Last week a 24-year-old multimillionaire visited St. Louis to inspire young people to dream big and to encourage business leaders to help those dreams flourish.
Entrepreneur and best-selling author Farrah Gray spoke to business leaders at the St. Louis Women’s Club and to teens and young adults at the University of Missouri- St. Louis. These discussions were part of a two-day event that was sponsored by the St. Louis Internship Program.
The organization prepares inner-city high school students for academic and professional success through extensive training classes and paid internships. The program has been duplicated in 38 cities nationwide.
“Inner-city youth are not leaders of tomorrow. Inner-city youth are the leaders of today,” Gray said. “It is important as stakeholders that your work with youth contributes to the social and political fabric of the community.”
Kelvin Westbrook, president of the organization’s board, heard Gray speak a few years ago and bought 100 copies of Gray’s best-selling book Reallionaire and gave the book to youth involved in his program when he returned to St. Louis.
“Who has a better message than someone not far removed from their age?” said Shanise Johnson, program director.
Gray, who grew up poor on Chicago’s South Side, became a multimillionaire at 14 when his Farr-Out Foods had sales of $1.5 million. Gray now is the co-founder of Realty Pros, a property asset management company, which has reached more than $30 million in total assets.
“There are two important times in your life,” Gray said. “The first is when you are born. And the second most important time of your life is when you find out what your purpose is.”
As a 7-year-old, Gray created business cards for himself that read “21st Century CEO” because he knew he was destined to be an entrepreneur, he said. At 10, Gray and his neighborhood friends raised more than $12,000 in his business club. By 12, Gray raised more than $1 million from private investors to start his own venture capital firm.
“The biggest misconception is that we (inner-city youth) lack brain power,” he said. “They lack resources.”
Najah Neubern said she would not be the successful financial analyst she is today if she had not participated in the internship program in 1994.
Neubern, 31, had her internship with Mercantile Bank, which is now U.S. Bank, and she still works there today. It is the only company she has worked for since 1994.
“I’m a living testimony of what the program can do for someone,” she said. “It was a peek into what my future could be like. It gave me a taste of the business world.”
The internship program started in 1992, following the aftermath of the Rodney King trial, Attorney Thomas C. Hullverson created the program because he wanted to create an organization that gave hope and direction to inner-city youth.
Since its inception, more than 2,900 area students have completed the internship program with more than 98 percent of the interns graduating high school and going to college or post-secondary training programs.
Each student selected for the program must attend the Saturday Training and Development Component, which is designed to give students skill they will need to be successful professionally and personally.
The training is conducted on Saturdays for 10 weeks. The training includes job-readiness workshops that teach participants about professional attire, etiquette and interpersonal communications. Students also learn resume writing and interviewing techniques. They also learn computer and office equipment skills.
Mary Elizabeth Grimes, director of corporate marketing at BJC Healthcare and former board member, said, “This is one of the best returns on investment that St. Louis employers can make in our youth.”
