NSB Logo Michael Prosserman Michael Prosserman

Michael Prosserman

Speaker

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Bboy, Founder of Unity Charity

It is tough to build resilient, responsive and responsible organizations in today’s ever-changing world. Michael ‘Piecez’ Prosserman is an author, B-Boy (“breakdancer”), university instructor and professional speaker who specializes in scaling start-ups, integrating mental well-being into team culture, innovation in fundraising, and healthy succession of long time leaders. In Michael’s new book Building Unity: Leading a Non-Profit From Spark to Succession, he shares practical tools and stories to launching, leading and leaving a sustainable organization. He scaled a grassroots organization from the ground up as the Founder of Unity Charity, an organization using Hip-Hop to improve youth mental health.

Health Human Rights & Social Change Youth & Campus Event Theme Ideas

In the News

Hilbron: Charity eNews | Celebrating stepping down January 15, 2018
Huffington Post | Email Can Hip Hop Help Young People Handle Their Stress And Anger? (Spoiler: Yes, Yes Y'all) July 23, 2015

Keynote Speeches

Turning Mental Health at Work on its Head

Supporting employee mental health is a critical factor in increasing retention, impact and profit. It is also the right thing to do. Mental illness costs $50 billion each year in Canada. In this presentation, Michael provides audiences with tons of cheap, easy and free strategies to make mental health in the workplace approachable, practical and participatory. Learn how Michael and his team implemented innovative practices on a minimal budget to build a strong and caring culture empowering employees to take care of their mental health. This talk is jam-packed with real examples on how to build a strong culture while supporting mental health at work, beyond policy and beyond just spending money.d

Building Youth Resilience Through Hip Hop

Youth programs are too often designed by adults without asking young people what they want or need. This talk is filled with authentic community engagement strategies in building programs for youth by youth. Learn tangible strategies to engage young people and involve them in decision making. Through Hip-Hop based programs, Unity Charity created a movement to improve youth mental health empowering youth voice every step of the way. Learn practical strategies for building youth resilience, innovative outreach and building cross-sectoral partnerships supporting youth engagement and youth mental health.

Fundraising: Punching Above Your Weight

Fundraising today is daunting with an increasingly competitive landscape. This presentation is JAM PACKED with tangible ways to “punch above your weight” with cheap, easy and free strategies to help you stand out in the clutter and raise money. Learn how Unity Charity built a movement raising over $7 million dollars through a diversified pool of funders. Gain ideas to better engage funders and increase chances of success. Don’t follow the crowd! Your unique values can help you in raising more money.

Audience reviews:

  • Michael is an inspiration and a breath of fresh air. He possesses all the key ingredients -hard working, goal oriented, motivated, forward thinker, passionate but he's also human, down to earth and humble. 

    - Marketing Manager, Rogers Communications Inc.
  • He didn’t speak at CSF. He wove magic. He cast a spell. He left me in a trance. Mike Prosserman is going to change our country.

    - CEO, TrojanOne
  • Michael changes young peoples lives. Michael continues to develop a team of artistic teachers of the highest quality to deliver mentoring programs for young people.

    - Community Development Coordinator, City of Mississauga
  • Michael is an enthusiastic visionary who has figured out a creative way to reach an important but often overlooked segment of our community.

    - Former CEO Canadian Olympic Foundation
  • Michael has amazed and inspired me with his passion and commitment to helping our community and country grow. So much accomplished & he's only getting started.

    - Regional Director, Freedom 55 Financial

Speaker Books

Building Unity: Leading a Non-Profit from Spark to...

Speaker Biography

Art forms evolve but the power of hip-hop to transform remains unchanged. Michael Prosserman, a breakdancer who goes by the name Bboy Piecez, felt the transformative impact of his performance and saw the potential to share this impact with others like him. Using his instinct, intuition and good old trial and error Mike talks about his success in achieving life-changing outcomes for youth. He focuses on the simple yet powerful philosophies that built Unity:  the power of story-telling; building the plane while flying it; being surrounded by people smarter than you; and building new roads instead of accepting the inevitable road blocks that exist.

Michael found his passion for break dancing at a very young age. By the time he was three, Michael was already standing on his head while watching Saturday morning cartoons. Since then, he has performed for over 300 audiences, has spoken at over 100 schools, and has taught hundreds of workshops all over the world from Canada to Italy to Asia to the Arctic. Michael has competed world-wide, placing first in over 22 competitions.

Michael is the founder and former Executive Director of Unity Charity, an organization that empowers youth to be role models and leaders in their communities through after school programs in break dancing, graffiti art, spoken word poetry and beat boxing. Unity has reached over 200,000 young people across Canada.

Unity Has been featured in over 50 major media outlets in Canada including Maclean’s, Toronto Star, CBC, CTV, Citytv, and many more. Unity teaches youth to use urban arts as a powerful outlet to relieve their stress and anger in a positive way.

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