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Courtesy of Harriette Cole
Every entrepreneur has that one big dream that he or she hopes to accomplish and build from the ground up. However, for some, whether because of an unsupportive system or because they’re holding on to the crippling fear of failure, achieving that dream may seem near impossible, and so they bury it.
Harriette Cole, “lifestylist,” author and all-around branding expert, is having none of it. She has created a new initiative, Dreamleapers, in order to help people access and activate their dreams.
“Everybody has ideas; I think everybody has a dream, but … many people are afraid to even consider that whatever they might be dreaming is worth exploring, let alone really going for it. So I wanted to create an environment where people would feel like a) they would have support in harvesting whatever that inner stirring is for them, and b) that they would have support in figuring out how to turn [their dreams] into something,” Cole told The Root.
The initiative officially launches April 2 with a daylong Dreamleapers retreat, which Latham Thomas, a celebrity yogini, will kick off with a meditation and yoga segment in which she will guide people toward accessing their dreams. Teneshia Warner, who runs the Egami Consulting Group and has an initiative called the Dream Project, will also lead a “Dream Experience” at the event to help people harvest their dreams.
In addition, there will be “Speed Leaping,” which is kind of like speed dating and will feature multiple experts in various fields to help people figure out how to support their own dreams. Speakers will include social media maven Allison Peters, who is Kerry Washington’s social media manager; Lisa Price, the creator of Carol’s Daughter, who will talk about her own path to success, which led to her selling her company to L’Oreal; a bookkeeper-accountant and a lawyer, who will discuss how to protect your intellectual property and set up your business appropriately; human resources experts; and more.
“[In] all of the areas that, if you have an idea and you’re trying to make it manifest but you really don’t know what structure to put around it, I’m having professionals who understand how to do that there to support people,” Cole said.
A separate component of Dreamleapers is the Dreamleapers Talks, a series of filmed one-on-one interviews. In the first talk, Cole interviewed renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson, the owner of New York City’s Red Rooster.
“I’m looking for thought leaders who can describe their journey from the perspective of the dreams that they had,” Cole explained. “We’re filming them so they can be used for broadcast.”
Cole is hoping to take Dreamleapers on tour in the near future, going to colleges to reach high-potential, soon-to-be grads as they transition into either entering the workforce or launching their own projects.
At its core, Dreamleapers is an all-around initiative targeting entrepreneurs and people who have that entrepreneurial spirit but may not be ready or able to hire a life coach.
“To be able to come to an event—a long day, but you can turn to your left or your right and speak to an expert in all these different areas—I think there’s a tremendous amount of value in that, and so I’m hoping that people will see that,” Cole said.
The first-ever Dreamleapers retreat takes place Saturday, April 2, in Harlem and includes a continental breakfast, lunch and a cocktail hour. Tickets cost $200, but a student discount brings the cost down to $75, and there’s a “budding entrepreneur” discount price of $100, aimed at those who haven’t started a business yet or who are less than three years into their business.
Breanna Edwards is a newswriter at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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