BONUS Episode: Little Leaders, Big Lessons: Voices from Wear It Well Summer Camp

In this special bonus episode of IgniteCast, presented by iHeartMedia, we turn the mic over to the next generation of leaders—the children from Wear It Well’s Summer Camp.

You’ll hear heartfelt, honest, and often inspiring reflections as they share what being a leader means to them, how they recognize the importance of setting an example, and why they know that someone is always watching.

These young voices remind us that leadership starts early—and sometimes the greatest wisdom comes from the smallest voices.

🎧 Tune in for a dose of joy, perspective, and the spark of future leadership.

Big thanks to iHeartMedia—our Presenting Sponsor for the entire IgniteCast podcast and the powerhouse fueling this season’s episodes! 🔊🔥 

🎧 New episodes drop every other Thursday, packed with insight, inspiration, and actionable ideas to help you grow as a leader—right where you are.

Want to learn more about the Ignite Leadership Conference?
Visit 👉 www.igniteleadership.com

Transcript

S4 BONUS - Wear It Well KIDS MIX
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Taylor Tutor: [00:00:00] Welcome to IgniteCast, where Ideas Spark Action brought to you by the Community Development Foundation, your Chamber of Commerce and Economic development engine. For Tupelo in Lee County, thank you to our presenting sponsor, iHeartMedia for powering this season of Ignite Cast. I'm Taylor. 

I'm Judd 

Taylor Tutor: and welcome to Ignite Cast 

Judd Wilson: Taylor.

Judd Wilson: We're here for another episode. It sort of feels like our first episode together because we don't have a guest in the audience or with us here, like we do this in front of an audience, but we don't have anybody here with us. 

Taylor Tutor: That's right Judd, but that's because we have a bonus episode. 

Judd Wilson: I love a [00:01:00] good bonus.

Judd Wilson: It's always good to get a good bonus episode. 

Taylor Tutor: It is, it is. But today we are gonna hear from some kiddos at kids camp from where? Well, uh, Darren went out and taught a class on how to do a podcast 

Judd Wilson: and it's neat 'cause you know, we had Katina season four. Episode four. I keep up with all the seasons and the episodes.

Judd Wilson: Um, but Katina was here and it was neat to kind of hear what she does at Wear It. Well, it was a great episode, but the neat thing was, you know, Darren helps us out on the, uh, all the equipment over there and she said, I need you to teach my kids that. So he did that and was, had an opportunity to teach them about podcasting.

Judd Wilson: But the cool thing was when he was there teaching him, he said. Why don't we record an episode? 

Taylor Tutor: Why not? 

Judd Wilson: And it's kind of neat sometimes, you know, when you, when you think of kids, what their insight is. 

Taylor Tutor: It's very powerful. It's very moving. 

Judd Wilson: It is. There used to be a show, Taylor, you won't even know this show existed, but I think, I believe it was Art Link.

Judd Wilson: Le Le Art Link letter had [00:02:00] a show that said the kids say the darnedest things. And so I think Steve Harvey does it now. But it is interesting because kids really have no filter and it's kind of neat to see their perspective because our perspective changes every time we get older. But with kids. They're gonna tell you the truth.

Judd Wilson: You know, they're, 

Taylor Tutor: and they're always watching us. And even for them to be so young, they've picked up on a lot of things. 

Judd Wilson: Yes. And I think it'll be very, very interesting to hear their insight of leadership at that young age. And so we're gonna sit back, I think you'll enjoy this episode. It's a little bit different because it's kids, but getting their perspective of leadership from a kid's point of view.

Judd Wilson: Darren did a great job of interviewing them, and so we get to hear that now. So y'all listen to this as we, uh, listen to this bonus episode of At Nightcast.

Daron Pitts: Well, we've got no Taylor and no Judd this time because we are here with a special edition at Wear It Well. So my name is Darren and I've got with [00:03:00] me, uh, Levi, Addison, and McKayla. I. Correct. All right. Very good. So, Levi, tell us a little bit about yourself first. Where are you from? 

Levi: Uh, Mississippi, Tupelo Addison.

Levi: Where are 

Daron Pitts: you 

Levi: from? I'm from Tupelo, Mississippi as 

Addison: well. 

Daron Pitts: Okay. Uh, lived all your life in Tupelo? 

Addison: Yes, sir. Okay. Actually, I did move to Memphis, Tennessee. 

Daron Pitts: Oh, so how long did you live in Memphis? 

