escaping the impoverished mindset you
may ask me what that means but I might
everyone here to embark on a journey
with me using my life to kind of explain
what I mean when I say you can escape
the impoverished mindset just a little
on myself so I’m a native of Chattanooga
I grew up in the holler Park area I’m
the youngest of four kids raised by mom
I graduated and attended Howard High
School 2014 class of 2014 and after I
graduated I stayed in Chattanooga and
went work for a little small nonprofit
Carlon Chattanooga and there I was able
to you know share my passion for
entrepreneurship with local kids from
the communities that I grew up in in the
inner-city schools but growing up in
life I was getting to that age so let me
start the story so growing up in life I
was getting today is that six to seven
year old age and this is the age where
all parents pushed their young boys off
into sports and they push you off into
sports to see which sport that you’re
gonna like so my mom put me in football
let’s talk a little bit about football
football wasn’t for me I can remember a
time so I will go to practice and I
think I would be the only one on the
team with the cleanest uniform because I
didn’t want to get in I didn’t want to
practice I just had to make mom proud so
I needed my shoulder pads and my helmet
but this particular game my coach says
Rochelle and my eyes get because I’m
like is he calling me to get in I mean
he didn’t say timeout so I mean he’s not
calling me to Hodel up and I’m down
there planting the dirt and my coach
calls me said I need you I need you to
get in okay coach I’ll get in so my
coach puts my helmet on he straps up my
chin strap and then he says okay I need
you to do three things I need you to
hold the ball get in the goal and don’t
get hit and then he hits me on the leg
and he said all right go in so I’m like
okay coach don’t get hit don’t get hit I
won’t get hit you know that’s fine with
me I didn’t want to get hit anyway so I
remember the quarterback slapping the
ball in and the ball comes to me and I
look up and I see all these people
running at me and I’m like oh don’t get
hit so I automatically turn around and I
run the ball into the opposing team’s
safety zone and and for me I’m
celebrating
I I didn’t lose the ball I got in the
goal and coach I didn’t get hit and and
I turn around I see everybody mad and
I’m like oh why is everyone mad so yeah
I was at that moment we knew football
wasn’t gonna be for me so I didn’t play
football so I can remember going to
middle school now in middle school this
is that this is the stage in life where
we all start to you know get a little
older and we we got to show everybody
you know what we got so I hung out with
the basketball players and I’m thinking
in my head like okay
basketball may be my thing you know I
was tribe a sketball so I want to talk
to coach and coach led me and I begin to
practice and and then the game came
coach put me in the game I was excited
got in the game but I couldn’t seem to
grasp the concept that you dribble with
one hand and I – so every time I got the
ball it was like beep trouble ok it’s
cool I’ll try the game big trouble ok
it’s cool
you know what mom I don’t want to play
basketball either but it was at this
moment in life I began to question
myself at the young age of 13 I was
really doubting the fact that I had any
potential on escaping where the world
called poverty because to my society the
only three ways out of poverty is
football basketball or you know become a
rapper and I knew that those three
weren’t for me as we just discussed
football definitely not basketball
definitely loud and rapping I just don’t
have the rhymes for it but I can
remember in high school growing up I was
getting to the stage where I had this
teacher in high school and as I stated I
went to Windy City school part of the
public education system so I was in
class with guys from everywhere and
these guys will come back from
suspension or come back from
anticipating the fact that they needed
to fight a guy in the hallway and I had
a teacher this teacher would always tell
a statistic she’s out what she’d always
say that one of three black males will
go to jail in their entire lifetime
she’d always say that because she wanted
us to not be one of those three she’d
also say that 45 million Americans live
in poverty or are still stuck in poverty
she tell us things like that and in my
mind as for my student as for my fellow
peers in class they went over there
but in my mind I I could never seem to
grasp the concepts of what she meant I
could remember one day being on the bus
on the way home and and this particular
day I said in the front next to the bus
driver and I laid my head on the window
and I thought what’s she talking to me
was I gonna be one of those three well
