Resident Promotes Worldwide Youth Empowerment With Magic Wand Foundation

There is no question resident Mitchell Schlimer is a busy person. Besides contributing photography to the Glen Cove Patch, he is the founder and co-founder of several organizations that help encourage and empower aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide.

The Magic Wand Foundation, which he co-founded just over two years ago with friends Scott Shickler, Juan Casimiro and Jeff Waller, is a non-profit that helps youths develop inner-strength and a passion for positive thinking so they can lead better, fuller lives. 

“When you really look at the marketplace, and you look at kids, there’s such turmoil going on out there, the statistics are staggering,” Schlimer said. “We have a very specific mission: we’re basically all about youth empowerment. Being entrepreneurs, we really wanted to create something that we felt would really help them.”

The organization is hosting its biggest fundraising event on Saturday called “One Magical Night.” The Valentine’s Day themed gala is held each year at The Biltmore in Atalanta, GA, and features a silent auction.

One of the 20 items being auctioned is a photo shoot with Schlimer, blending his passion for photography with his life’s work.

The money that is raised at the event will go towards the students who come from all over the world, especially to attend the foundation’s Ultimate Life Summit: a one-of-a-kind eight-day experience for teens held each summer in Disney World. This year, the program will run from July 2 to July 9.

“Students learn essential life-skills and success habits during morning and early afternoon seminars and then experience Disney World Attractions in the afternoon and evening,” according to the foundation’s Web site.

“We believe in more than teaching skill-sets,” Schlimer said. “We use proponents of teaching mindsets.”

Over 130 teens from at least 15 countries will be attending this year’s summit, according to Schlimer. Students must be ages 13-19, fluent in English and eager to learn, grow and meet new people from different backgrounds to be accepted into the program.

At the end of the eight days, each teen will have written a customized “Ultimate Life Plan,” which is based on their individual passions, talents and goals, giving them the essentials to being their own person and a soon-to-be thriving entrepreneur.

“The kids are the heroes,” Schlimer said. “We believe strongly that they are the ones who are going to make the changes."

Schlimer’s passion for helping entrepreneurs began 18 years ago, when he founded the company Let’s Talk Business Network.

“I felt entrepreneurs needed a support network,” he said. “Anyone who’s ever run a business will tell you the journey can be fairly lonely and isolating, so I created this business model which dealt with that.”

Feeling that entrepreneurs needed a voice, Schlimer hosted hosted a national radio talk show for eight years called “Let’s Talk Business,”  which was broadcasted out of CBS studios. Sir Richard Branson, who is the founder of Virgin Records, and Ben and Jerry were just a few of the interviewees he has had over the course of the show.

Amongst Schlimer’s other projects and organizations is the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and Museum, which he created about 10 years ago. It is where great entrepreneurs, past and present, are recognized and celebrated.

Schlimer is currently in the process of having an actual museum built to commemorate all of the inductees in the coming years.

“I started the idea online always with the dream of building a physical facility,” he said. “Right now, Atlanta is in the lead.”