JAMAL EDWARDS – SELF BELIEF: THE VISION
Self Belief:The Vision is a series of downloadable, playable and interactive books which teach young people how to take a creative idea from inception to market. In a unique and innovative digital format, the books involve Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style challenges alongside hints, tips and instructional excerpts of Jamal’s autobiography. As Jamal tells the story of how he built SBTV into the leading online youth broadcaster, you work on your own idea, testing it – and yourself – until you reach your goal.
Each level of the book comes with an inspirational foreword from one of Jamal’s friends and admirers, including Richard Branson, Idris Elba, Jessie J and Ed Sheeran.
As the Writer/Researcher on this project, I was tasked with fitting Jamal’s autobiography into the unique (and complicated – see slighly bonkers flow chart) structure of this unique series. Drawing on my background in music education (specifically teaching young people business skills), I devised challenges the reader could take part in which would improve their confidence in fun, creative ways.
Working closely with editor Hannah Knowles as well as lead publicity person Crystal Mahey-Morgan, we were able to arrange a national educational tour of Access to Music colleges. This gave students the opportunity to meet Jamal and get tips on how to make their own media career a reality.
