Today we’d like to introduce you to Emmanuel Glaze. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Emmanuel Glaze is the Founder and CEO of the nonprofit Optimize The Vizion. Optimize The Vizion’s mission is to help enhance the vision of student’s futures by exposing them to the countless possibilities that the world can provide. The program works towards its mission and motto by taking middle and high school students from the Metro Atlanta area to different sporting, business and entertainment events around the city. The idea is to expose them to these events with the goal of showing all of the work that makes each event and program happen. In its 1st year in 2019, Optimize The Vizion has held over 33 events both virtual and in person in the city of Atlanta.
Emmanuel Graduated High School in Lincolnton, GA and received his degree in Mathematics from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Ga. While at Morris Brown College, he lettered in both football and track and met his wife of 20+ years Jennifer there. Emmanuel has two beautiful daughters that are a huge motivation for him and when asked how he continues to break the mold of what people think a guy from Lincoln County, GA should be able to accomplish, his reply embodies his quiet faith: “You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.”
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The road has not been smooth. Forming a nonprofit is both time-consuming and has many costs attached to it. Our program works so that our students, who we call Vizionaries, won’t have to pay anything. In order to do that we must receive grants and donations from our citizens and that is tough at times. Although it has been tough, we have been successfully to raise enough funds to keep our commitment to not charge our Vizionaries anything to be in the program.
In 2020, when the pandemic hit, our program took a tough hit as our program’s focus was to visit live events all around the city. Once the pandemic hit, we were stuck and couldn’t go anywhere. Fortunately, we were able to move to virtual format that opened us to meet different leaders and influencers around the country.
As you know, we’re big fans of Optimize The Vizion. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Optimize The Vizion’s is a nonprofit program whose mission is to help enhance the vision of student’s futures by exposing them to the countless possibilities that the world can provide. The program works towards its mission and motto by taking middle school students from the Metro Atlanta area to different sporting, business and entertainment events around the city. The idea is to expose them to these events with the goal of showing all of the work that makes each event and program happen. Optimize The Vizion has hosted over 33 events both virtually and in person in the city of Atlanta from events such as Nascar, Football, Local News, Tennis and Golf just to name a few.
What makes us stand out is that our program focuses on three things: Exposure, Possibilities, Opportunities. Our belief is that if you expose our youth to all of the possibilities that surrounds them and all the opportunities that are available to them it will help them have a brighter outlook for the future.
What makes me most proud is that we have been able to grow our program from 8 to 16 in 3 years. We kept the program going through a pandemic. We grew the program from just a middle school program to now a middle and high school program. And we have held 30+ events in these three years.
What does success mean to you?
Making anything that you are a part of better for yourself, your community and the people that are served.
Contact Info:
- Email: optimizethevizion@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.optimizethevizion.org/
- Instagram: Optimize The Vizion
- Facebook: Optimize The Vizion
- Twitter: @OptTheVizion
- Youtube: Optimize The Vizion
Image Credits
Dope Shots by Precious Optimize The Vizion
