My life started in the big city of Paris, France, where I also grew up and spent the first 27 years of my life. My parents immigrated to Paris when they were younger. They come from a country located in Western Africa.

I had a good childhood, my parents did what they can with what they knew at the time, and, even though, they are not the type of people who say “I love you” to their kids, my siblings and I could feel that they love us. I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers, I am the only one who moved to the United States, they all stayed in Paris near my parents.

Moving here was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I feel that I can finally be myself. Ever since I moved to Chicago, I haven’t stopped learning. Learning about the culture, the city, the people. I read spiritual books and those talking about self-love, and self-worth. I attended “Unleash the power within” seminars, and stayed active within the Tony Robbins community. (Tony Robbins is a personal development coach, he is very active in spreading his message to the world).

I have gained so much confidence in me that I started spreading everything that I’ve learned. I became a volunteer tutor for the city of Chicago, and recently registered to become a foster parent. I will guide the youths who live far from their families.

Even though I have made a lot of progress throughout the years, I am still struggling with English pronunciation. English is my only “Bête Noire” (black beast), but I have a personal tutor and I am taking some English pronunciation lessons. I intend to master that beast.

I hope that my life story will empower you to work on yourself starting now so that you can live an adult life full of joy. I don’t want you to wait until you move to a different country to start being you. Start today!

Now…
A little bit of My Philosophy

I believe that the fight is directed to the wrong direction. If we want respect and recognition, then we need to be a respectable person and an achiever. Be good at our craft.

We don’t get born the way we are, we become it. I often say an absent father, an addict mother or a greedy father will create an unhealthy individual. Parents choose what they want to create. When a mother let her kid “play” outside all day and expect them to come back home when their tired, does she expects him/her to come back with the same innocence mind they left in the morning.

We often hear people say the system has failed us. A group of rappers rapped about that in my home country recently. But what we don’t want to admit is that we have failed ourselves ‘cause you can just expect the least help but you should do way more for yourself. My mother raised her six kids using mostly loans, she used what she was given and succeeded. All of those artists, and athletes coming from rough neighborhoods, didn’t wait for the system to offer them a pretty life, they relied on their craft and their possession.

The system can only fail the person waiting for it to succeed.

That’s where the difference of mindsets kicks in. Some wait while others climb. Those who understood that, climbed and we should study them and repeat what they did. I used to be the kid who was waiting, waiting for my family to show me the way, waiting for something somewhere to come and take me. When I understood that my family doesn’t know the way and that nobody was coming, I went to find the path myself. Once I found it, I showed it to them so they can follow.

Just right there, I created myself…

I became a leader.