Emille Bryant - Start With A Sparkle
Free Ambition: Where are you
from?
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| Portland, Oregon |
Emille Bryant: Go Seahawks, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, I spent equal time in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington before joining the military.
Free Ambition: Where do you live now?
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| Washington D.C. |
Emille Bryant: Washington DC area, I fell in love with it when the Air Force moved me here in 2008.
Free Ambition: What inspired
you to share your walk through life's lessons in the book “Start
With A Sparkle”?
Emille Bryant: Man, that’s a great question and I’ll have to answer it in pieces. First, I have always wanted to be a professional, motivational speaker. Since 1998, when I was an instructor at the Air Force’s premier leadership laboratory for its officers, Squadron Officers School (SOS), I knew I had something powerful to share. In fact, that assignment, from 1998 – 2001, is one of the most critical elements in my life, which I detailed in the book. I really had to face some hard truths in that time and it opened the door to me exploring who I was, not just professionally but in a deeply personal way. The entire journey over that three years influenced how I instructed and how I looked at my future in, and after, the Air Force.
The Air Force kept
moving me for another decade when I decided to retire in 2012.
Retirement allowed me to think and pursue the desire to become a
speaker—a desire that grew from a smoldering coal to a roaring
fire. I sought my publisher Matthew C. Horne, Founder of Lightning
Fast Publishing LLC, to embark on that career. He gave me the
platform I needed after I decided I would first share my thoughts in
a book. That decision helped me show my future audience where I'm
coming from. Now that I've shared those lessons, I’m ready to
burst forth into the world as a speaker. But that’s only part one
of the answer.
Second, after my
first wife and I divorced, I felt distant from my kids. They moved
to Los Angeles while I stayed in Washington DC, where work was
plentiful. That cross-country distance can be a killer for a father
like me who was really engaged and desired to share his love and
wisdom with his kids and allow them to share their struggles and
successes with me. I worked hard with calls, texts and emails to
close the gap, but I felt there was a piece missing. In the
Acknowledgements and Appreciations Page of my book, you’ll see that
I wrote my book for my kids, Nyasha and Nothani. It was another way
for me to love them and share my life and wisdom after the divorce.
Free Ambition: In chapter two
you talk about going from despising your time at Maxwell Air Force
Base, to absorbing the good of that life experience. Elaborate on the
enhancement that brought to your demeanor over all?
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| Maxwell U.S. AirForce Base, Montgomery, AL. |
Emille Bryant: That time was ROUGH! I had done so much prior to that, deploying with a fighter unit as an aircraft maintenance officer, watching the birth of my two eldest children, cutting my teeth as a leader, even graduating from the Air Force’s premier leadership school for officers, SOS. I found out I had totally underestimated myself! That hurt! But what hurt worse was not knowing how to start over and really push myself. So for those three years, I just let life come to me. I didn't “aspire” to anything great, I didn't make up “goals”; I just taught and taught (and taught). For three years I stayed in the classroom and got life lessons from over 250 students whom I taught 13 at a time. The experience was MARVELOUS!
Each of them taught me about the wonders of “their” Air Force, their families, how they saw the world. I may have been their instructor, but they were teaching me about how to live again. It was a magical time. They helped me more than I could ever say. I approached that time by teaching, but in my unique method, and then listen to my students as they taught each other and me. By the end of the time at Maxwell, I went from hating that I was away from my first love, aircraft, to feeling transformed and ready to tackle any challenge the Air Force could throw at me. God knew what I needed and placed me in exactly the right spot. I wasn't just an accomplished instructor I was invigorated personally and professionally!
Free Ambition: What message do
you want readers to walk away with?
Emille Bryant: The most important thing I can help others understand is they were put on this planet to give something unique that only they can give. That they have a sparkle in their eye that only they can develop into that contribution. And that the contribution is worth every effort they can muster to develop and give it. No matter what, they’re developing that sparkle, even “terrible” experiences are helping hone that sparkle! We grow through a variety of situations and when we don’t get what we expect, we learn a lesson, sometimes we learn we must make a change. If we receive every moment as a blessing, then we learn and grow. From the tough times, we can learn how to persevere. More importantly, without struggle we cannot grow. So I encourage every person who experiences disappointment or frustration to consider they are being primed, their sparkle honed, for whatever is next. Even though I hated where I was asked to go when I first got there, by the time I left, I loved it. I will always remember The Tigers (“Every One A Tiger!”) and Maxwell as one of my best assignments in the Air Force.You couldn't have paid me to make that recommendation on my first day there and you wouldn't have known I would leave there the best instructor in the school.
