Trevor Blackman, the founder of APE Media, is passionate about ensuring today’s youth can envision a positive future for themselves
PASSIONATE: Trevor Blackman, Managing Director of APE Media
TREVOR BLACKMAN is a man who appreciates how the small things can make big differences.
The founder of APE Media, the creative enterprise he began in 2007 to help young people prosper in the job market, is passionate about ensuring today’s youth can envision a positive future for themselves.
It is an ideal he realises through a direct, hands-on approach that takes no prisoners.
“I saw in these young people’s eyes just no future, it was all grey,” he recalls of when he first began working with children in London. “I realised I needed to do more, and that there needed to be more volunteers helping young people to aspire and give them tough love.”
Having worked his own way up through the world of radio and media, Blackman, who used to deliver sandwiches as a teenager in Leicester, is aware of his duty to give back.
“If I do not use the opportunities I’ve had to help someone else then I am wasting my life,” the 39 -year-old says.
“It’s about giving something back even to the person you don’t know.”
Also a creative entrepreneur for the British Council, a role which enables him to travel widely, Blackman is currently setting up a dance school in India. It encapsulates his global approach, he is not merely content working in local communities, but wants his work to reach people across borders.
INTERCONNECTED
“We are part of a global village, if you fail to understand we are interconnected, we fail,” Blackman says bluntly.
On the topic of what he is offering young people through APE Media, he says he is taking a “more enterprising” approach with the next generation. “If you give them the right support, are fair and honest with them – you can’t pamper them – there’s nothing they cannot put their minds to.”
Blackman savours the challenge of getting people on the right track, he has even had indignant parents try to beat him up after criticising their own methods of raising children.
“Sometimes you need to go through these things,” adds the man, whose work also traverses life and death situations – Blackman has attended funerals of children whom he has tried to help.
Blackman’s faith and conviction means there is no doubt about his own worth. “It’s a spiritual journey, I know I have a purpose – I’m not here for long – but I’m here and I need to do the best I can every day.
“Ultimately, I can’t take things with me, but I can leave a lot behind.”
For more info visit: http://ape-media.com
Email: info @ape-media.com
Telephone: 020 8522 6916
Address: Ape Media (Apple Pie Enterprises LTD), 49 The Broadway, Stratford, E15 4BQ
Follow Trevor on Twitter: @TrevorsWord
Source: The Voice
Source: The Voice
