Awesome Boys Archives - Brown Boy Genius

This 10-year-old Invented a Device to Prevent Hot Car Deaths

By Britni on Feb 3, 2017 | 0 comments

It happens every summer, and it’s tragic. In fact, 39 children die every year from being left in a car–either accidentally or on purpose–and it’s always heartbreaking. But one 10-year-old #BrownBoyGenius is looking to change things. After hearing about yet another hot car death not far from his home, Bishop Curry V decided to do something. He designed a device called “Oasis” that attaches to a car seat and would blow cool air onto the child if it detects they’re still in the car. The invention is in the planning phase, but Bishop is eager to turn it into a reality. “It would be a dream to have lots of inventions that would save many lives,” the 10-year-old told a local NBC station. It’s not just a dream, either. Bishop’s dad is an engineer with Toyota and the pair recently traveled to Michigan to give a presentation about the device at a auto conference. They also have a provisional patent for the creation. Kudos Bishop! You’re going to change...

This 12-year-old Turns Scraps Into Robotic Toys

By Britni on Jan 19, 2016 | 0 comments

Like so many other kids, Jasuel Rivera loves to play with gadgets. Unfortunately, Jasuel’s grandmother isn’t unable to buy him any of the latest toys, so the 12-year-old took matters into his own hands and made his own. Instead of complaining that he didn’t have the newest toys, Jasuel read a ton of books and searched the Internet to learn how to make his own gadgets from leftover items he found around his neighborhood in San Pedro de Macoris, in the Dominican Republic. Jasuel uses cardboard boxes, glass jars, syringes, and just about anything he can get his hands on to make cars, trucks, and robots. “I didn’t have money to buy one, but I saw one like this on the Internet, so I made my own,” Jasuel told a local news crew. “I liked it, so I kept on doing it.” Jasuel is super interested in math and engineering, and hopes hopes to design real cars and trucks when he gets older. His main goal? Land a great job so he can buy a new house for his grandmother. We love it! Check out Jasuel’s interview with Zona5 to learn more about his awesome...

In Praise of Jaden Smith & Young Men Who Refuse to Get Trapped in ‘the Man Box’

By Britni on Jan 5, 2016 | 1 comment

Jaden Smith doesn’t care about fashion rules. After all, the 17-year-old wore a white Batman costume to Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s elaborate wedding, and he’s been spotted around town in a dress on more than one occasion. Now, Jaden’s the face of Louis Vuitton’s Spring ’16 womenswear line. Of course, everybody wasn’t feeling the move. The biggest criticism I’ve seen so far is that Jaden’s inclusion in the ad campaign is nothing more than a ploy to emasculate young Black men and boys, because “dressing like a girl” is just wrong in their eyes. But why? Never mind the fact that fashion trends are super fluid, but why do we care when men and boys engage in things that are typically associated with girls? Often times our society polices boys’ toy choices (no dolls!), their favorite colors (no pink!), and the sports or hobbies they choose to engage in. We socialize boys to act tough, to mask their emotions, to “be hard,” not to “act gay,” but when the only emotion many young men and boys rely upon most is anger, we get worried. In his TED Talk on “the man box,” Tony Porter talks about the danger in caging men and boys in rigid definitions of masculinity. I come to also look at this as this fear that we have as men, this fear that just has us paralyzed, holding us hostage to this man box. I can remember speaking to a 12-year-old boy, a football player, and I asked him, I said, “How would you feel if, in front of all the players, your coach told you you were playing like a girl?” Now I expected him to say something like, I’d be sad; I’d be mad; I’d be angry, or something like that. No, the boy said to me — the boy said to me, “It would destroy me.” And I said to myself, “God, if it would destroy him to be called a girl, what are we then teaching him about girls?” The problem, according to Porter, is that by keeping boys in “the man box,” we teach them to “have less value in women, to view them as property and the objects of men,” while also robbing them of being able to have a full spectrum of emotions. While so many young men his age conform to traditional, hyper-masculine roles, Jaden doesn’t seem to be into it. He dresses however he wants, waxes poetic on Twitter about science and homeschooling, and feels completely comfortable doing his own thing. I wish there were more young Black boys who enjoyed the same amount of freedom. Fles. A photo posted by Jaden Smith (@christiaingrey) on Sep 2, 2015 at 8:11pm PDT Though some make fun of his quirkiness, his commitment to fully being himself is admirable, and it’s absolutely dope. Cheers to Jaden and all the young Black boys who dare to be...

How Cute! This 3-year-old DJ Just Won South Africa’s Got Talent

By Britni on Nov 9, 2015 | 0 comments

DJ Arch Junior is super cute and he’s also super talented. The three-year-old just took home the top prize on South Africa’s Got Talent, but it’s not because of his chubby cheeks. DJ Arch Junior is an actual and factual DJ who’s been rocking the turntables since he was one–ONE! Arch originally built his rep on Youtube, now he’s winning over TV audiences across South Africa. We love it! Take a look at his winning performance...

