports Talk
• Linkedin: Emmanuel Glaze, Optimize The Vizion, OTV Media Network
• Twitter: @EGlazeOTV, @OptTheVizion, @MediaOTV, @CrushSportsTalk
• Youtube: Optimize The Vizion, OTV Media Network, The Crush Sports Talk

Image Credits
Dope Shots By Precious Nicole Peppers Photography