The Story Behind The Lightning Machine

Over two decades ago, a young, aspiring recording artist named Sekou attended a music conference in Los Angeles that forever changed his life.

Surrounded by hundreds of emerald-eyed artists seeking to soak up the secrets of success, he watched a panel on the business of music and heard a statement that left him utterly crestfallen.  An executive from the music business said, “The number of people who go from being completely unknown to having a completely successful career in the music industry is less than the number of people who get struck by lightning…twice.”

Sekou looked around the room again, but now saw himself surrounded by hundreds of faces aimed hungrily at the sky, desperately hoping to be struck.

That was the moment that his career trajectory forever changed, and Sekou chose to become the lightning. The moment that he stopped hoping to be discovered by trying to be in the right place at the right time, and chose, instead, to live by a new motto:

“When you tire of trying to break into the industries of the world, go create your own industry and make the world try to break into you.

Since then, Sekou has spent the past two decades engineering one of the most successful, innovative, and inspiring careers witnessed in the unlikely field of spoken word. He created a highly sought-after new public speaking category, won numerous awards, inspired hundreds of global brands, and became the first spoken word poet to receive a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album, which recently led to the creation of an entirely new Grammy category for poets.

This Inspiration Expo is a master-class in the mindset and audacity it takes to blaze new trails and create yourself against all odds.

This is a gathering of the fellow lightning-makers, trailblazers and vanguards who have joined Sekou at the intersection of innovation and inspiration, unafraid to step into the darkness and be the light for others.

This is a celebration of all of us who have built a life, or seek to build a life, that stops chasing lightning, and starts making lightning.

This is…. The Lightning Machine.