Estella Pyfrom Empowers Underserved Youth
Estella
Pyfrom Empowers Underserved Youth in Poverty-stricken Communities
Interviewed and written by Aaron Robinson – Editor
I (Consciousness Magazine) recently spoke with Estella Pyfrom. This phenomenal woman had a vision after retirement and invested her entire life savings to start Estella's Brilliant Bus. At the age of 78 her organization is a nationwide success. This shows that if you have a vision, set goals, discipline yourself and work persistently you can make your vision a reality.
Here is what Estella Pyfrom had to share with the readers regarding Estella’s Brilliant Bus.
Aaron Robinson: At the age of 78, where do you find the inspiration and energy to continue to move forward with Estella’s Brilliant Bus?
Estella Pyfrom: At the age of 78 I’m so charged up and motivated to be able to do the type of things that I do that I don’t even have to look for it; it’s there. It’s a saying that says if you enjoy what you're doing, you haven’t worked a day in your life. So, I’m having fun. It’s my vision and passion to be able to continue to serve the underserved.
Aaron: When you began this initiative, you used your pension - your entire life savings. What was it that you saw or envisioned that made you want to take on such an amazing endeavor?
Estella: I knew that it was a big dream; it was a big idea to be able to go into something like this. As I was growing up, my dad use to say, ‘if you want to dream, dream big. If you want something to happen you have to put forth the effort to make it happen.’ And also, ‘you don’t have money, don’t none of your relatives have money, so if you want to make something happen you gotta work to make it happen. Nothing will be handed to you on a silver platter.’ So I knew I had to put together a no failure plan to make this work because failure is not an option. I put together a 5 year plan so that I could not fail to make it happen. As a result of that I went through the years of putting together this puzzle while planning. Then during that time I wrote my plan.
Aaron: That’s amazing! Some people give up on their vision but you didn’t, what was instilled in you along the way of your life path that made you want to give back to the community, especially undeserved youth?
Estella: Giving up, to me appears to be like a road to failure. Anything you do, there will be challenges. Winners never quit and quitters never win. So that stayed in the back of my mind. If I was going to make something happen there wasn’t any way that I was going to quit. When faced with a challenge, I just proved that I had to work harder and work around that, stay in my lane, keep my focus and it was going to happen.
Aaron: Mrs. Estella, you’re having a 6-city summer tour. What all will this tour consist of?
Estella: We had a 6 city tour last year in route to participating with Yes We Code initiative in New Orleans. It turned out that we toured 6 cities, 27 different schools. This year we’re planning the same thing, same initiative. We may include some other cities. We’re working on that right now. We have these types of children who have brilliant minds, who like hands on types of things, and who’s inventive from the exposure. We have these kids all over the world. The Brilliant Bus movement is not just a brilliant bus but a global movement. We are going to keep going from one city to another city. Our movement, our destination is worldwide. Together we can continue to connect and make a difference around the world.
Aaron: What words of encouragement would you share with parents in poverty-stricken communities who are looking for their children to have a bright future, however who face life challenges doing so?
Estella: I think all parents who are raising their children need to have the mentality of helping them and empowering them with skills that would help them better their lifestyle. If you give a child a fish, or a person a fish, or a family, they will probably eat one meal, but if you teach them how to fish they will eat forever. My goal, my focus, my dream is to empower underserved youth in poverty-stricken communities.
Aaron: Where would you like to see Estella’s Brilliant Bus in the next 10 years?
Estella: In the next 10 years I would like to see a bus in every city in the U.S., or as many of them as possible. That is the focus that we have, that is the direction that we are going to be going.
Aaron: Before we end the interview, would you like to add anything in closing?
Estella: I would like to say that on June 26th we are going to get on the road for another 10 days and travel with 80 to 100 kids or more in route to New Orleans. We’re going to provide tools for the kids and we’re going to get them involved with coding and technology as we travel on the road to participate in the Essence Festival in New Orleans. We have an Indiegogo campaign to solicit support for this event. I’m proud to say that we have served more than 60,000 children in the last past years and we have not charged them for anything at this point. So, we are going to be looking for financial support to help support the Tech Innovation tour to New Orleans.
