For those of us who still remember what life was like in our late teens and early 20s — or have kids of our own that are giving us painstaking reminders — Ed Hajim has a message.
These are not throwaway years when it’s unclear if we know everything — or nothing at all. These are the most impactful years of a young person’s life. With a little bit of guidance, Hajim feels today’s youth can be set on a path for success they may not otherwise find.
It’s why Hajim, a self-made philanthropist who went from an orphanage to Harvard Business School to the C-suite of many leading financial firms, has made a transformational gift to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, to help the students it reaches find a bright future.
“I’m in the stage of my life where I’m giving back full time,” he said.
“My focus is on that particular period between 16 and 22 where key decisions are made: Who am I? Where do I want to go? How do I expect to get there? And, maybe: What’s my purpose in getting there?”
The Ed Hajim Professional Readiness Program — a new initiative for NJPAC’s arts education students that will offer rising artists a series of classes and opportunities that will propel them toward a successful career in the performing arts — will launch this fall.
Inspired by Hajim’s book, “Island of the Four Ps: A Modern Fable About Preparing for Your Future,” it’s a way to give back. And, since it will be done in conjunction with NJPAC, both its current students and recent alumni, it will be a way to potentially impact thousands of students.
It will do so with a unique educational foundation — one that teaches kids how to make a life rather than make a living.
“I think that many institutions do a decent job of teaching how to make a living, or at least get a job — but, very few do a very good job of thinking how to make a life,” he said. “That’s the goal.”
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Hajim’s rags-to-riches story, one that saw him live in multiple foster homes as a child, was more than enough to help him earn the Horatio Alger Award in 2015.
But, you’ll never hear him say his upbringing was tougher than what kids face today. In fact, he’ll say the opposite.
Hajim thinks kids have it harder now than at any other time in history. That’s why he so wants to help.
“Today, there’s more opportunity than at any time in the history of the world, but it’s the most complex — and much more challenging than ever before,” he said.
Interpersonal relationships have changed: Kids today need more friends and partners, and they invariably have less, he said.
The truth has changed: There’s so much coming at these kids that they don’t know what to believe, he said.
Everyday life has changed: We still don’t know the impact of being on your phone hours on end every day will have, he said.
That’s why, when Hajim meets young people for the first time, he doesn’t criticize them for not having enough experience — but congratulates them for getting this far.
Hajim doesn’t, however, offer sympathy. He will not allow anyone to play the victim card. Your life, he says, is not about what you are dealt — but how you deal with what you are dealt.
“There is a balance to everything,” he said. “It’s a matter of finding harmony.
“I actually tell so-called disadvantaged kids that their disadvantages can become advantages — that they’re actually ahead of their contemporaries, who haven’t had those difficulties and learned how to overcome them.
“I tell them, ‘You have gained resilience and perseverance’ — that they don’t need a little person on their shoulder that says, ‘You can do it,’ because you’ve done it.”
Hajim says if you have a willingness to get where you want to go, then anything is possible.
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Hajim has lived and worked all over the country, but he’s an East Coast guy, has been since he graduated from the University of Rochester in 1958 — the beginning of a relationship with the school that has lasted six decades. He has charitable endeavors up and down the coast.
And, while he has ties to New Jersey — he was on the board at the Brunswick School, where some of his children attended — his connection to NJPAC was more a matter of appreciation than geographic approximation.
Hajim said he met NJPAC CEO John Schreiber earlier this year and was hooked.
“John Schreiber is in the changing-lives business,” he said. “He’s doing it in a very specific way, where some of the first questions, like, ‘Where’s your passion?’ have been answered already — and I think he’s doing it in a place where it’s really necessary.”
The fact the two just recently met isn’t an issue, Hajim said.
“I’ve always done things by what I call, ‘the flow,’” he said. “You wander through life. You meet people. They’re doing things that you think you want to do, and you join up with them. You’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with.”
Hajim loves the fact the group connected to NJPAC is so large — with thousands potentially to help.
More than that, he likes the fact that NJPAC’s presence is so large in the state and around the country, that he is hopeful that his efforts will spur others to do what he’s doing: Give back to the next generation.
“NJPAC can be a model for the rest of the country,” he said.
Schreiber, of course, is thrilled by the opportunity.
Career preparedness always has been an element of NJPAC’s extensive arts education programs, which offer thousands of young people skills instruction in vocal and instrumental jazz music, acting, musical theater and hip-hop arts every year.
This initiative will formalize and significantly expand those offerings. To do it with someone as inspiring as Hajim is an added bonus.
“I like to say that Ed is a ’10-second person’: You meet him and, within 10 seconds, you feel like you’ve known him your whole life,” Schreiber said. “Ed and his engagement with young people is entirely organic and authentic and inspiring.”
Inspiring — that’s what Hajim wants to do in his course at NJPAC.
“Everyone is a combination of your genes and your environment — neither of which you have control over,” he said. “If we can get kids to stop and think: ‘Who am I? What part of me do I want to keep? What part of me do I want to change? What do I want to add to?’ I think if kids start doing that, they’ll get a big leg up.
“I want to prove to them that anything is possible if they think about where they are headed.”
