Malina Moye

“Drive Hope Foundation”

An inspiration to the world, International singer/songwriter, Malina Moye is not only considered one of the 10 top female guitarists, and has honored the Queen of England, played on “Experience Hendrix Tours”, and played at a tribute concert for Chuck Berry via “The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame”, but has now become the mastermind, along with partner, independent filmmaker Marc  Fusco, (Steven Spielberg’s former assistant ), of  the “Drive Hope Foundation”.

The goal of Drive Hope is to open the minds of our youth. It was set up to “fuel the passion of disadvantaged youth and empowers those who possess the desire, yet lacking the resources or access, to discover life and career opportunities in their community and throughout the world”. Drive Hope is a true venue for those who will one day learn to follow their dreams.

Although a busy time for this energetic artist , having just released her new record, “Rock & Roll Baby”, which has hit the Billboard charts hard, Malina plans on visiting youth and the groups DriveHope works with, along the way of each city she visits during her up and coming tour beginning in May. She feels that it is important to “give back” for  all of the good that has happened in her life.

It was a privilege once again to speak with her, as Malina is one of the most motivational speakers, talented and brilliant artists on the scene today…

Please tell our readers about the “Drive Hope Foundation”.
Basically the name of it is Drive Hope, and you can find it at drivehope.org . The reason I really wanted to start this foundation was because, when I would go out and perform, a lot of my fans would come to me and say “after seeing your show, I can be the writer I always wanted to be”. One lady wanted to be a teacher and said, ” now I know I can do that”. I would always say, ” you got all that from a show”? It was nothing to do with music, which was surprising. It was the fact that I think they were seeing me in my element, doing what I wanted to do, and inspiring them to feel that they could do what they wanted it to do. So we thought that we could come up with something that encourages people to come up with “the great in you”. To find that one great thing that really excites you. If you love what you do you continue to do it, and you’ll do extremely well, and you’ll make a lot of money from it. So that’s how it all started. What we do is this: we started recruiting organizes in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and other cities. Of course we have a lot more work to do. But our goal is to establish a program in every major city. The goal for me is to visit the cities when my tour takes off on May 31 until July 8th, and then I head back over seas for the summer. We’re going to bring in professionals in all walks of life. The goal is to open minds of our youth. Not everyone can be sIngers, and rappers and ball players. There are writers out there, there are designers out there, artists out there, engineers, so we want to also bring that to the scene. This way people can also see that there are other avenues out there, that you can make a living at. The other program we have is the 12 by 12 program.  We are asking everyone to come up with 12 dollars a month for 12 months. Everybody has something that they are really good  at and in turn their community is going to be so much much better, which will in turn outreach to the world.

This is a great concept.
Myself as an artist and all the things I’ve had a chance to do, obviously I love to do what I do because I have so much fun, not only affects me but it also affects my family. Especially with everything that’s happening in the world today. You know we grew up with morals and ethics and character, and I believe that you have to have those as your ground.

The world is definitely becoming a scary place.
You have to have something to really shoot for. You have to be able to figure out what it is, and who you are, and what motivates you more than ever to make you get out there and say “I am going to participate in life”. You have to be able to say,” I am going to do something great today”.

Is this mainly for the youth, because I feel like this is for everybody?
It’s for everybody! Drive Hope Foundation, is something that with me seeing what’s going on, and the people that I am meeting, this is not for me, this is for US. I wanted to do this for every body. We are trying to go into the cities and bring different professionals into places were underprivileged kids are or where people lack the resources, but have the passion to want to make something happen. You don’t have to be $1 million singer, there are still other opportunities. I grew up in Ohio, and we didn’t have a lot, and I came from that and got to this place. I’m trying to say to people that I’m no different than them. You can do it too. Drive hope is for everybody. Our goal is to get into as many communities and reach people who otherwise are not being reached. The people that are forgotten about. The people that have the talent and the passion but have no clue on how to change their lives. So we’re going to come to them to help them to do that. We’re going to bring creativity to their  mind, and help them to see a way out. That’s the goal. People’s response to it, well it’s totally working.

#FindtheGr8Nu
www.Drivehope.org
https://twitter.com/drivehope1
https://www.facebook.com/drivehopefoundation/

Video
https://www.facebook.com167100899998850/videos/fb.167100899998850/1284149968293932/?type=3&theater
Or
https://Vimeo.com/190396575

img_4889

Eileen Shapiro

Best selling author of "The Star Trek Medical Reference Manual", and feature celebrity correspondent for Get Out Magazine, Louder Than War, and Huffington Post contributor, I've interviewed artists from Adam Ant, Cyndi Lauper, and Annie Lennox to Jennifer Hudson, Rick Springfield, LeAnn Rimes, and thousands in between. My interviews challenge the threat of imagination....

Related post