Sixteen-year-old Sydney Lett dreams big. Midwest country singer Jason Brown helped her with that when she was just 12 years old.

“I’ve always loved music, and I actually met Jason Brown at a concert and asked if he had any advice for me,” the aspiring country singer and Des Moines native said. “Basically (he told me) just follow your dreams and never give up. Actually, he wrote ‘dream’ on my jeans that night and ever since then ‘dream’ has been my signature word.”

She keeps that pair of jeans in her closet and pulls them out every now and then when she’s having an “off day” to remind her how good her life is.