Leaders: Amani

Amani Life Experience:

A poet, an emcee, an activist, a teacher, a student and now a Challenge Day Leader, Amani was born into a family of leaders. His mother always modeled integrity and a strong sense of justice and compassion. She never bit her tongue in situations she felt were hurtful and always gave all the love she had to her children. Amani's father wrote social justice curriculum, mentoring Rich, Yvonne and the Challenge Day family. He was a man of heart and a man of mind who gave his life trying to make the world better for his children.

With this rich background, Amani, from an early age, was heavy into social activism. In high school, he was a peer health educator, a mentor, a student-teacher-parent liaison, and culminated all of his passions when poetry and music became his third lung.

He is now part of a hip-hop group called The Attik. When he's not leading Challenge Days, he's challenging a crowded venue to dance, have fun and reflect on their lives and society at the same time. Amani loves living and lives in love, fueled by his close family and circle of friends. He resides in Oakland, California where he was born and raised, but plans to make the whole world his home.

If you really knew me:

If you really knew me, you would know I'm a brother and a son with very important close relationships with my mom and sister and an increasingly close relationship with my brothers.

You would know that my father was Harrison Simms, a very strong, very soft man who dedicated his life to helping people live better. He died 3 days before his 46th birthday.

You would also know that I love and look up to my father and his work. I have spent most of my life in admiration of the legend he is, which has helped me to continuously strive to be a better person. His legacy has left me with an unfortunately unrealistic view of what a man is supposed to be. I'm slowly getting to know my dad as a human through his friends and our family.

If you really knew me, you would know that Music is:

my life, passion and breath,
something that saves me day after day,
something that pushes me to grow as a person,
something that holds me in safety where I am,
something that brings me confidence, love, laughter, bliss, and more than will ever be expressible in words.

If you really knew me, you'd know that being able to support myself off of my music is my dream and I'm excited cause it looks like it could happen.

If you really knew me, you would know that sometimes I wake up scared about life, about what I'm doing and if I'm doing the right things. I worry that I should be on a more direct path and worry about money in the future. But you would also know that after a few minutes, I stop trippin and realize that I did it the way I did and do it the way I do and it shouldn't have been any other way cause it brought me to where I am now and I'm pretty happy with that place.

If you really knew me, you would know that most of the time I trust that I'm living my life, doing my best and that where I'm at is where I'm supposed to be for whatever reason.

If you really knew me, you would know that I love life.