This 12-Year-Old COLLEGE SOPHOMORE Says Studying Electromagnetism is ‘Pretty Simple’

By Britni on Jun 15, 2015 | 1 comment

Let’s just put it out there. Carson Huey-You is a genius. The TWELVE-year-old is finishing his sophomore year at Texas Christian University, and so far, it’s been pretty easy. “For now, I think that all my classes have been pretty simple,” Carson admitted to TCU360. “Right now I am in Electromagnetism and Optics, but later on I will have to do quantum physics and that may be challenging in the future.” In 2013, Carson became the youngest person to ever be admitted to TCU. But from the looks of his resume, the choice was easy. Carson scored 1770 on his SATs, speaks Mandarin Chinese, was the co-valedictorian of his high school class, and plays classical piano. Despite his immense talents, Carson’s parents say they didn’t push him to enroll in college so soon. They describe him as an old soul who’s “wise beyond his years,” and so far things are going well. Although Carson admitted TCU360 this year it’s been a “challenge to be 12 and go to college,” he said the university has “taught me how to be a much better student and at being more organized. It has also taught me to just have a schedule.” While Carson hopes to get his PhD by the time he’s 20, he does more than just study all the time. When he isn’t working on complicated math problems or hanging in the lab, Carson loves watching football, going to games, and playing Minecraft. # Don’t forget to follow BrownBoyGenius on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more inspiring...

I first heard of Jaylen Bledsoe back in 2013 when news quickly spread that the then 15-year-old built a $1.5 million tech company with more than 150 contractors. Back then, folks were sharing his story across social media and praising Jaylen for his huge accomplishment. I even got into the mix, writing an article about Jaylen for Clutch, and trying to interview him for JET. Unfortunately, he was so overwhelmed by media requests at the time he decided to step back from the spotlight. While people seemed obsessed with his impressive business revenues, the whole thing made Jaylen uncomfortable. “I was getting calls from Arsenio Hall, [and] The View. Everybody was calling because of that story. When I would tell them I am not talking about money on the show they would pull out,” he says. “For me, I don’t do what I do to publicize the money. I do it to change lives.” Although Jaylen doesn’t like talking about money, what he does love to discuss is business. In addition to The Jaylen D. Bledsoe Global Group, his investment and holdings company, Jaylen is an in-demand speaker, and community activist. Recently, BrownBoyGenius caught up with the 17-year-old entrepreneur to chat about school, business, and how he manages to have a normal life. Oh yeah, and girls. Check it out. BBG: Why did you want to start a business when you were so young? Jaylen: I was introduced to computers at a very young age. I started in third or fourth grade. I was doing video production, music editing, and a program called Galactic in my school district. It’s for gifted education students, and basically for a few years after that, I really understood my interest in computers. The summer after sixth grade I was in Miami visiting my grandma, and we got a bunch of books, and taught myself how to program, then started doing website projects for family and friends. I started doing it for free, and then it was like $2 or $3 an hour. Then it kept going up; every month I was making more money. BBG: Where does your business sense come from? Jaylen: A lot of it is natural. It’s kind of one of those things God has left me with. It’s kind of an understanding of how to succeed in this world. Secondly, I would say my parents, of course, keeping me humble and keeping me where I need to be. Thirdly, when I was younger, I was around my godparents a lot. They were investors in real estate, typical rag to riches story. They’re from Kinloch, Missouri, the first Black community in the state. My godmother went from pharmaceutical drug salesmen to having rental properties before she was 35. So, I saw what can be done as an entrepreneur. I also look up to people such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. I see what they’ve done and what they did to get to where they are, which kind of set my mindset for the business. BBG: You speak to a lot of young people and to other young entrepreneurs. What is the question they always ask most? Jaylen: The number one question is, “How much do you make and how much are you worth?” That’s one of the questions I get asked the most. My answer to that is after that whole situation happened two years ago, and it immediately blew up because of numbers, I went back to my team and we basically tore up the entire company and did a full rebranding to get rid of that entity. I live by the mantra kind of followed by Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. If I focus on changing lives now, and do that because I love it, then the money will come. But I’m not worried about that. My true net worth is the number of lives I’ve changed not the financial aspects of my life. BBG: How did you deal with the media attention when the story was going around about your net worth? Did it change how you interacted with your peers? Jaylen: I go to a public high school so everything that happens in the media they hear about it. They come to me asking me about it. I was in an AT&T commercial that aired. It’s been airing since January, but it aired on the last four episodes of Empire. So every kid in my school saw it. BBG: Do you have a regular teenage life, or do you work all the time? Jaylen: The first interview I ever did was with a guy named Tim Ezell. He asked, “What are your friends doing while you’re here?” I said, “Usually I’m working and they’re outside riding their bikes.” That was my life getting to this point. I actually met with my mentor, who is the CEO of Schnucks Markets back in the Midwest, and he asked me if I had friends. I’m like yeah, of course. He asked, “Do you have a girlfriend?” I’m like no, I don’t have one. He gave me four tickets to a Cardinals game, second row seat behind home plate. He said, “Take a friend; have him bring a girlfriend. You find a female friend to take with you.” He said, “You’ll learn as an entrepreneur in order to succeed especially in corporate America, you have to be well-rounded. You have to have friends who are there for...