hey how’s everybody doing
so thank you for the warm introduction
my name is Frankie I’m 24 years old I I
still live with my mom I live in the
same small town that I grew up in never
really been actually outside of Memphis
for longer than six months reason why I
wanted to tell you this when I was
thinking through this talking what I was
going to talk about I was trying to
think through what I would have wanted
to know when I was high phone one was
still just iPhone I was graduating from
high school and the question that you
get during this stage of your life from
pretty much everybody is what are you
gonna do when I got that question seven
years ago I remember telling people that
uh I was on my way to college I was I
was set to be a first-generation college
student and that I was looking at law or
finance and I want to travel the world
obviously flash-forward seven years I’ve
failed I don’t work in law or finance I
still live in Millington Tennessee so
you may be asking yourself why is he
giving a TED talk you know he must have
had some sort of success the truth is
that not only was i lying to myself when
I was telling people what I was gonna do
when I grow up I was being irrational
sixty-five percent of jobs that’ll be
available to students entering primary
school today aren’t even on our radar
yet right now I have two jobs neither of
which were available to me when I was
graduating high school neither of them
are in law or Finance so what do I do
what was I going to do dope stuff and I
do have an opportunity to you pretty
dope stuff every day including this TED
talk
when I got to college I went to a small
liberal arts college about 20 miles
north of my hometown and I just like
many first-generation college students I
had no idea what I was gonna pursue or
anything like that
I ended up taking a couple classes in
political science two years into my
college career a little scandal happened
back in my hometown right north and I
went to a Board of Aldermen meeting so
it’s like the City Council runs the city
that type deal and what I realized was
that’s nobody that was representing me
in my hometown I didn’t know any of them
I had been student government presidents
like captain of a football team really
successful high school career but I
didn’t know any of these people so to me
that was a problem one thing led to
another and I decided there was an
upcoming election that I was going to
run for office at this time I was 19 and
I had no obviously no political
experience or anything like that there
were seven positions that were open for
election I was trying to decide who I
was gonna run against so I think I made
the right decision and you know the
decision that had the most likely odds
of success and I ran against the
longest-serving incumbent on the board
he had actually been on there for 16
years most of my life that’s my first
job that wasn’t available to me when I
was in high school
long story short I got my friends
together who I went to high school with
and over a course of six months we ran a
campaign we knocked on thousands of
doors and by the end of the campaign I
won with 59% of the vote against the
longest-serving incumbent on the board
and since then I’ve had my my first job
alderman in Millington
nobody when I was asking people that
cared about me you know about how should
I take this step forward should I run
for office most people didn’t tell me
yes the best-case scenario for them I
lost and that way I wasn’t committed to
four years in the same hometown that I
grew up in and I guess worst-case
scenario I won and then I was committed
to four years in the same town that I
grew up in and never got out of but for
me it’s been a true gift ever since not
only do I get to give TED talks like
this but I get to cut ribbons with
people twice my age you see how I’m
trying to get in there that’s that’s a
really a metaphor for how a young person
in elected office has to perform I’ve
been in that position now for five years
but going back to my sophomore year
college I come back my junior year after
I had one-on-one my political office and
really dove into my studies a year ahead
of time I have an opportunity to travel
across the country but I have to take a
semester off from school I didn’t get
this opportunity until two weeks before
my senior year of college so as a
first-generation college student going
into your senior year means a lot to
your to you and your family you’re like
almost there so needless to say my
parents and friends weren’t very happy
when I told them that I was looking and
taking a semester off to travel the
country but for me I had never been
further west in Arkansas I really want
to accomplish my goal of traveling the
world I guess I could start with our
country so I didn’t take their advice
and I did it this is me this is actually
not in the United States this is an
Israel a couple of new years ago but I
just think it’s a dill picture so I put
it up here but I got chance to travel
the country and over the course of that
I was a field organizer on a trip
basically organizing a trip across the
country to cities that I had only seen
on TV that experience ended up being
really one of the only reasons I got my
second job which I’m about to tell you
about
so flash-forward couple years or one
year I’m graduating from Rhodes College
late because it took that semester and I
was confronted with this question again
what are you gonna do so me I had really
two priorities for what I was gonna do