Free Ambition: How did you
make the decision to serve your country, and join the U.S. Air Force?
Emille Bryant: Like many 17 year olds, I was faced with a couple of tough choices. I wanted to go to college but my mother had asked me a question that I wasn't prepared to answer: “How are YOU paying for college?” At first, I thought she was joking, but her seriousness told me the answer was non-negotiable. Prior to that, way back in the 8th grade, I had watched the Blue Bonnet Bowl on TV and it featured the Air Force Academy.
I knew almost nothing about football and even less about the Air Force Academy but I had made my mind up then I wanted to go there, but that was like any kid who says they want something that looks cool, it was just a one-off statement. Once my mother asked me that question, my desire to go there became a reality, I pushed hard to get into the Academy! I've always loved airplanes, since I was little, and always wanted to be around them.
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| Seattle, Washington |
When you grow up in Seattle, Boeing Aircraft isn't that far away and being an engineer or pilot is as natural as wanting to be Downtown Freddy Brown, the Sonics’ three point bomber. So I knew I was going to work around aircraft, but Mom’s question made it all come together. I certainly didn't have ONE PENNY to put toward my education, so the Air Force saved me a lifetime of loans AND gave me a chance to be around aircraft, serving my country was easy after that.
Free Ambition: What was your
single, most important accomplishment while serving in the military?
Emille Bryant: I did many things
that I’m proud of. I served my nation overseas, I helped fight the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I was part of a team that helped keep
aircraft flying safely in peacetime and wartime and I made lifelong
friends from across the world.
But the highlight of my career was as
a squadron commander. More than at any other time, I felt like I was
doing what I was trained to do. Airmen are fantastic technicians.
They are highly skilled and highly motivated to do great work, true
artisans in their fields. Me? I have no technical training like
that. I don’t hone my craft on a daily basis like they do. But
when you are a commander, you can have an astounding effect on your
unit’s success.
Command was the pinnacle of my training as an
officer, for I had finally become an artisan in my own right, my
craft was leadership. During the years I commanded, I wore rank and
position on behalf of my Airmen. They gave their best every day and
I was in a position to amplify, respect and honor that. I loved
helping them solve problems and stay focused on aircraft. In my
book, two of my most prominent experiences come from when I was a
commander. That’s intentional. I never felt more a part of a team
than I did then and certainly
nothing I did makes me prouder to have served my nation. For sure,
my greatest accomplishment was the privilege and honor of serving as
a squadron commander.
Free Ambition: What can
someone from an older, wiser generation do to motivate younger people
to find their Ikigai (Why I wake up in the morning)?
Emille Bryant: Show and share one key word: Move! The key to unpacking life’s lessons is to walk out every day with a sense of wonder. There is no normal once you’re on a quest to discover and hone the sparkle in your eye. Even mundane experiences begin to take on new meaning, the ordinary becomes extraordinary once you dedicate your life to becoming your best self. Older people often don’t realize how many things distract a young person from just moving. Games, YouTube, Facebook are added to the already challenging temptations of drugs, sex and easy money.
Free Ambition: Tell Us about
Qrystalline Qreativity, and the vital empowerment that it provides
community volunteers?
Emille Bryant: I coined the term “Rock Star Volunteer” because I want every person who serves their community to feel like their contribution is AMAZING. But to do that, I don’t want the generic “come help us” type of volunteerism. I want to capture the energy that volunteers have and couple it with their specific skills. When I left the military, I had a wide range of skills all of them honed by work that was hard and challenging. Upon leaving, I knew I would work again at a paying job, but I also wanted to give back. What I found though was a dearth of opportunities to use my specific skills, or ones I wanted to exercise and improve. So I created a concept, “Rock Star Volunteer” that marries the specialized skills of volunteers to the specific needs of nonprofits.
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| Qrystialline Qreativity |
I’m still building the concept and haven’t released the final draft, but all my research shows that there is a huge market for this. More than a volunteer board, Qrystalline Qreativity will help marry specific projects to individuals so the nonprofit can get an entire project from start to completion. I don’t want to go into too many specifics, because the idea and what will follow are proprietary, but when it is released, it will be a big help in getting people and projects synchronized.
Free Ambition: You’re using
Qrystalline Qreativity to promote STEAM. What does that mean and how
will it promote the power of effective, multicultural education for
children. Can you talk about how that came to pass?