do I live in poverty I can remember
walking down the block on the way home
from the bus stop and just thinking am I
one of the three all these guys on this
corner but am I one of the three I can
remember walking in my mom’s front door
saying is this poverty is this what we
live in
I could never grasp the concept that I
could be categorised by someone else’s
past III never thought how could you try
to determine my future before I could
understand what didn’t even meant what a
statistic was I just was at that point
in my life where I wanted everyone that
said what I had to offer I didn’t want
to be categorized by my father’s actions
but not by the neighborhood that I lived
in not by the race that I’m a part of I
just want everyone to see what I had to
offer so as I got older I began to want
to really understand what poverty was
and and I was one day looking over the
Internet I dig digging into my research
and I and I discovered that poverty
means poor okay we know that that’s cool
what’s your definition of poor I was
good I ate every night I had everything
I wanted I don’t live in poverty then I
I dug a little deeper and I looked at
the word impoverished and the word
impoverished means to make a person or
area poor now that maid went over your
head but but I caught it to make a
person or area poor it was at that
moment in life that I decided that no
one was gonna make me anything it was at
that moment in life that I decided that
I was gonna stand up a little taller I
remember asking my mom mom you bought me
some tennis shoes today but I want to
sue it like you want to sue I want to
sue let’s go suit shopping so my mom
takes me sue shopping I remember the
first suit that I ever got it was this
gray suit now this gray suit now this
was back you know I was a little young
but this suit had the the padding in the
shoulders the real thick padding but I
like my padding in my shoulders it was
my first suit so our
member I would then get into ties and I
remember my mom taking us to church and
I saw this man in church and he had this
nice tie on and I’m like you know what
I’m not afraid of an old my mama tell me
no every day so I walk up to the guy and
I tell him on show that say hey could I
have that tie he’s like you you you want
me to take it off and I’m like I mean
you could take it off at the church and
and give it to me but I really want to
wear that tie with my new gray suit so I
this man comes over after church one day
and he says okay so here’s a bag of ties
and he said do you know how to tie it
I don’t can you teach me so I remember
him standing in our house for two hours
and teaching me how to tie a tie and
from that point on I decided that I had
to find my purpose in life I can
remember thinking as I previously stated
and my community the only three ways I
was sports in the rap game and I knew
for a fact that I couldn’t do any of
that so I remember one day asking God I
said God what’s my purpose you you
brought me into this world
my mom my pastor tells me that you know
me but what’s my purpose uh as I got
older my mom always said I talk too much
which was fine with me because I just
was curious I was always one of the kids
that said bye mom why and she gave me us
and I say bye mom why and she gave me us
again I said my mom you still didn’t
explain why she say look boy I don’t
know go find out so that’s why I became
so curious but I begin to think God
gives us all the gift and we have to
learn the talent think about it think
about it we mean you’re born with the
gift but we try so hard to learn the
talent why not focus on that gift so I
began to figure out ways to invest in my
gift and my gift was speaking my gift
was talking so I began to invest into my
gifts because my gift was my way out I
learned that God sometimes gifts some
people talents but he gives us all gifts
and some people look over their gifts
because they’re so focused on their
talent when your talent can always fill
you but your gift can never fail you so
over my journey I began to just write
down small things that they helped me to
succeed so today I want to speak to the
person who may be watching this the
person who may be sitting here who
who was like me who didn’t know if they
were in poverty or not and who didn’t
know that the word poverty impoverish
means to make a person or area poor who
who feels that no one is gonna make them
and they need a way out let me tell you
four things that helped me get through
life so I had to first teach myself that
poverty was a mindset I had to remind
myself every day that I was satisfied
where I lived as long as I ate I slept I
got a new set of twenty-four hours every
day and I was gonna get up and make the
best of those 24 hours every day I had
to tell myself that as a young guy as I
got a little older I learned that you
never get a second chance to make a
