Living in this type of neighborhood created numerous obstacles and challenges for me, but my biggest challenges were inside my own home.
My parents were heroin addicts and shoplifters who were arrested 121 times by the time I graduated high school. I also lived in 30 different locations in that same amount of time, and was homeless during my last year of high school.
Yet, despite these challenges, I have always been driven by a deep need for freedom.
I remember going to visit my mom in prison when I was in the 3rd grade. I saw guards with guns bringing my mom into the waiting room, and she was chained together with a group of other women.
That image had a huge impact on me, and when I left the prison that day I made a decision to never let myself be controlled by another person in any way.
That decision is what drove me to excel in school and to obtain four college degrees.
It’s what drove me to become an All-American football player, an award-winning leader for McDonald’s Corporation, as well as a nonprofit leader.
It’s what drove me to get my doctorate in Education in Leadership and become a school principal.
And it’s also what drove me to walk away from that job and focus exclusively on building a business around telling my unique life story.
Telling my story — in my award-winning books, A Face of Courage and The Resilience of Champions; through my work as a speaker and trainer; and in my award-winning short film called Resilient, has deeply connected me to my purpose.