Emille Bryant: Qrystalline Qreativity is like a project incubator. The first project is “Rock Star Volunteers”, and soon after that will be an emphasis on STEAM. The idea behind STEAM is to keep art in education. STEM is about gaining skills and being able to navigate a world where jobs and innovations will require technical and logical know-how. Keeping art in education is how you tap into those skills in a creative way. Without art in education, I fear our best and brightest will still not have the edge against their peers in a world dominated by highly creative, highly educated people. Steam power revolutionized the world, I believe STEAM can revolutionize American education and empower our kids for generations.
Free Ambition: What can be done to increase volunteer participation work in communities?
Emille Bryant: Volunteerism has
to be rewarded and encouraged as PART of the normal week. Many
employers match their employees’ time with money (and their money
with money!). Other employers are also sponsoring projects to give
back to their communities. Churches and shelters are always looking
for volunteers as well. So we have an existing volunteer
infrastructure. But we need to do more. I believe we need to keep
encouraging “average” folks to give a few hours per month to the
cause they most believe in. Put their favorite shows on DVR, take
time out of their busy schedules and MODEL volunteerism. Shoot, on
boys’ night out, why not start with a couple of hours of volunteer
work before going to the bar for the game? We do a lot of sports
with our kids to help them grow, I think all adults need to make
volunteering as common as going to church or grocery shopping.
Emille Bryant: Volunteerism has
to be rewarded and encouraged as PART of the normal week. Many
employers match their employees’ time with money (and their money
with money!). Other employers are also sponsoring projects to give
back to their communities. Churches and shelters are always looking
for volunteers as well. So we have an existing volunteer
infrastructure. But we need to do more. I believe we need to keep
encouraging “average” folks to give a few hours per month to the
cause they most believe in. Put their favorite shows on DVR, take
time out of their busy schedules and MODEL volunteerism. Shoot, on
boys’ night out, why not start with a couple of hours of volunteer
work before going to the bar for the game? We do a lot of sports
with our kids to help them grow, I think all adults need to make
volunteering as common as going to church or grocery shopping.
WWW.ROCKTHEFLOW.COM
My wife and I held a party where we had a great meal, played games and then joined our church to help the homeless in the still of the night. Everyone was happy to participate and was blown away with how you can have an evening out and still give back. We need to make volunteering as normal as a date.
Free Ambition: The treatment of American war veterans has long been a sore and disappointing subject in the country; what actions would you like to see implemented by the U.S. government to ensure that veterans receives a lifetime of quality treatment, since those same veterans sacrificed to protect our national and global safety?
Emille Bryant: I work with the
Department of Veterans Affairs and see firsthand how many resources
are available to a veteran. I also know the sad state of our nation
that we have millions of homeless veterans. The department is
committed to veterans but too many politicians count the cost of
veterans’ services before they count the cost of war. One of the
most powerful financial calculations we could make as a nation is to
project the LIFETIME costs of a war, from the first deployment to the
death of the last veteran and see if that’s a price we’re willing
to pay. I believe if we were to think that way, we would see the use
of the military decrease significantly AND the quality of our
veterans’ lives RISE.
Emille Bryant: I work with the
Department of Veterans Affairs and see firsthand how many resources
are available to a veteran. I also know the sad state of our nation
that we have millions of homeless veterans. The department is
committed to veterans but too many politicians count the cost of
veterans’ services before they count the cost of war. One of the
most powerful financial calculations we could make as a nation is to
project the LIFETIME costs of a war, from the first deployment to the
death of the last veteran and see if that’s a price we’re willing
to pay. I believe if we were to think that way, we would see the use
of the military decrease significantly AND the quality of our
veterans’ lives RISE.
It is a hard calculation but imagine, we’re
still paying for the care of the brave men and women who won World
War II—and that ended nearly 70 years ago. When you have to pay a
bill 70 years after the last shot is fired, you better believe that
the war you fight is worth that cost.
I know World War II was worth
it, but our veterans need to know we’ll be there for them
throughout their lives after they give so much. Place the cost of
those veteran services in at the beginning and you’re sure of two
points: wars will be fought because they are absolutely necessary
and the warriors who fight them will have a lifetime of appropriate
care.
I know you had the blessing of raising five
beautiful children; how important are effective and nurturing parenting methods for children growing up in a 2015 world?
beautiful children; how important are effective and nurturing parenting methods for children growing up in a 2015 world?