Addison: I was about there for like two or three years. Okay, 

Daron Pitts: cool. McKayla, what about you? 

McKayla: I'm from Memphis, Tennessee, but I moved here when I was little.

Daron Pitts: So here's some questions we've got. We always do some questions about leadership, and I wanna ask each of you best leadership advice you've ever been given, Levi? 

Levi: So, I am a big sibling four, so that's really being a leader itself. So the, so the second do, um, first of all, Paisley is one, I is the one I, um, realized I'm gonna have to be a leader for her.[00:04:00] 

Levi: Then, then the other three came. So, so that was a good experience for me. I was able to actually, to actually have real experience in being a, a full-time leader. 

Daron Pitts: Cool. So what's the best leadership advice you've ever been given? Addison? 

Addison: Um, I am a big cousin to a lot of kids. And watching them grow up and stuff, the certain things that I do, they follow me and I just recognize, I gotta watch how I act so they, you know, know how to act as well.

Daron Pitts: Good. So you're, you're really leading by example. 

Addison: Yes, 

sir. Yeah. 

Daron Pitts: What about you, Mikayla? Best leadership advice you've ever been given? 

Don't, don't be a follower, be a leader. 

Daron Pitts: Okay. What about following bad people? Is that a good idea? 

No, that's not a good idea, but because. It can really lead you to some bad.

Choices and decision decisions. 

Daron Pitts: Yeah, that's true. So who is your favorite leader that you know of? Addison. Jesus. [00:05:00] Jesus. Why? Jesus. 

Addison: Okay. Because he showed us the way and read a whole book about how life is gonna be, and I feel like if we follow those rules that we'll be led a good way. Okay. 

Daron Pitts: So Levi, we were talking earlier and you mentioned about your favorite part about being a leader.

Daron Pitts: So tell me your favorite part about being a leader. 

Levi: Um, the fact that I'm, I'm not only teaching them is, is that they're also teaching me, um, that I have to be, I have to be good, not only me telling them what to do. So that's good for me. 

Daron Pitts: So as a leader, you, 

Levi: I learned from, um, the people who follow me. Oh, 

Daron Pitts: I thought leaders knew everything.

Levi: No, they 

Daron Pitts: don't. 

Levi: Okay. 

Daron Pitts: So it'd be, even if you are a leader, you can still learn from others. 

Levi: Yeah, all the time. 

Daron Pitts: All the time. Le how old are you? 10 pretty wise. For a 10-year-old, I didn't learn that till later in life, so, yeah. What do you think, Addison, what's kind of the the best thing about being a leader?

Addison: Knowing that the mistakes I made, if I showed them the right way, they won't [00:06:00] make the mistakes. 

Daron Pitts: Yeah, that's a good, good reason for sure. And you, Mikayla? 

Um, I would say not like. Showing my little cousins and stuff the right way, the right way, how to do it. And if I, me, if they mess up, it's okay because they have more, more to like, they have more chances.

Daron Pitts: More chances. So as a leader, do you forgive others when they fail or do you just get on 'em until they do? Right? 

McKayla: I encourage them to, um, I encourage, I encourage them to do better and. I really like be supportive. 

Daron Pitts: So I'm gonna play y'all a clip. So at the Ignite Leadership Conference, we had a guy named Sunil Gupta and he talked about some insight into great leaders and their teams.

Daron Pitts: So I want you to take a listen to this real quick. 

Suneel Gupta: If you look at great leaders and great teams that are able to build momentum in their lives. And you compare them to [00:07:00] leaders and teams that lose momentum over time. The teams and leaders that fizzle out, very rarely do they run out of time. Very rarely do they run out of talent.

Suneel Gupta: What they almost always run out of is energy. 

Daron Pitts: So very rarely do those leaders run out of time or talent. They run out of energy. Do you find it difficult to maintain a high level of energy when you're leading others? Addison? 

Addison: Yes, sir. 

Daron Pitts: Like how, I mean, you've told them to do this 10 times, right? And 10 times they haven't done it still.

Addison: Right. It's like you gonna give up because it's like you continuously tell somebody to, you know how you showing them the way and then they go a different route. 

Daron Pitts: Okay, so where do you think sometimes the energy comes from in being a leader? McKayla. What can energize you as a leader? 

Seeing ki seeing them like doing the correct things and re and rewarding them for, and [00:08:00] like being really supportive of them front door and making sure they do the right, the right thing.