first impression so that’s why I was so
proud of that grey suit and I and my
friends never understood why I would
come outside with a tie on that’s no
special occasion going on the occasion
is special every time I step outside my
mom’s house I have to show everyone what
I could bring to the table and and and I
always tell my friends for my third
point is that you should never become
comfortable than what you live in life
is not supposed to be comfortable you’re
supposed to always find new ways to
adapt to new environments those lessons
that you learn and those new
environments are gonna be the lessons
that you use the lessons that help you
get to where you need to be and as I
previously said you have to service your
gift as much as you service your talent
I think in listening to one of the other
speakers speak earlier and he was
talking about how Kobe was always in
practice practicing so hard he was
cultivating his talent but as for me I
was always cultivating my gift I always
wanted to learn how to speak proper I
always wanted to be in front of the
crowd I always wanted to hang around
people who would give me knowledge and
who would teach me what I needed to be
successful using my gift so if I haven’t
told you anything today I want to tell
you that that you should never settle I
want to tell you that that even though
statistics even though this world may
try to confine you they may try to tell
you things that you’re not you’re unable
to dissect I want to tell you that you
should never settle get exactly what you
want out of life don’t let anyone tell
you that is not there I’m speaking to
that person who only feels that they can
do with their momma and daddy D and
there’s more to life than what mommy and
daddy did you have to know how
you have to tell yourself that this is
not where you want to be and you have to
tell yourself that you’re gonna make
yourself get there by any means
necessary
I also want to tell them that you should
never doubt don’t doubt yourself if you
want to be a lawyer and you want to be a
doctor and they say you have to be in
school for 12 years don’t free it’s okay
because you’re going to where you need
to be I also want to tell that person to
chase exactly what it is that you want
but what’s the gate ladies and gentlemen
I’m the railroad shell and I just share
my vision on how I feel that you can
escape the impoverished my set thanks
[Applause]
may ask me what that means but I might
everyone here to embark on a journey
with me using my life to kind of explain
what I mean when I say you can escape
the impoverished mindset just a little
on myself so I’m a native of Chattanooga
I grew up in the holler Park area I’m
the youngest of four kids raised by mom
I graduated and attended Howard High
School 2014 class of 2014 and after I
graduated I stayed in Chattanooga and
went work for a little small nonprofit
Carlon Chattanooga and there I was able
to you know share my passion for
entrepreneurship with local kids from
the communities that I grew up in in the
inner-city schools but growing up in
life I was getting to that age so let me
start the story so growing up in life I
was getting today is that six to seven
year old age and this is the age where
all parents pushed their young boys off
into sports and they push you off into
sports to see which sport that you’re
gonna like so my mom put me in football
let’s talk a little bit about football
football wasn’t for me I can remember a
time so I will go to practice and I
think I would be the only one on the
team with the cleanest uniform because I
didn’t want to get in I didn’t want to
practice I just had to make mom proud so
I needed my shoulder pads and my helmet
but this particular game my coach says
Rochelle and my eyes get because I’m
like is he calling me to get in I mean
he didn’t say timeout so I mean he’s not
calling me to Hodel up and I’m down
there planting the dirt and my coach
calls me said I need you I need you to
get in okay coach I’ll get in so my
coach puts my helmet on he straps up my
chin strap and then he says okay I need
you to do three things I need you to
hold the ball get in the goal and don’t
get hit and then he hits me on the leg
and he said all right go in so I’m like
okay coach don’t get hit don’t get hit I
won’t get hit you know that’s fine with
me I didn’t want to get hit anyway so I
remember the quarterback slapping the
ball in and the ball comes to me and I
look up and I see all these people
running at me and I’m like oh don’t get
hit so I automatically turn around and I
run the ball into the opposing team’s
safety zone and and for me I’m
celebrating
I I didn’t lose the ball I got in the
goal and coach I didn’t get hit and and
I turn around I see everybody mad and
I’m like oh why is everyone mad so yeah
I was at that moment we knew football