Emille Bryant: The challenge of parenting is knowing your children. It gets harder as they get older, parents seem to get less cool. Somehow I am still my eldest son’s Superman, despite my many public warts. I think that is because I try to be radically honest with my children through every stage. I don’t believe in talking down to kids; I am firm and often blunt, but always loving. The reason is that I want them to get used to hearing the truth, appropriate for their age. That allows them to see and make sense of the world around them without giving them juvenile fantasies nor closing off the best dreams (my 19 year old daughter is as quite the dreamer and an ace film student in college). It is a fine balance. If you don’t know your kids, I mean really know who they are as individuals, we parents run the risk of asking them to become something WE want them to be instead of helping them become what THEY want to be. Too many parents see in their children what the parents want to be instead of allowing the children to dream their own dreams and become their own adults. Children are amazing and can become anything, our job as parents is to get to know them well enough to help them every way we can.
Free Ambition: How did your mother Rose Bryant, and your father Samuel Bryant prepare you for life's journey?
Emille Bryant: My parents divorced when I was two. But what they did for me was give me a family that is WONDERFUL. Both sides of my family loved me like I was the only one there. And we had big families, with lots of cousins, yet I never lacked for love and attention. My mother and brother made up my immediate family until I was 16 when I lived with my father until I graduated high school. With both of them, they gave me a powerful boost in childhood and life. Mom was the rock of my life, she showed me how to love, how to live with gusto and how to accept others without condition. Dad taught me how to see the bright side no matter what. Mom’s love let me blossom in my uniquely nerdy way. I’m glad I’m her son! And believe me, as nerdy as I was, it must have been hard to figure out how to let me grow. Thanks Mom for lots of BOOKS!
Free Ambition: Where can readers purchase Start With A Sparkle?
Emille Bryant: If you are a Kindle reader, you can buy an electronic copy on Amazon.com. If you want the physical book, you can buy it from me personally at www.startwithasparkle.com. Each book I sell I autograph, at least until sales drain my pen’s ink .
Free Ambition: How can people follow Emille Bryant on social media?
Emille Bryant: They can reach me on Facebook at StartWith A Sparkle or my nonprofit Qrystalline Qreativity. They can also follow me on Instagram @startwithasparkle. I’ll also be launching my new blog: blogwithasparkle.com in April 2015.
Free Ambition: What would you like to see Qrystalline Qreativity accomplish in one year's time?
Emille Bryant: I would like to see a small but active cohort of “Rock Star Volunteers”, people who are giving their professional skills and abilities to projects that have specific outcomes for nonprofits that need their services. When I started Qrystalline Qreativity, I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to impact my community, but I knew that I needed an organization to do it.
As I've learned, I've refined the mission of that organization to empower volunteers. One of my passions is STEM, which I call STEAM, because Science, Technology, Engineering and Math are amplified with Art. But my passion isn't limited to that education, it is in disaster recovery, alternative energy, homelessness, employment of former convicts, even helping other nonprofits. With such a wide range of interests, I had to create something that could cover the gambit.
Empowering volunteers is one way to make sure Qrystalline Qreativity meets current and future needs. I still have a long way to go to build it up, but I know there is a need for more “Rock Star Volunteers”.
Free Ambition: Out of all of the places you have lived, which one was your favorite?
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| Tokyo, Japan |
Emille Bryant: Yokota Air Base, Japan, right outside Tokyo. I would move back there as a civilian in a heartbeat. Japan is easy to fall in love with the people, culture, art and history are all amazing.
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| Tokyo, Japan |
I had a chance to get to know many Japanese people and they impressed me with their passion and willingness to learn and share. The country is beautiful and high-tech but the people can be simple and loving. Nowhere else would I be so quick to live as there.
Free Ambition: One of your hobbies is collecting comic books; if you could keep just one, which one would it be?
Emille Bryant: Wow, that is a HARD question! Just one?
Oh, that’s going to smart. I look at my collection fondly, I started when I was 12 years old. I've been collecting off and on since then, though I stopped collecting monthly issues about 20 years ago. What keeps me coming back to comics is I love the heroic ideal. I love the sense of right vs. wrong, good vs. evil. Sometimes the world is a bit depressing and gray, but comics have always given me a sense that good wins in the end. Even today I read and collect “trade paperbacks” which are collections of monthly comics in one bound book. I try to buy the hard covers when I do but sometimes they are difficult to find or expensive. The one I would keep is Planet Hulk.
I fell in love with that trade
paperback, it is poetic, powerful and fun. I love the story, writing
and art as well as the message. Indeed, as much as I am a Superman
and Flash fan, both of whom have kept me reading them for my whole
life, Planet Hulk takes the cake for the one I would keep.
ICON
Honorable
Mention to ICON from Milestone Comics and Thor from Marvel Comics.
There are so many others I could mention as well!
Free Ambition: Who is your favorite Jazz artist? Why?
