Have Your Curiosity, and Think It Too

Think Big.  That was the title for the segment which included an interview conducted by Diggy to Pharrell during the first ever K!dult Youth Leadership Conference..  The example of the scale was present.  500 K!dults came together in The Big Apple.  The amount of mentors present for the mentor mixer was large, along with the presence of opportunities to network.  The plethora of information and knowledge gained from the event by the mentors and the exhibitors, along with the networking, truly fit the title of this one segment.  It was brought all together when I asked Pharrell one question during the meet and greet I was granted during the mentor mixer.

Pharrell has a very rounded personality.  Yes, he is a hard working artist that expresses himself in many different ways by harboring his creative thoughts and channeling it through different mediums.  I also understand that he stays very youthful while focusing on his career and being funny can thus follow.  Because of all his interviews, performances, and videos are the snapshots that we see of his life, it’s easy to forget that celebrities are human.  I was able to feel that he was human after seeing him come into the room for Think Big, so it settled in better when it came time for me to personally meet him.  I wasn’t aware of how far he actually took celebrating and being a fan of, well, being human.

It was clear that during his down time, which is also most likely rare, he just goes home or to a vacation spot and just chills.  He understands that rest is a luxury when he invests in a lot of energy to make the best of his own.  K!dult is an inspiration of his from kids who want to make a difference.  BBC/Ice Cream is an inspiration from Nigo, who promoted Pharrell to diversify his creativity.  “Artst” is an inspiration from everyone who wanted to get out their dreams, and showed Pharrell the contents of their thoughts.  It’s easy to think that the logic reasoning behind his endeavors is because of his star power.  If you think like that, I highly encourage you to be just as rounded of a person as he is.  The two things I learned about why Pharrell is one of the most modest, down to earth, humble, intellectual, and courteous people I have met is because he likes to learn and he considers himself a student.  I wanted to understand his ways while bringing music into it.  I asked him how he keeps up with a generation of fans like me that grew up with his success even though he stays relevant, earning himself a Producer of the Decade honor with Chad Hugo by Billboard.  He gave me a very human answer that included thinking big.  To him, we are more then just a generation of fans…we are humans.          

“Because I think you guys are human beings.  I don’t look at age, I look at the feeling.  I have no choice, I’m 37.  I never thought of getting older, I don’t know how to.  I guess there will have time where I will have to be like, “okay I’m older”.  More then anything, I’m always learning.  There is no age limit on talent and getting better at what you do which is the reason why I expanded in my music and do more then one thing.”

Compared to others that wanted pictures and a quick thank you for his work, I ended up having him talk to my mom (I will always have my parents to thank for the support) and answering a question for my blog.  A K!dult staff member wanted to keep the line moving, so I apologized to Pharrell for holding it up.  He didn’t just accept my apology, though.  He reminded me that if I never asked I would have never known.  He promoted me to feed my curiosity, the overall theme of the conference.

He learned from our feelings of how music should appeal to us as well as learning from music companies.  After, our line turned into a small group around him that continued to ask questions.  Whenever he referenced anyone in his answers, though, he would use the word “genius”.  He called Jeff Koons “the best”.  Chad Hugo and two other artists are “geniuses”.  His inspirations for music included 7 or 8 bands and artists consecutively named.  In the midst of giving everyone else props, he only referenced himself as “a student”.  Who knew three Grammys, a record label, 75 million copies sold as a producer, Louis Vuitton sunglasses, and a Producer of the Year honor by Billboard could still grant a person the ability to call themselves a student.  When you become an inspiration to the aspiring, you aspire to have inspiration to think big and feed your curiosity.