wasn’t gonna be for me so I didn’t play
football so I can remember going to
middle school now in middle school this
is that this is the stage in life where
we all start to you know get a little
older and we we got to show everybody
you know what we got so I hung out with
the basketball players and I’m thinking
in my head like okay
basketball may be my thing you know I
was tribe a sketball so I want to talk
to coach and coach led me and I begin to
practice and and then the game came
coach put me in the game I was excited
got in the game but I couldn’t seem to
grasp the concept that you dribble with
one hand and I – so every time I got the
ball it was like beep trouble ok it’s
cool I’ll try the game big trouble ok
it’s cool
you know what mom I don’t want to play
basketball either but it was at this
moment in life I began to question
myself at the young age of 13 I was
really doubting the fact that I had any
potential on escaping where the world
called poverty because to my society the
only three ways out of poverty is
football basketball or you know become a
rapper and I knew that those three
weren’t for me as we just discussed
football definitely not basketball
definitely loud and rapping I just don’t
have the rhymes for it but I can
remember in high school growing up I was
getting to the stage where I had this
teacher in high school and as I stated I
went to Windy City school part of the
public education system so I was in
class with guys from everywhere and
these guys will come back from
suspension or come back from
anticipating the fact that they needed
to fight a guy in the hallway and I had
a teacher this teacher would always tell
a statistic she’s out what she’d always
say that one of three black males will
go to jail in their entire lifetime
she’d always say that because she wanted
us to not be one of those three she’d
also say that 45 million Americans live
in poverty or are still stuck in poverty
she tell us things like that and in my
mind as for my student as for my fellow
peers in class they went over there
but in my mind I I could never seem to
grasp the concepts of what she meant I
could remember one day being on the bus
on the way home and and this particular
day I said in the front next to the bus
driver and I laid my head on the window
and I thought what’s she talking to me
was I gonna be one of those three well
do I live in poverty I can remember
walking down the block on the way home
from the bus stop and just thinking am I
one of the three all these guys on this
corner but am I one of the three I can
remember walking in my mom’s front door
saying is this poverty is this what we
live in
I could never grasp the concept that I
could be categorised by someone else’s
past III never thought how could you try
to determine my future before I could
understand what didn’t even meant what a
statistic was I just was at that point
in my life where I wanted everyone that
said what I had to offer I didn’t want
to be categorized by my father’s actions
but not by the neighborhood that I lived
in not by the race that I’m a part of I
just want everyone to see what I had to
offer so as I got older I began to want
to really understand what poverty was
and and I was one day looking over the
Internet I dig digging into my research
and I and I discovered that poverty
means poor okay we know that that’s cool
what’s your definition of poor I was
good I ate every night I had everything
I wanted I don’t live in poverty then I
I dug a little deeper and I looked at
the word impoverished and the word
impoverished means to make a person or
area poor now that maid went over your
head but but I caught it to make a
person or area poor it was at that
moment in life that I decided that no
one was gonna make me anything it was at
that moment in life that I decided that
I was gonna stand up a little taller I
remember asking my mom mom you bought me
some tennis shoes today but I want to
sue it like you want to sue I want to
sue let’s go suit shopping so my mom
takes me sue shopping I remember the
first suit that I ever got it was this
gray suit now this gray suit now this
was back you know I was a little young
but this suit had the the padding in the
shoulders the real thick padding but I
like my padding in my shoulders it was
my first suit so our
member I would then get into ties and I
remember my mom taking us to church and
I saw this man in church and he had this
nice tie on and I’m like you know what
I’m not afraid of an old my mama tell me
no every day so I walk up to the guy and
I tell him on show that say hey could I
have that tie he’s like you you you want
me to take it off and I’m like I mean
you could take it off at the church and
and give it to me but I really want to
wear that tie with my new gray suit so I
this man comes over after church one day
and he says okay so here’s a bag of ties