Interviewed and written by Aaron Robinson – Editor
I (Consciousness Magazine) recently spoke with Estella Pyfrom. This phenomenal woman had a vision after retirement and invested her entire life savings to start Estella's Brilliant Bus. At the age of 78 her organization is a nationwide success. This shows that if you have a vision, set goals, discipline yourself and work persistently you can make your vision a reality.
Here is what Estella Pyfrom had to share with the readers regarding Estella’s Brilliant Bus.
Aaron Robinson: At the age of 78, where do you find the inspiration and energy to continue to move forward with Estella’s Brilliant Bus?
Estella Pyfrom: At the age of 78 I’m so charged up and motivated to be able to do the type of things that I do that I don’t even have to look for it; it’s there. It’s a saying that says if you enjoy what you're doing, you haven’t worked a day in your life. So, I’m having fun. It’s my vision and passion to be able to continue to serve the underserved.
Aaron: When you began this initiative, you used your pension - your entire life savings. What was it that you saw or envisioned that made you want to take on such an amazing endeavor?
Estella: I knew that it was a big dream; it was a big idea to be able to go into something like this. As I was growing up, my dad use to say, ‘if you want to dream, dream big. If you want something to happen you have to put forth the effort to make it happen.’ And also, ‘you don’t have money, don’t none of your relatives have money, so if you want to make something happen you gotta work to make it happen. Nothing will be handed to you on a silver platter.’ So I knew I had to put together a no failure plan to make this work because failure is not an option. I put together a 5 year plan so that I could not fail to make it happen. As a result of that I went through the years of putting together this puzzle while planning. Then during that time I wrote my plan.
Aaron: That’s amazing! Some people give up on their vision but you didn’t, what was instilled in you along the way of your life path that made you want to give back to the community, especially undeserved youth?
Estella: Giving up, to me appears to be like a road to failure. Anything you do, there will be challenges. Winners never quit and quitters never win. So that stayed in the back of my mind. If I was going to make something happen there wasn’t any way that I was going to quit. When faced with a challenge, I just proved that I had to work harder and work around that, stay in my lane, keep my focus and it was going to happen.
Aaron: Mrs. Estella, you’re having a 6-city summer tour. What all will this tour consist of?
Estella: We had a 6 city tour last year in route to participating with Yes We Code initiative in New Orleans. It turned out that we toured 6 cities, 27 different schools. This year we’re planning the same thing, same initiative. We may include some other cities. We’re working on that right now. We have these types of children who have brilliant minds, who like hands on types of things, and who’s inventive from the exposure. We have these kids all over the world. The Brilliant Bus movement is not just a brilliant bus but a global movement. We are going to keep going from one city to another city. Our movement, our destination is worldwide. Together we can continue to connect and make a difference around the world.
Aaron: What words of encouragement would you share with parents in poverty-stricken communities who are looking for their children to have a bright future, however who face life challenges doing so?
Estella: I think all parents who are raising their children need to have the mentality of helping them and empowering them with skills that would help them better their lifestyle. If you give a child a fish, or a person a fish, or a family, they will probably eat one meal, but if you teach them how to fish they will eat forever. My goal, my focus, my dream is to empower underserved youth in poverty-stricken communities.
Aaron: Where would you like to see Estella’s Brilliant Bus in the next 10 years?
Estella: In the next 10 years I would like to see a bus in every city in the U.S., or as many of them as possible. That is the focus that we have, that is the direction that we are going to be going.
Aaron: Before we end the interview, would you like to add anything in closing?
Estella: I would like to say that on June 26th we are going to get on the road for another 10 days and travel with 80 to 100 kids or more in route to New Orleans. We’re going to provide tools for the kids and we’re going to get them involved with coding and technology as we travel on the road to participate in the Essence Festival in New Orleans. We have an Indiegogo campaign to solicit support for this event. I’m proud to say that we have served more than 60,000 children in the last past years and we have not charged them for anything at this point. So, we are going to be looking for financial support to help support the Tech Innovation tour to New Orleans.
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