If you would have told me ten years ago, I would graduate from both St. John’s and New York University, present a policy paper on adoption subsidy fraud to President Obama’s Administration while interning on Capitol Hill for Senator Kristen Gillibrand; that I would travel the country sharing my extremely traumatic upbringing; that I would study abroad in Ghana and speak to disadvantaged high schoolers on the shores of South Africa; and that I would loc my hair and travel alone to Nepal and India to study meditation and yoga for nine months, only to return to start my own organization called Fostering Meditation — I would have laughed and then said “wrong guy.” Truth is, I have been fortunate enough to do all these things and more.
I spent 22-years inside NYC’s foster care system, transferring between 30 placements throughout the five boroughs, was adopted twice, placed on prescribed medications, namely Ritalin and Adderall, spent time in a juvenile detention, and struggled with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. I was destined to fail, to become another unfortunate statistic and end up either homeless, in jail, or worst — dead. Instead, by God’s grace, those few who believed in me, and my resilience to make a better life for myself, here I am an accomplished black man on a mission to change the world before He calls my name.