Daron Pitts: That gives you energy when you see somebody succeeding. 

Yes, it makes me really happy. 

Daron Pitts: Levi, what about you? How do you maintain energy? You mentioned leading, uh, family members being the example. How do you maintain that energy when they don't do anything you tell 'em to do and they're doing bad things, they're being bad examples.

Daron Pitts: How do you still maintain energy to do that? 

Levi: If they're doing something bad, I'll just, um, try to find something to manipulate them into doing something better. Because like, um, one day Kyle was running around the house and I had to try to stop him. So what I did was I got Paisley, which is the oldest one well after me, and I told her to stand, um, in her room.

Levi: Beside the door. So when she, when he ran beside her, her room, she um, grabbed him [00:09:00] and then, and then I got to, um, catch up to him. Okay. 

Daron Pitts: Alright. One last thing, we'll going wrap this up. Tell me who you think one of your friends, they don't have to be in the room. It might help. Tell me one of your friends that you think really is a good leader.

Um, I would probably have to say either Addison or Kylie because they are really intelligent. They are really sweet and kind, and they're really like caring for others. Yeah. 

Daron Pitts: Addison, who do you think? 

I would say Levi 

Daron Pitts: the wise. Levi great. 

Addison: Levi is very wise and he is, his mind is very filled with a lot of knowledge and he's a very well spoken kid.

Daron Pitts: Levi, who do you think in a friend of yours that's a great leader? 

Levi: Uh, so Atlassian year in school, I had two, uh, best friends. They've been, um, friends to me for about three years now. [00:10:00] So. The names are Angel and Jace. I think Angel would be good because she's patient with people and she's smart. Jace would be good though because he know he knows people.

Levi: He's good with people. He knows how to, he knows how to make 'em happy when they, um, fail. He's also very smart, so one of those two would be good for me. Okay, great. 

Daron Pitts: Well, I want to thank y'all for joining us today. It's been a, a very short, very brief episode of Ignite Cast, but we appreciate it being here at Wear itWell with some amazing new future leaders of our community.

Daron Pitts: Thank y'all. 

Judd Wilson: Taylor. Wasn't that interesting to hear from them? So good. Yeah. Levi. Addison and McKayla, um, three kids there at Wear It. Well, and and they had a really neat perspective on leadership, didn't they? 

Taylor Tutor: Might be smarter than me. 

Judd Wilson: [00:11:00] Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, all of us. I mean, we, it's not that they're smarter, they just see things differently than we do.

Taylor Tutor: They do, they do. They picked up on a lot to be so young and they, they understand that people are watching them and that makes, you know, shows us that people are watching us too. 

Judd Wilson: Yeah, and I thought it was interesting too, you know, that when Darren asked him, you know, kind of tell us. Who are your friends that are leaders and they were able to name, you know, either whether it was a relative or a brother or sister, or just somebody that they're in class with.

Judd Wilson: Um, you know, how they see how they lead and, you know, so it's kind of neat to see kids seeing other kids as leaders. 

Taylor Tutor: Mm-hmm. And looking up to them and knowing that people are watching them and looking up to them too. So gives them a sense of purpose. Yeah. 

Judd Wilson: And you know, and, and they're learning that at a, at a early age, Levi mentioned, you know, kind of being a leader for his brothers and sisters.

Judd Wilson: Mm-hmm. So it was neat to kind of hear their perspective on that. Mm-hmm. Well, what a great episode we got to hear. It was a bonus. We didn't think that it would, uh, you know, with us just sitting here, but it was good to hear these [00:12:00] kids talking and. Learning from them. So as, as we talk about at Night Cas and we talk about at night, we're hopefully, what we're hoping to hope to uncover is leadership within our community, within our region, and we can even see it through our children as well.

Taylor Tutor: That's right. 

Judd Wilson: Thank you, Taylor. 

Taylor Tutor: Thanks, judge. 

Judd Wilson: Yeah, it's always fun to do this with you. 

Taylor Tutor: That will end our season four of Ignite Cast, but just a few weeks off and we'll come back with season five with some great guests and we're really looking forward to it. So we hope to, um, catch up with everybody in August.

Judd Wilson: Can't wait. 

Taylor Tutor: Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Ignite Cast, presented by iHeartMedia. For more leadership insights and engaging conversations, be sure to hit. Subscribe and if you enjoyed today's episode, we'd love for you to leave a review and remember, go for and do good [00:13:00] things.