Drew Sanders, founding father of The Conscious Model and Tuskegee College graduate, has spent eight years constructing a motion that bridges mindfulness with cultural authenticity. As he prepares for the groundbreaking Conscious People Summit on January 25, 2025, in Atlanta, Sanders shares his imaginative and prescient of constructing wellness accessible and relatable to various communities. Drawing from influences starting from Deepak Chopra to the Black Panther Celebration, he has created a novel platform that promotes self-awareness and holistic well-being whereas staying true to cultural roots.
Might you share your background and what The Conscious Model represents?
I’m an HBCU graduate, graduate from Tuskegee College, shouts to all of the HBCUs on the market. Outdoors of that I labored in life-style advertising and marketing for my complete skilled profession. However I transitioned into beginning this enterprise known as The Conscious Model, which is a Life-style Firm, the place we push self-awareness and self-love to the group on the planet overseas.
We felt that there’s a want for extra self-awareness, extra love all over the world. And you understand hopefully, this can empower individuals to acknowledge the God inside them and the ability inside them. And so we will all reside in a greater, larger vibrational world, and have extra love. So for me, you understand, we use attire proper now to be that automobile. However you understand we now have occasions just like the conscious human summit which we’ll be speaking about quickly to assist unfold that message and create group round these subjects for extra mindfulness and wellness.
What’s your function in psychological well being and consciousness?
I’m the bridge, I’m a dot connector, I see myself as bringing individuals from all completely different worlds into one other new world, we now have individuals from Yoga specialists, psychological well being coaches, therapists, Reiki healers, ministers, pastors, all these completely different individuals. I’m the individual that’s going to carry all these individuals in to assist construct an viewers, an viewers the place individuals can are available in and study from all these completely different facilitators.
And the second factor I’d say, an skilled curator, someone who can create experiences round mindfulness, round wellness, round psychological well being. That may put slightly little bit of authenticity from my perspective, give it slightly little bit of edge, slightly little bit of coolness, the place it’s relatable, it’s digestible and it doesn’t actually have any constraints round it, as a result of some individuals, when they consider psychological well being and they consider wellness, it sort of brings a sense of “is that this for me”, or “ought to I even do it?” No, I wish to ensure that I’m making it cool sufficient for you.
What are three suggestions you’ve discovered in your eight years that might change individuals’s lives?
Be open, that’s the very first thing, be prepared, openness is the important thing. Be brave, you understand it’s a must to have braveness to go, begin, and get the therapeutic executed, and I feel that aligns with the openness and willingness, and, search the proper assist, skilled assist.
I feel we have a tendency to have a look at these social media influencers and advocates on social media, however plenty of these individuals aren’t skilled. So I actually advocate for in search of skilled assist, after which, when you get that skilled assist, actually apply what you’re studying, you might study all day, however should you’re not placing issues in software, you’re not truly taking the steps to do what you could have discovered, then you definately’re doing your self a disservice.
So positively be brave, search the proper skilled assist and take the actionable steps to make change in your life.
How has the model advanced through the years?
I feel it’s at all times been an evolution, I feel that once I began the model, it was simply “consciousness”. It wasn’t even something, though I feel consciousness is rooted into psychological well being, I nonetheless don’t even align the model round psychological well being. I wish to say extra like mindfulness, however I feel for us, what stored us related, and it’s nonetheless related, is simply the evolution course of.
We began off with attire, simply utilizing attire to be that, constructing fixed across the drops and stuff like that, garnering relationships with retailers and partnerships with, these blue chip retailers, and rising from there and doing pop-ups with schools and taking the universities to doing occasions in several cities like Chicago, LA, Detroit, New York, Miami, simply rising, naturally, organically, after which from there doing experiences, doing occasions wish to tune up what we do the place we get completely different Yoga facilitators.
Q: What cultural influences have formed your imaginative and prescient?
It’s a continuation, I wish to say, I pull from plenty of inspiration, considered one of my largest inspirations is Deepak Chopra. I wouldn’t say he’s culturally related with regards to us, however, he’s an extension of Oprah, who is large within the black group. I’d say I used to be hip to Deepak, Deepak modified my life in perspective.
I used to be studying his guide known as 7 Non secular Legal guidelines of Success, that guide opened up my thoughts to consciousness. I began The Conscious Model off of studying that guide. Additionally, cultural influences just like the Black Panther get together, creating the motion, The Nation of Islam. Taking a look at individuals in our communities who’ve led the way in which when it got here to new thought, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, these people that stored bringing new concepts to the group to essentially push us ahead in a particular manner.
We might even speak about guys like Nipsey Hussle, we might speak about Kendrick Lamar, the music, affect that manner, Tupac, completely different individuals who truly paved the way in which and drop seeds and breadcrumbs alongside the way in which to assist us culturally assume otherwise in a optimistic manner.
What would you like individuals to remove from the summit?
I would like individuals to go away with, couple of issues. One, I would like them to have some sensible instruments they might use the day they go away the summit that they will implement, they usually wish to create change and domesticate change of their lives. Quantity two, I would like them to have the ability to discover a group, I would like them to discover a buddy in that room, they may have come by themselves, or they may have include a buddy, however I would like them to go away with one other buddy so as to add to their tribe and their bubble of the place they’re going to, they usually transformation journey.
After which I would like them to really feel like they’ve a protected place to at all times come again to, a group that we’re creating, The Conscious Model. We’re making a protected group the place you might simply be you, and have the ability to decide up sport and take it with. It’s not that deep, we ain’t making an attempt to present you all this deep stuff, or I imply, we will get deep proper? Transformation is deep, however, we wanna just remember to really feel protected within the room with us, to essentially ask any query you might have, and to additionally really feel like you possibly can simply be your self, and likewise know that there’s individuals identical to you on that very same journey.
The place can individuals study extra in regards to the summit?
It’s happening on the twenty fifth, 1/25/25 in Atlanta, Georgia, on the tradition lab downtown in Castleberry hill. We’re beginning up at 11 AM and we’re ending at 5 PM. We’re gonna have completely different facilitators, we’re beginning off with some sound bathtub music remedy, we’re going to do some motion, we’re going to do some breath work, we’re going to have conversations round mindfulness and spirituality and simply general holistic well being, man, thoughts, physique and spirit. That’s what we’re speaking about. You would positively get the hyperlink on our occasion noir web page. You’ll be able to click on the hyperlink into my Instagram bio you possibly can simply look it up, The Conscious People Summit.
