About Us
Our family owned and operated company, The Media Empire, is originally based out of Atlanta, Ga. In early 2015, we decided to leave the country in search of a safe environment and better life for our children. After 8 months of living in Canada, "border wars" (issues crossing regularly from Canada to the USA) and fate landed our family in Niagara Falls, New York where we met and partnered with Lomax Barnes who is a truent officer, community advocate, and non-profit business owner of Youth Motivation Movement Inc. Mr. Barnes also facilitates the Early Detection and Correction Program to prevent youth from entering into the juvenile system. It didn't take us long to realize that we had purpose in the states and with our new partnership launched The Media Empire Youth Motivation Center.
Our new skill building and mentoring program promotes peace, builds skills, and encourages youth to pursue their dreams and become assets to their communities. The Media Empire founders, Gary and Michelle Thomaston, have agreed to invest their time and expertise into youth that may or may not display signs of poor attendance in school, failing grades, and/or behavioral issues.
The Program
The six week program will initially focus on youth crime prevention, education on the power of their individual minds, time management and effective steps to fight against drifting. Our program is designed for promoting peace, discovering purpose, skill building and economic success.
Courses will include:
Audio Engineering- ProTools HD tutorial; vocal recording, mixing, and writing lessons
Graphic Design- Photoshop tutorial creating digital content; flyers, logos, and more
Video Production- Canon 7D HD hands on training; filming, focusing, and lighting
Video Editing- Premiere Pro tutorial; importing and editing raw footage, plug-ins,levels and color adjustments
Product Creation- Each group of students will agree on and create a media project; music composition, music video, short film, commercial etc.
Presentation- Our talented students will invite friends, family, community members, and media outlets to view their finished project
Our Investment
To date, we have collectively invested $17,315 in equipment, facility deposits and lease, advertising and utilities. We are offering The Media Empire Youth Motivation 6 week program free of charge with the understanding that many low income and middle class families otherwise may not be able to afford to have their children learn such in demand technology and skill. By connecting at risk youth with international industry producers, we will encourage attainment of goals and dreams, promote peace and self knowledge and provide quality skill building attributes enriching communities as a whole while instilling seeds for economic success in a safe and productive environment.
Your Donations
While we have created our first class of students (04/06/2016), we are very limited with our equipment and are only able to hold small class sizes (up to 5 students per 6 week program). We are currently leasing 2,800 sq. ft facility which has the potential to serve upwards of 20 students per program. We greatly appreciate any and all support of our goal to reach $20,000 by July 1, 2016, enabling us to facilitate our program to the most youth possible. Your generous donations will be used for:
Multiple Workstations
desks and seating
computers
recording software
graphic design software
video editing software
sound proofing foam
studio microphone
pop filters
instruments
Video Production
backdrops
lighting
stands
dslr cameras
camera lenses
memory cards
external hard drives
digital projector
projection screen
Facility
building lease
utilities
maintenance & cleaning
staging
advertising