Xpress Yourself: Pusher in Chief, Allen Brown

A young, Plainfield man (Liberian Native) is disproving those who say millennials are destined to just be followers. Allen Brown, a 2015 graduate of Albertus Magnus College in New Jersey, is the creator and head “pusher” of a movement designed to motivate and inspire.

Operation Push the Envelope is a social movement, conceptualized to make goal digging, dream accomplishing and obstacle jumping, dope. Brown believes dreams are killed by excuses, fear and self-doubt–and his mission is for you to PUSH through. Hear from the man himself, below:

What is Operation Push The Envelope?

Operation Push The Envelope is a social movement that influences and inspires the people to pursue and reach their goals an dreams without a fear of defeat or failure. Our group creatively engages audiences by presenting messages of how we each overcome challenges and obstacles while we continue to persist towards what we consider “The Push Life”. It began as a college idea. I had a bold idea to try and motivate students on campus to write down their goals, dreams, fears, or favorite things, anything that really engaged you or kept them motivated, into an envelope which they would keep with them daily as a reminder of what they are striving for.

How did you arrive at this idea and what inspired you to put the idea to action?

Well, the idea of motivating my peers was always something that I had a natural ability to do. It was when I thought of growing an impactful message and the awareness beyond my college community that forced me to think of a daring and creative way to grab people’s attention. So one night while in my dorm room I was watching a favorite show and the I heard a character on the show say, “More young people need to push the envelope.” Ironically I had an envelope and a marker in front of me at this moment and I’d done exactly what I heard; I write the word #PUSH on the envelope. From the next day I began building on the concept of logging down your goals, fears, aspirations, etc . into the envelope as a reminder. So you can imagine how random was is it to see a young man that looks like me wearing an envelope on a string around his neck portraying a message of being fearless and pushing for your dreams. But ironically many people caught on to what I was doing instantaneously.

How has the message been received by your peers?

The response continues to be remarkable as our brand grows. Through the power of social media. We are able to be transparent with the brand and all that we do. It’s given people great understanding and it has established a community feel. It’s a great feeling hearing people tell me keep doing what I’m doing because it’s not only motivating them but empowering them to act upon things that they’ve always but have wanted to been fearful of doing, because of failure.Yes, whenever you are of a certain group of people and you try to take on the role to lead the group, there is going to be resistance. But in my case I don’t really even consider the response to OPTE as resistance. I consider it to be more of a confusion endured by those who lack an open-mind when looking at the greater message beyond the physical envelope. I take blame for any resistance I receive because I maybe hadn’t sold my vision effectively enough for people to want to be amongst the greater group instead of resisting.

Because you are millennial with a mission focused on inspiring and empowering your peers, has there been any push back or resistance because you are a peer?

The Millennial generation today is both gifted and cursed by the rapid changes due to the constant rising of technology. We are accessed to a virtual reality through all of what social media offers but we are also reliant on that access to grant us the motivation and emotional uplift that keeps us progressing, this shouldn’t be the case. Less and less are people taking the time out to actually do something meaningful and positive for the next person. I view that young people today need to unite and establish common interests. With OPTE, we believe that as youths ourselves, we are in the same space to understand the struggles and experiences that young people endure in this technologically advanced day. So we hope to establish a brand which gives people a positive community feel that they can align themselves with that they can establish beliefs that will help them live a successful
lifestyle.

How would you diagnose the state of millennial right now, Why do you think they need to be pushed as your organization hopes to do?

I’ve come to realize that so many of the great young people that we’ve encountered since this movement has spawned have been hindered from pursuing what is truly important to them because of a lack guidance and a fear of failure. Many people are
exposed to the negative ideas in which they consider as cool, these things are seen on social media and television. We set out to be daring enough to create an outlet that can show people another side of how you can be self-motivated.

What are some the biggest crutches you’ve identified in the people you’ve counseled or inspired?

I cannot say that we’ve established a set “formula”, But we do believe that each and every human being, regardless of age, race, gender, sexuality, social class etc. should allow himself the freedom to act upon bringing any imaginable thoughts ideas to
life. Ideas and thoughts that will not only progress them self but those around them also. You accomplish this by logging down daily goals and accomplishing them in a timely manner, you surround yourself with wholesome individuals who can enhance you interests, last lastly you must research and learn similar everything you can about your passions, this makes you familiar with paths to take to achieve it.