and he said do you know how to tie it
I don’t can you teach me so I remember
him standing in our house for two hours
and teaching me how to tie a tie and
from that point on I decided that I had
to find my purpose in life I can
remember thinking as I previously stated
and my community the only three ways I
was sports in the rap game and I knew
for a fact that I couldn’t do any of
that so I remember one day asking God I
said God what’s my purpose you you
brought me into this world
my mom my pastor tells me that you know
me but what’s my purpose uh as I got
older my mom always said I talk too much
which was fine with me because I just
was curious I was always one of the kids
that said bye mom why and she gave me us
and I say bye mom why and she gave me us
again I said my mom you still didn’t
explain why she say look boy I don’t
know go find out so that’s why I became
so curious but I begin to think God
gives us all the gift and we have to
learn the talent think about it think
about it we mean you’re born with the
gift but we try so hard to learn the
talent why not focus on that gift so I
began to figure out ways to invest in my
gift and my gift was speaking my gift
was talking so I began to invest into my
gifts because my gift was my way out I
learned that God sometimes gifts some
people talents but he gives us all gifts
and some people look over their gifts
because they’re so focused on their
talent when your talent can always fill
you but your gift can never fail you so
over my journey I began to just write
down small things that they helped me to
succeed so today I want to speak to the
person who may be watching this the
person who may be sitting here who
who was like me who didn’t know if they
were in poverty or not and who didn’t
know that the word poverty impoverish
means to make a person or area poor who
who feels that no one is gonna make them
and they need a way out let me tell you
four things that helped me get through
life so I had to first teach myself that
poverty was a mindset I had to remind
myself every day that I was satisfied
where I lived as long as I ate I slept I
got a new set of twenty-four hours every
day and I was gonna get up and make the
best of those 24 hours every day I had
to tell myself that as a young guy as I
got a little older I learned that you
never get a second chance to make a
first impression so that’s why I was so
proud of that grey suit and I and my
friends never understood why I would
come outside with a tie on that’s no
special occasion going on the occasion
is special every time I step outside my
mom’s house I have to show everyone what
I could bring to the table and and and I
always tell my friends for my third
point is that you should never become
comfortable than what you live in life
is not supposed to be comfortable you’re
supposed to always find new ways to
adapt to new environments those lessons
that you learn and those new
environments are gonna be the lessons
that you use the lessons that help you
get to where you need to be and as I
previously said you have to service your
gift as much as you service your talent
I think in listening to one of the other
speakers speak earlier and he was
talking about how Kobe was always in
practice practicing so hard he was
cultivating his talent but as for me I
was always cultivating my gift I always
wanted to learn how to speak proper I
always wanted to be in front of the
crowd I always wanted to hang around
people who would give me knowledge and
who would teach me what I needed to be
successful using my gift so if I haven’t
told you anything today I want to tell
you that that you should never settle I
want to tell you that that even though
statistics even though this world may
try to confine you they may try to tell
you things that you’re not you’re unable
to dissect I want to tell you that you
should never settle get exactly what you
want out of life don’t let anyone tell
you that is not there I’m speaking to
that person who only feels that they can
do with their momma and daddy D and
there’s more to life than what mommy and
daddy did you have to know how
you have to tell yourself that this is
not where you want to be and you have to
tell yourself that you’re gonna make
yourself get there by any means
necessary
I also want to tell them that you should
never doubt don’t doubt yourself if you
want to be a lawyer and you want to be a
doctor and they say you have to be in
school for 12 years don’t free it’s okay
because you’re going to where you need
to be I also want to tell that person to
chase exactly what it is that you want
but what’s the gate ladies and gentlemen
I’m the railroad shell and I just share
my vision on how I feel that you can
escape the impoverished my set thanks
[Applause]
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