Growing up was not easy. There were many road bumps and questions about me, leaving me to ask myself, 'Do my family even love me?'  I witnessed just about every male figure in my life when I was young go to jail. I really thought that was just the norm. My dad was around, but he was just basically in and out of my life. Honestly, he was more of an emotional burden to me than anything. I would say he showed me the man I don't want to be. One of the last deep memories I have as a child is of him calling me and asking what I wanted for Christmas; I replied, "a Game Boy." His response: "Ok, my son, your wish is granted. I see you on Christmas." My grandmother's gifts were always the best, for she always spoiled me, but that Christmas I didn't care about anybody's gift but his. To my surprise, he was a no-show that day. It wasn't the first time I didn't get my present from him; the year before, I didn't get the dog I wanted. This time it hurt because he was a no-visit or a no-call. His mother didn't even hear from him. That was the last true conversation I had with him.

I was 9 nine then—the start of my troubled life. 

 

My supporting cast was all women: my great-grandmother, both grandmothers, my mother, and my aunts. I will say they did everything in their power and will to keep me on a straight and narrow path, and also to provide for me. I was raised in a Christian household. I had to go to church, sing in the choir, join the usher board, and attend every Sunday school class. That didn't stop the streets from getting a hold of me. My mother and grandmother worked a lot, so I had plenty of time to hang out on the streets with my friends. As long as I answered that house phone at a particular time, I was safe. As I grew older, I became very hostile towards my mother. I would argue with her, become very disobedient, and even recall hitting her. It was to the point that she threw me out of the house to my grandmother at the age of 13. That same year, I witnessed my best friend Ed being shot and killed over some shoes at a high school party. From that point on, I just grew into a demon. I was kicked out of every family member's house, recycled around from family house to family house because nobody wanted to deal with my anger and problems. I was stealing from stores, skipping middle school and high school, fighting in school, and stealing teachers' grade books. I was so bad that I was banned from Miami-Dade County schools. I went to an alternative school, and that's when I dropped out of school entirely at the age of 17. I eventually settled into one of the members of the church household.

 

I will not mention the name for privacy reasons, but this was the next critical stage in my life. I became very attached to this figure. He basically groomed me into a young man. Taught me how to man up, be direct as a man, and, most importantly, hustle and get money. When I say hustle, we hustle anything from selling water on the streets to selling weed. The motto was simple: a real man knows how to provide for his family. This figure in my life was always rocking the flyiest clothes, always had the latest cars, and always kept ladies on his team.

 

He pushed me to get my GED. Which I barely passed. 

 

There were two downsides. I had the most police interactions while with this person. I mean, it was like every other day we were being stopped by the police. One life-changing event occurred while in the driveway of his home, when Hollywood police stopped us. They stated they received a call about two suspicious black men walking around the neighborhood. We were like officers, we just got out of the car and are at our home. The officers then threw us on the ground, one officer proceeded to point a gun at my head and said If you move, I will blow your brains out. I was puzzled and in shock. Eventually, they let us go when a white neighbor came out amid the commotion and said, "Hey, I know those two men who stay in this complex." The second was the mental teaching. This person taught me that nothing in this world is given to a black man; they will not let you ever become successful. We have to go out there and do whatever it takes to make a living because we are playing an unfair game. It was so bad, I just thought a black man can't be successful corporately; all we had to do was hustle. It made it no better that I didn't know one black man who had a high corporate position or a successful, legitimate business. Truthfully, I believe his thoughts because of all the police mistreatment I have experienced while being with this person, even while just selling water on the streets. While some of the context was true, not all of it was true. We eventually grew apart and fell out. 

 

At about the same time, around 19, I was still finding my identity. I got a job at Target, where I became close to two male friends who have since become two of my closest, most loyal friends to this day. As I drew closer to them, they started asking me questions like, "What are you doing with your life?" "You're not trying to go to college? You know, you get paid to go to school." Eventually, they convinced me to go to college. While working at Target, my younger, new habits caught up with me, and I was let go for running a scheme out of Target, which landed me in court. 

 

In the next chapter of my life, while working a new job, I met a female friend. We became very close. We shared stories and always laughed together. Eventually, she was the one who taught me how to make real street money. Over the next long years, I became that guy. There wasn't a day I didn't have at least 100k in my safe for a rainy day. I did run into legal trouble once, but charges were dropped, making me more invincible. At the age of 22, I had everything I could imagine: any car I wanted, a house, and a girl. If you met me back then, I was a true ass hole. 

 

In 2017, my street life came to an end. I was arrested and charged with running my illegal scheme. This day opened my eyes because of what I was charged with, only one criminal charge, and they could have charged me with way more. I knew God had better things stored for me. My own lawyer couldn't believe it. His words exactly, ¨If you don't get out of my office and hurry up and accept these charges, you would be one dumb fool.¨I did, and I did only 1 year of probation. While on probation, I had to get a job, or I would be breaking the terms. Keep in mind, I haven't worked a job in almost 7 years. I asked God that same day: if he gave me a job, this would be the last day of being a street hustler. I applied for a job at 3:17 am, and I kid you not, I got a call at 9:00 am that morning—the new beginning of my corporate days. I kept my word, I didn't even look at the streets anymore, I was done with being a street hustler.    

 

On the way to the interview, I didn't know what to expect or what to say. I was puzzled about how I got the interview at a 5-star luxury property without even having the experience. Once I got there, I was shocked. Now remember, earlier I said I had never seen or met a black man in a high corporate position before; well, this was the first time. Long story short, the interview turned into a real deep connection. We even find out we went to the same high school. I told him about my legal issue, and he said that if I get past the HR screening, I would hire you. I passed the background check, and I was hired. This man literally took me under his wing and showed me the ropes of the corporate world. I was so motivated and look up to this man that I ate that mentor leardership he gave me up. I became a security manager and front office manager, which later led me to become a restaurant manager at several 5-star golf properties—talking about all this from the perspective of a high school dropout. 

 

Now, at this time of a life change, from a street hustler to a corporate boss. I was also changing my mindset on how to invest for longevity. I learned about credit during my first year working there. I started my credit business, which led to many other business ventures, including a trucking company, real estate investments, tech, and many more blessed opportunities.  

 

Fast forward to now, as we speak, February 2026, I've been blessed to live overseas, traveling the world for the last 2 years. I haven't worked a corporate job since January 2024. I'm going through another hard life reset, this time a change to learn who and what I want to become as a man to achieve my next accomplishment. I know exactly what I want to do, but unfortunately, the 9 dimensions of my life are not balanced. So I'm using this time to align and fix myself so I can be the best version of myself. When I launch my new company, which will be tremendous and life-changing for the world, I want to look back on this month and tell myself I knew it. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what it's going to be just yet; just know I will be the walking testimony for it and will touch a lot of people's lives.