I think I love hearing about and seeing dream come true stories more than the average person so when another one comes my way, I get extremely excited. This time around it started with finding out that Shasha won the BET award for Best New International Act! After voting, I’m glad all votes counted and she took it home. Zimbabwean born Shasha is one of many Africans showing that you can pursue your dreams and reach a wider audience than just locally.
I was also introduced to a group of young men called Ikorodu Bois, from Nigeria, who make home-made videos and share them on social media. One of their videos, imitating the movie Extraction, has been seen worldwide. Chris Hemsworth shared the video and it has been viewed by millions as a result. The Ikorodu Bois have been invited to Hollywood to attend the premiere of the next Extraction movie. From what I can tell, they started their Instagram page in 2017 and now their videos are getting a global audience.
I then discovered this brilliant song by Master KG called Jerusalema. Someone shared a dance with the song on Twitter so I went to look for it on YouTube. I won’t mention the number of times I watched it because I’ll seem crazier than I already am. I saw it had resulted in a dance challenge so I started watching those videos and let’s just say if you’ve ever spent hours on YouTube you’ll understand how long I was occupied.
The dance challenge has reached different countries all over the world. Jerusalema, on July 30, 2020, has over 54 million views on YouTube (it had 42 million views a little over a week ago when I wrote this, 4 days later when I was editing, it had gone up by 4 million views and now a few days later it has gone up by another 8 million views!) Some dances with the song have over 6 million views. Master KG produced a masterpiece (see what I did there lol) and the world is watching and dancing and I love it! (Update: August 20, 2020 – it now has over 88 million views.)
Why am I sharing all these stories with you? Because whatever dream you have or whatever dream you are pursuing, in time it will pay off. Sing even when no one is listening, write with only one reader, dance for an audience of two, make videos for a viewership of five people, bake when you can count your clients on one hand. Do this knowing one day thousands will see your work or use your services, millions will become privy to what you have produced and it will all be worth it. Master KG, Shasha and the Ikorodu Bois started without a global audience but now they’ve garnered one. Their stories remind me that the pursuit of dreams is a process and if you keep doing what you do, one day you’ll find yourself living in your dreams.