next I wanted to stay in Memphis I love
this area I was I was still elected to a
role where I had two years left on my
commitment and I wanted to work in
public policy or economic development in
somewhat the only problem was there’s
really no jobs in that area for a recent
college graduate that I could find but I
did find one it was my dream job working
for an organization focused on
attracting and retaining talent and
growing our economy through there the
only problem was that I wasn’t qualified
for the job at all not like not even a
little bit required a master’s degree
three or five years experience all that
stuff long story short I I called
everybody that was remotely related to
the organization like if the my friends
cousins auntie was an executive
assessment assistant there she knew I
was applying for that job that got me an
interview got me in the front door I
didn’t end up getting the job but I made
a decent impression went back to the
drawing board took a position working as
a paralegal at a law firm for about six
months and at this point in my life the
same well-intentioned people that have
been asking me what are you gonna do
we’re saying you know well maybe you
should just go to graduate school I
opportunity I got a postgraduate
fellowship walls and Rhodes College to
fund my graduate school studies maybe
you should do that just go ahead and get
on the right path instead of taking this
sort of temporary gig I didn’t listen to
them I stayed in my role and I really do
VIN I did with the work that I wanted to
do an economic development in public
policy but I did it for free six months
down the road another job opens up at
that organization first time this job
has ever existed the organization has
been around since 1979 it was a better
fit for me
I applied interviewed got the job two
years later I’m still working at the
organization
and am now in a role that I’ve only been
in for 11 months that was created for me
so not only was this position that I
hold now not available to me when I was
graduating high school it wasn’t
available 12 months ago so have I been
successful by the terms that I define
success when I was graduating from high
school seven years ago absolutely not
I failed on all accounts 24-year old
dude still living in the same town
living with my mom basically
stereotypical millennial snowflake but
that’s really only half the story I’m
also a first generation college graduate
last year I was 23 I bought my first
house it’s my Jordan here for those of
you that haven’t gotten to 23 yet it’s a
Jordan year it’s a very important year
I’m a recipient of the hairiest Truman
fellowship for public service which is
only given out to about 50 students
every year just I mean yes if I can’t
define success how I used to if I was
going to define a success how other
people define it for me just in the last
week I was mentioned in the local media
and reference to be a Power Ranger for
my work at my current job which I
obviously loved to hear that I was being
compared to a Power Ranger and I opened
up my browser about a week ago and got a
positional reference in the national
media at the hill where I was compared
to Mayor Bill DeBlasio of New York
Governor Missouri Chris Kuhn United
States Senator and a host of other
leaders basically I was like the butt
end of that spectrum which is fine
I was mentioned at least so success in
terms of how other people view it
perhaps so what do I do now I have two
jobs neither of which were available to
me seven years ago both of which and
give me the opportunity to wake up every
day and make a difference for the
community that I grew up
that I love also in my Jordan year I had
a another decision to make that I was a
really pivotal decision for me in my
life my mother who raised me and he’s an
amazing brilliant woman suffers from
bipolar disorder and she has never had a
stable home situation since her dad
divorced back when I was a kid so I had
a decision to make whether I was gonna
ask my mom to come and live with me
that’s 23 years old I’ve only been in
the workforce for about a year everybody
that I knew that really has you know
their their heart out there for me told
me that this wasn’t a good decision
you know I’m too young to take on a
burden take on a responsibility it’s
been the best decision I’ve made in the
last few years my mom makes me better
and she makes me better for the work
that I get to do every single day my
point is that’s when I look back and
what I get to do it’s not what I decided
was gonna be successful for me seven
years ago but I get to do some really
dope stuff and it’s in and in terms of
success for what really matters I’ve
succeeded beyond my wildest dreams so
far where do I go from here seven years
from now who knows hopefully I’m still
doing some dope stuff but I do want to
leave you with this this is the only
piece of advice that I’ve heard lately
and trust me as a young person in
government you hear lots of advice from
people this is the only piece of advice
that has really held any weight for me
this is viola Street just turned 100
recently retired as a cafeteria lady
after 35 years before that she held
another position for 15 years and was a
retired educator from Shelby County
Schools she said stay busy help others
don’t sit on your Fanny and think about
what you can do or want to do get up and
go do it so that’s all I’ll leave you
with that’s the only really piece of
advice that I’m gonna give this talk
thank you
