“Wow, your asking me to go fffaaarr back in my memory banks. Hhhhmmm….

I would say that I was in need of the program, even though I hated every minute of my dad trying to convince me to go on the first day. Growing up in an area that wasn’t conducive to my growth (but gave me great life lessons and skills) meant I had an option of 1 of 2 evils; Be a victim or become a contributing factor to the problem. Needless to say I chose the latter. Actually let me take that back. I wouldn’t say I had a choice come to think of it, it simply was what is was at that time, you had to maneuver in a particular way for self preservation!! It was that real! You HAD to be aquatinted with a different type of brotherhood who, at a drop of a dime, were ready to protect you if you were ever in a situation where you couldn’t protect yourself. It was the smartest investment you could make for the environment that you were in, although at times you were risking your freedom and sometimes your life.

This is the part where I try to make myself look like an angel by saying “I wasn’t as bad as some of my friends.” But truly I wasn’t half as bad as alot of my boys. I don’t want to bore you with all the in’s and out’s of the activities my friends and I were engaged in, and as I am under American law at the time of writing this… I do have the option of “pleading the 5th amendment”.

But I will say this, I truly saw Origin for what it was when I came to one of the meetings a few weeks after one of my close friends was brutally murdered at 16 ( I was 14 at the time) as a result of ‘gang violence’. The memory isn’t as painful as it once was, I guess time has that kind of effect. I just remember that time period being real dark for me. The brothers at Origin truly gave me a lot of support and bro P did EVERYTHING he could to stop me reacting in the way that I wanted to at the time. And I’m thankful he did as one of my friends has only just came out of Jail last year for following through on what we all wanted to do 6 years ago.

“Origin aint give me nothing!!” I would love to see bro P’s reaction after reading that. For the record I’m joking. Honestly, Origin gave me a sense of self. I learned a hell load of things at the meetings, after I graduated from the program I wish I had taken a note pad and pen to all the meetings we had! The program armed me with knowledge and another perspective to life. Its funny, once your perspective has been slightly altered, if things from that view look better than where you were originally looking from, curiosity will naturally cause you to want to expand that view point. This changed my entire psyche and put me on a life long journey. Truly, Origin has done too much for me to type.

Well now, I’m a student athlete in America studying for my marketing degree. I was never one for the College (University) route to tell you the truth, but I received a scholarship last year and will be done with my degree in roughly two years as oppose to four. My college being in America kind of help to sway me a little too. An English boy in American (shake my head)? Lets just say I’m not one to shun away from attention, and boy is there more than enough of that here!!!

I’m also the CEO of The Young Millionaires Club which is a international multifaceted media company that focused on youth empowerment for wealth creation. We’ve worked with BET, Sony, the number 1 and 2 artists in the UK and numerous entrepreneurs and successful business men. Feel free to check out our website: www.youngmilly.com

What else am I doing?…Hhhmm. I’m actually thinking about what I’m going to do for my 21st birthday this Sunday (in 5 days time. Feel free to send presents) and what I’m going to cook for dinner after I finish writing this. Apart from that I’m just staying on my grind ’til I get to the top #Can’tStopWontStop!

I really do hope you enroll your son into Origin. If I had my way I’d implement the program into the school curriculum. Maybe one day, but until then, you have a great gift in front of you that you can offer your son. Parents, expect your Son to take it for granted for the first few weeks, but he’ll come around. It will be a monumental part of he’s growth, something that will stay with him forever.

Until we meet, I wish you nothing but love, success and fullness of joy! #Lets Build Up Our Own Community!! #It Takes A Village To Raise A Man!!”