“My experiences and my community are the other co-founder.”This was an excerpt from the introductory speech from the My Life Movement President and Co-Founder Jamayrah Moore at MLM held its inaugural fundraiser on Saturday, January 27th. Moore continued explaining the vital role her experiences and resulting desire for change played in the formation of the My Life Movement. Throughout the night, the theme would remain rising over one’s experiences and demanding change for oneself as each of three accomplished speakers took the stage. The first guest and speaker was Michael Spence, a motivational speaker and inspirational mentor from Irvington, NJ and Montclair State Graduate. He conveyed to the audience the importance of striving to reach one’s full potential in life and avoiding settling for mediocrity, using examples from his own life where he ended up regretting not giving his all to former endeavors. Michael Spence was followed by La’Keisha “Fan Favorite” Sutton, an accomplished player at Trenton Catholic Academy and later University of South Carolina - as well as a former WNBA prospect - and currently an entrepreneur and community leader. She touched on the idea of empathy and how other people’s stories affected her journey. Mainly she focused on coping with struggle and finding the courage to survive and then strive. Finally, Ayana Iman, a Certified Professional Life Coach and Public Speaker from New Jersey (Trenton native), engaged the audience with her “affirmations”, statements of self-love and self-empowerment stating that those were the key to conquering struggles that overtook her in college and from which she learned a great deal about herself. In between each speech, Jamayrah explained a different My Life Movement project and/or campaign towards which the donations would be directed - A workshop series, our annual Leadership Forum, and the Helping Hands Campaign. Afterwards, she thanked each of the speakers as well as the attendees for the fulfilling night. The program ended with networking, pictures, and merriment.