so thank you for the warm introduction
my name is Frankie I’m 24 years old I I
still live with my mom I live in the
same small town that I grew up in never
really been actually outside of Memphis
for longer than six months reason why I
wanted to tell you this when I was
thinking through this talking what I was
going to talk about I was trying to
think through what I would have wanted
to know when I was high phone one was
still just iPhone I was graduating from
high school and the question that you
get during this stage of your life from
pretty much everybody is what are you
gonna do when I got that question seven
years ago I remember telling people that
uh I was on my way to college I was I
was set to be a first-generation college
student and that I was looking at law or
finance and I want to travel the world
obviously flash-forward seven years I’ve
failed I don’t work in law or finance I
still live in Millington Tennessee so
you may be asking yourself why is he
giving a TED talk you know he must have
had some sort of success the truth is
that not only was i lying to myself when
I was telling people what I was gonna do
when I grow up I was being irrational
sixty-five percent of jobs that’ll be
available to students entering primary
school today aren’t even on our radar
yet right now I have two jobs neither of
which were available to me when I was
graduating high school neither of them
are in law or Finance so what do I do
what was I going to do dope stuff and I
do have an opportunity to you pretty
dope stuff every day including this TED
talk
when I got to college I went to a small
liberal arts college about 20 miles
north of my hometown and I just like
many first-generation college students I
had no idea what I was gonna pursue or
anything like that
I ended up taking a couple classes in
political science two years into my
college career a little scandal happened
back in my hometown right north and I
went to a Board of Aldermen meeting so
it’s like the City Council runs the city
that type deal and what I realized was
that’s nobody that was representing me
in my hometown I didn’t know any of them
I had been student government presidents
like captain of a football team really
successful high school career but I
didn’t know any of these people so to me
that was a problem one thing led to
another and I decided there was an
upcoming election that I was going to
run for office at this time I was 19 and
I had no obviously no political
experience or anything like that there
were seven positions that were open for
election I was trying to decide who I
was gonna run against so I think I made
the right decision and you know the
decision that had the most likely odds
of success and I ran against the
longest-serving incumbent on the board
he had actually been on there for 16
years most of my life that’s my first
job that wasn’t available to me when I
was in high school
long story short I got my friends
together who I went to high school with
and over a course of six months we ran a
campaign we knocked on thousands of
doors and by the end of the campaign I
won with 59% of the vote against the
longest-serving incumbent on the board
and since then I’ve had my my first job
alderman in Millington
nobody when I was asking people that
cared about me you know about how should
I take this step forward should I run
for office most people didn’t tell me
yes the best-case scenario for them I
lost and that way I wasn’t committed to
four years in the same hometown that I
grew up in and I guess worst-case
scenario I won and then I was committed
to four years in the same town that I
grew up in and never got out of but for
me it’s been a true gift ever since not
only do I get to give TED talks like
this but I get to cut ribbons with
people twice my age you see how I’m
trying to get in there that’s that’s a
really a metaphor for how a young person
in elected office has to perform I’ve
been in that position now for five years
but going back to my sophomore year
college I come back my junior year after
I had one-on-one my political office and
really dove into my studies a year ahead
of time I have an opportunity to travel
across the country but I have to take a
semester off from school I didn’t get
this opportunity until two weeks before
my senior year of college so as a
first-generation college student going
into your senior year means a lot to
your to you and your family you’re like
almost there so needless to say my
parents and friends weren’t very happy
when I told them that I was looking and
taking a semester off to travel the
country but for me I had never been
further west in Arkansas I really want
to accomplish my goal of traveling the
world I guess I could start with our
country so I didn’t take their advice
and I did it this is me this is actually
not in the United States this is an
Israel a couple of new years ago but I
just think it’s a dill picture so I put
it up here but I got chance to travel
the country and over the course of that
I was a field organizer on a trip
basically organizing a trip across the
country to cities that I had only seen
on TV that experience ended up being
really one of the only reasons I got my
second job which I’m about to tell you
about
so flash-forward couple years or one
year I’m graduating from Rhodes College
late because it took that semester and I
was confronted with this question again
what are you gonna do so me I had really
two priorities for what I was gonna do
next I wanted to stay in Memphis I love
