Teen Celebs support the 2008 Youth Village!

Los Angeles, CA, August 26, 2008 - Teen actress, Paige Hurd, Youth Village Ambassador for the 23^rd annual African Marketplace and Cultural Faire will return on Saturday, August 30^th to host the stage full of teen celebrities & greet visitors from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Hurd, best known for her role as Vanessa opposite Queen Latifah in "Beauty Shop" and Tasha on "Everybody Hates Chris," has a growing list of credits behind her such as; "Suite Life of Zach and Cody," "The George Lopez Show," "Felicity," "Cradle 2 Grave" with Jet Li and "Never Die Alone" starring DMX.

In addition to Hurd, the youth stage will feature a celeb speaker series from 2 to 3 p.m. Speakers include Mishon Ratcliff (Taylor) and Rhyon Brown (Lizzie) on the ABC family show, "Lincoln Heights." Rhyon has recurring roles in several TV shows and was in 50 Cents' film, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." Mishon recently inked a deal with Interscope Records and will be performing at 3:30 p.m.

If you watched the movie, "Dreamgirls" then you know Mariah Wilson. She played Magic, daughter to Effie (Jennifer Hudson) and has been featured in a variety of television shows. Mariah will be singing in the Youth Village as well as speaking to the kids.

Actress Raven Goodwin from the Nickelodeon show "Just Jordan" and the film, "Phat Girlz" starring Monique will be performing on Saturday and Scooter Smith, one of Chris Brown's featured dancers will also join the stage between 3 - 4 p.m.

Lil B. Sure, son of R & B singer Al B. Sure performs at 4:00 p.m. that day. The younger Sure appeared on the 2008 MTV reality show "Rock the Cradle" and is currently filming a movie.

Ben Lee Foster, an award-winning teen filmmaker with 14 films to his credit will join the team to speak to the youth and encourage them to work hard. Ben has appeared on the Montel Williams Show, Fox 5, and CNN Headline News. Last but certainly not least, Ms. Teen Black Los Angeles, Brittney Williams will be present to share her experience and to motivate the kids.

Other special attractions in the village include free giveaways and 5,000 backpacks, games, inflatables, a petting zoo, ponies, face painting, magic, arts and crafts, and sizzling multi-cultural performances by youth dance companies along with independent artists.

The African Marketplace and Cultural Faire is an annual event that celebrates the rich contributions of the African Diaspora. The faire offers three different stages, Carribean music, Jazz, R&B, Latin music, a Brazilian festival, a Literary Village, Holistic Village, Tennis Tournament, exotic food court, Cinema After Dark outdoor film festival and more.

The African Marketplace will return for it's last weekend Aug. 30, 31 and Sept. 1 to Rancho Cienega Recreation Center, 5001 Rodeo Road, Los Angeles 90016. Gates open each day at 10 a.m., and close at 9 p.m.

The cost of admission is $8 for adults, $5 for children under 10 and seniors. Group rates are available for groups of 10 or more.

The African Marketplace is a non-profit event sponsored in part by the City of Los Angeles and numerous private corporations, foundations, foreign organizations and community groups.

For additional information on the Youth Village, contact Youth Village Producer, Nina Womack at the African Marketplace office at 3347 W. 43rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90008. (323) 293-1612 or (323) 293-1073 (fax) or via email at nileprods@gmail.com. Visit the African Marketplace website at www.africanmarketplace.org for more details.

A Producer has to Hustle

Whoa!!! You ever stop to take a moment to look at your accomplishments? Well, that's what I'm doing and I'm proud of myself right now.

If you've been keeping track of me as my friend, you'd know that I produce film & events especially for the youth. I've been doing it for some years. Right now, I'm working on this festival I do annually called the African Marketplace & Cultural Faire. Since it's on a yearly basis, I also have a full-time job to keep a steady paycheck so I have to work at my day job while I simutaneously organize this event or if I'm working on a film.

The only time I have to work on this festival is on my lunch hour, breaks and when I get off work. I haven't gone to bed before 1 a.m. for a month now and I have to be at work at 8. It's very exhausting and stressful but I love doing it because I feel it's important to share your talents to the world and after all the hard work is done, it's awesome to see families, kids, everybody have a great time!

Anyway, a few weeks ago, our event was almost cancelled because of lack of sponsors & vendors. The founder of the festival didn't think we could pull it off. He urged all of us "producers" of our sections to kick into high gear to raise additional funding.

At first, I was disappointed because I had done so much work calling performers, bringing in carnival ride vendors, the petting zoo & pony ride vendor, sending out sponsor proposals and so much more. But his call for help lit a fire under me like never before. Last weekend, I went to a festival in Long Beach & hit up every food vendor in that joint. I got cards, phone numbers, everything. The next day I called them and pitched them on the event. I wheeled & dealed and negotiated to the best of my ability. Well, I must say that in this week's time, I brought in close to $7,000.00 so far and it may grow to more.

There were several sponsors there and I emailed them, they responded back to me and asked me to call them on Friday. I did and they were excited about the event and will get back to me this week on whether they'll come in as a sponsor or not. If they do, that'll probably be another 7K or so. If it's a go, I would've brought in something like $20,000 by the end of this event.

All the stuff I have going on in there with the rides, performers, activities, etc. would probably cost like 50 - 70k or so which I was able to barter, beg, wheel & deal in order to pull this off for next to nothing.

Each year I do it, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. This year my little youth area is the same size as the whole African Marketplace. My Youth Village is half of the whole event about 68,000 sf! Wow! God is amazing! It's like how Jesus fed the multitudes on a few small fish & loaves of bread. I had a few dollars to pull this off and was able to make this into a big elaborate event.

Yes, I'm still amazed at my talents sometimes. I know God has blessed me with some major skills and it's time for me to FULLY tap into them so I can move to the next level. The way I see it, if I can raise $7000 in a week, what could I do in a year for an event? Or 6 months or so for a film?

I have to take the same techniques that I just used; charm, friendliness, intelligence, enthusiasm and put my energy into really bringing in some funds for my company so I can do the films and events like I want full time working for myself. For some reason, honestly...I haven't worked this hard to raise money for my own company. I'll put all this energy into helping someone else but not the same for myself. I've come to realize this and things must change.

It's crazy how I was depressed last year and most of this year thinking I was a failure. I'm not. I guess I needed some downtime to sort things through & rejuvenate. Now I have enough energy to climb Mt. Rushmore.

It's hard for people to give themselves props because it seems egotistical but by the grace of God, I am the BOMB!!! Damn, I'm good! lol