Revolution of Semiotics | Yemi A.D. | TEDxUNYP
[Music] hello people so did you know that sitting isn't you smoking can you do me a favor can you stand up thanks a lot and let's go like this we needed this no rad you see I don't eat me alive I know I'm the last one here I would also tell you it was my birthday yesterday and I and I and I party hard so my brain is still a bit washed out and because when I explained something I always make these huge detours and I go around please forgive me also forgive me for my broken English I came to you to talk to you about signs symbols labels and brands in our life we memorize identify and learn meaning of thousands of symbols thousands of science we give them certain value we bond emotionally with it sometimes we even fight for it if we believe it it's strong its strong enough for us when we go for grocery shopping when we buy a new car when we decide for operator on our phone when we want to travel to a new country when we want to visit a new city that we have never visited before those signs and symbols are very important to us when I was in the States working for Kanye West we did the yeezus tour and he created a new line of merchandising shirts jackets and he decided to use as a symbol for the merchandising line a Confederate flag I remember getting a jacket going to my hotel going by the elevator I'm in a room and two grannies entered the elevator Oh husband and wife white people in their 60s and they came to the elevator look at me like you must be from the south and I was like oh no I'm from Prague I'm from Czech Republic later on I found out that on on social media there was this huge discussion about this conference flag that it is so you know that it was there was so much hateful comments that how how it's possible that cannabis used this symbol that it's so hateful it is disrespectful towards African American community and it and it's connected to slavery and it's connected to disrespect towards this community so because I am I'm never like satisfied until I know the meanings I went to him and I asked him why and he told me something that stays with me until today he said yummy energy is always good you might create conflict you might create discussion but it normally means big amount of energy and it's only up to you how you're gonna use it and it stayed with me because that's what US artists do we sometimes bring controversion but it creates a discussion in society and the discussion I think it's something like synchronizing us people with each other now what is the most important brand for you do you have any important brand in your life I'm actually asking you people you don't want to talk to me uh-huh the most important brand in our life is our name it is the most complex set of values it is the biggest promise we give to the people around you around us and it is also a thing that has the biggest impact on people around us and to our own life but unless and unless like other commercial brands this is different but what does it consist of is it you or is it what you think you are is it what you want to be or is it what you think you should be is it what others think you are or is it what you think others want you to be I want you to memorize this circle remember it and see how big how huge amount of space is between you and the outside circles to create a personal brand is the most difficult thing why because it requires you to be true to yourself and that is very difficult in some parts of our life it's almost impossible our family gives us certain expectation and tell us what should we be then at school they tell us what should we be then our friends at our job and the pressure is very big and the pressure caused us to create these layers I collect onion more and more layers and our own ass becomes smaller and smaller and smaller and very very often in our life we disconnect from it we create masks and design our personal brand away from who we really are now do you remember in your life labels has anybody here been labeled through your life try to remember maybe if when you're very young you came to the school what was what were your labels tell me do you did you have any label African girl okay what would our labels huh huh poor Asians these Asians okay what else huh our billions Albanians huh what else poor oh this is the poor little girl here I know they're liable to oh you can go whatever you can go okay so there is many labels in our lives and those labels they create emotions but the difference between label and personal brand is that label is temporary but personal brand is for your life you know I was born in 1981 I like like Victoria I'm also mixed my father who is sitting here is from Nigeria my mother is from the north I'm from libera she was born in Ceska Lipa and when when I was when I was a real like yank in my in my city it was it was difficult because I was the only black guy in the in the town so imagine if I went to the cinema everybody knew I was there even though they didn't know my name and also my name is complexes like eme I can eme device so they didn't you know they didn't learn my name they just say the black guy so this was this was the first label after some time oh yes I forgot today did you know there was a contest of the best childhood picture during this TEDx so they know because it was funny because all the previous presentations every time there was a child at some childhood pictures I have one too so so that was that was a little little eme in lib res so first my lab was the the only black guy later on it was the black gay guy and I didn't like it and I didn't like it so much that I decided to leave the country I moved to Amsterdam I moved to Amsterdam to for first time in my life don't feel abnormal to see other black people on the street to see that you can be whoever you are and it's fine and it's really important to be to be in peace with yourself because you can't build anything and if you definitely can't build personal brand if you're not in peace with yourself when I came back and I went to Amsterdam to do what I love and in his dance study dance learn new techniques experience different teachers so when I got back and I had this power I used it and I continued working on myself and then something amazing happened one moment in my life somebody was introducing me to someone else and they said this is eme is the best dancer in Czech Republic and all the other labels were gone and that was the moment when I understood that labels are manageable and they there can be labels in your life but you have to be in controls in control of those labels and many of these labels together with something much bigger and much more valuable that is inside of you creates your personal brand okay so six years ago I went to United States to do my first audition like imagine when I was 18 I went there to be auditioning but I was a dancer but six years ago I became the core graph of Carnival so I went there to hold an audition it was the first time I didn't know how it works so there was 50 people coming to the room I didn't know if it's a lot of people or a little bit like a small amount of pee but I was fine it happened we were in the gym they sit on the floor and I came I said hey girls so today I have to select a cast for one show I don't know if you know it it's it's it's a show here on local television it's called Saturday night Saturday Night Live and I hear like going home and I say yeah and it's for one rapper you might know him as Kanye West and they were like silent and the back then I didn't know much about American show base or order TV I didn't know almost like nothing about it so so I I did what I normally do what I brought from from Prague I had the audition for six hours I shake hands with each of the dancers I asked them about their background everybody had a chance to dance to show me what would they are good at to show me their talents and towards the end of the audition the people came to me and one girl was crying and I was like what happened like like did I do something wrong and she was like no but I never experienced this before here in the States they treat us like livestock they line up in lines stick numbers on us look at us whisper and then they cut us 23:25 everybody else thank you this was the first time in my life when I have enjoyed the audition she told me and that is because you invested in us and even though if you don't select me for this cast I know I will never forget this experience again few weeks later I had another audition and 300 people showed up since that time I auditioned maybe 20 30 times in different places in the States in New York in Los Angeles in Milwaukee in Austin in New Jersey New Orleans almost everywhere and we have hundreds of people coming it spreads so fast the attitude and the approach that we had not just me but also my team to the people that it's spread not just between the dancers but also between the agencies so agencies are proud to send the answers to our auditions and I believe and this is what I want to leave with you that your personal brand have this major impact because it also gives an inspiration and inspiration is one of the key elements to it so you're not just changing your own life but you're changing the lives of people around you for example in the showbiz industry I believe that when these young dancers are gonna hold auditions in the future maybe they will rethink their approach maybe they will not continue in the tradition that there was but maybe this will inspire them and they will treat the people differently so one thing that recently III heard and I was actually cheeky to rephrase it because those are words of Dalai Lama that you should take care of your thoughts because they become your words and you should take care of your words because they become your actions and you should take care of your actions because they will become your habits and you should take care of your habits because they will become your personal brand and your personal brand will form your destiny which is your life thank you [Applause]