this area I was I was still elected to a
role where I had two years left on my
commitment and I wanted to work in
public policy or economic development in
somewhat the only problem was there’s
really no jobs in that area for a recent
college graduate that I could find but I
did find one it was my dream job working
for an organization focused on
attracting and retaining talent and
growing our economy through there the
only problem was that I wasn’t qualified
for the job at all not like not even a
little bit required a master’s degree
three or five years experience all that
stuff long story short I I called
everybody that was remotely related to
the organization like if the my friends
cousins auntie was an executive
assessment assistant there she knew I
was applying for that job that got me an
interview got me in the front door I
didn’t end up getting the job but I made
a decent impression went back to the
drawing board took a position working as
a paralegal at a law firm for about six
months and at this point in my life the
same well-intentioned people that have
been asking me what are you gonna do
we’re saying you know well maybe you
should just go to graduate school I
opportunity I got a postgraduate
fellowship walls and Rhodes College to
fund my graduate school studies maybe
you should do that just go ahead and get
on the right path instead of taking this
sort of temporary gig I didn’t listen to
them I stayed in my role and I really do
VIN I did with the work that I wanted to
do an economic development in public
policy but I did it for free six months
down the road another job opens up at
that organization first time this job
has ever existed the organization has
been around since 1979 it was a better
fit for me
I applied interviewed got the job two
years later I’m still working at the
organization
and am now in a role that I’ve only been
in for 11 months that was created for me
so not only was this position that I
hold now not available to me when I was
graduating high school it wasn’t
available 12 months ago so have I been
successful by the terms that I define
success when I was graduating from high
school seven years ago absolutely not
I failed on all accounts 24-year old
dude still living in the same town
living with my mom basically
stereotypical millennial snowflake but
that’s really only half the story I’m
also a first generation college graduate
last year I was 23 I bought my first
house it’s my Jordan here for those of
you that haven’t gotten to 23 yet it’s a
Jordan year it’s a very important year
I’m a recipient of the hairiest Truman
fellowship for public service which is
only given out to about 50 students
every year just I mean yes if I can’t
define success how I used to if I was
going to define a success how other
people define it for me just in the last
week I was mentioned in the local media
and reference to be a Power Ranger for
my work at my current job which I
obviously loved to hear that I was being
compared to a Power Ranger and I opened
up my browser about a week ago and got a
positional reference in the national
media at the hill where I was compared
to Mayor Bill DeBlasio of New York
Governor Missouri Chris Kuhn United
States Senator and a host of other
leaders basically I was like the butt
end of that spectrum which is fine
I was mentioned at least so success in
terms of how other people view it
perhaps so what do I do now I have two
jobs neither of which were available to
me seven years ago both of which and
give me the opportunity to wake up every
day and make a difference for the
community that I grew up
that I love also in my Jordan year I had
a another decision to make that I was a
really pivotal decision for me in my
life my mother who raised me and he’s an
amazing brilliant woman suffers from
bipolar disorder and she has never had a
stable home situation since her dad
divorced back when I was a kid so I had
a decision to make whether I was gonna
ask my mom to come and live with me
that’s 23 years old I’ve only been in
the workforce for about a year everybody
that I knew that really has you know
their their heart out there for me told
me that this wasn’t a good decision
you know I’m too young to take on a
burden take on a responsibility it’s
been the best decision I’ve made in the
last few years my mom makes me better
and she makes me better for the work
that I get to do every single day my
point is that’s when I look back and
what I get to do it’s not what I decided
was gonna be successful for me seven
years ago but I get to do some really
dope stuff and it’s in and in terms of
success for what really matters I’ve
succeeded beyond my wildest dreams so
far where do I go from here seven years
from now who knows hopefully I’m still
doing some dope stuff but I do want to
leave you with this this is the only
piece of advice that I’ve heard lately
and trust me as a young person in
government you hear lots of advice from
people this is the only piece of advice
that has really held any weight for me
this is viola Street just turned 100
recently retired as a cafeteria lady
after 35 years before that she held
another position for 15 years and was a
retired educator from Shelby County
Schools she said stay busy help others
don’t sit on your Fanny and think about
what you can do or want to do get up and
go do it so that’s all I’ll leave you
with that’s the only really piece of
advice that I’m gonna give this talk
thank you
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