Bestselling Author Inspires Readers This Black History Month
At the age of 26, Farrah Gray has achieved more than many people achieve in a lifetime. Raised in the impoverished south side of Chicago, Dr. Gray defied the odds and became history’s youngest self-made millionaire, beyond the field of entertainment, by age 14. He was also the youngest person to have an office on Wall Street and the youngest to receive an honorary doctorate. Now he is an inspiration to millions and an international bestselling author. Gray’s books, Reallionaire, Get Real Get Rich, and The Truth Shall Make You Rich, have been translated into Russian, Korean, Indonesian and Vietnamese with book sales in Africa, Australia, Europe, and Central and South America.
Gray has also been named as one of the CNN’s African-American First History Makers and as one of the 20 Modern Black History Makers in the 20th anniversary issue of Upscale magazine. Chair of the Farrah Gray Foundation and spokesman for the National Coalition for Homeless, as well as the National Bone Marrow Donor Program, he has been invited to the White House eight times with President Clinton, President Bush and, most recently, with President Barack Obama.
Gray began his entrepreneurial, personal, and civic development as a stellar young citizen at six-years-old selling homemade body lotion and his own hand-painted rocks as bookends door-to-door. At seven he was carrying business cards reading “21st Century CEO.” At eight, Gray became co-founder of Urban Neighborhood Enterprise Economic Club (U.N.E.E.C.) on Chicago’s Southside. U.N.E.E.C. was the forerunner of New Early Entrepreneur Wonders (NE2W), the flagship organization he opened on Wall Street. NE2W enlisted, educated, and engaged “at-risk” youth by creating and developing legal ways for them to acquire additional income.
Between the ages of 12 and 16, Gray founded and operated business ventures that included KIDZTEL pre-paid phone cards, the One Stop Mail Boxes & More franchise, and The Teenscope “Youth AM/FM” interactive teen talk show. Gray was also Executive Producer of a comedy show on the Las Vegas Strip and owner of Farr-Out Foods, “Way-Out Food with a Twist,” aimed at young people with the company’s first strawberry-vanilla syrup product. Farr-Out Foods generated orders exceeding $1.5 million.
As a pre-teen, Gray reached 12 million listeners and viewers every Saturday night as co-host of “Backstage Live,” a syndicated television and radio simulcast in Las Vegas. Gray’s inspirational spirit and grounded personality sparked speaking requests from organizations around the country. Gray’s sense of social responsibility motivated him to create the non-profit organization, The Farrah Gray Foundation. Among other programs and initiatives, his foundation focuses on inner city community-based entrepreneurship education and provides scholarship and grant assistance for students from at-risk backgrounds to attend HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). Gray donates his honorariums from speaking engagements (which can be upwards of $15,000) and the proceeds of his book to his foundation in what he refers to as his “self-imposed” youth tax. The Farrah Gray Foundation is also in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, launching entrepreneurship programs in inner-city schools across the country.
Gray is currently the CEO of Farrah Gray Publishing (FGP) which is distributed by HCI Books, which published the world famous New York Times, USA Today, and Guinness Book of World Records, as well as the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Chicken Soup for the Soul has sold more than 112 million copies, with titles translated into more than 40 languages and total retail sales of Chicken Soup for the Soul branded merchandise have topped $1.3 billion.
Reallionaire, as well as other titles by Dr. Gray, is available online and in bookstores everywhere. Learn more about this inspiring figure at: www.FarrahGray.com.
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TIP SHEET:
Bill Clinton, (Former) President of the United States of America: “I know Farrah Gray and we have discussed his future. His motivation determines what he will do. His attitude determines how well he will succeed at making a difference.”
O: The Oprah Magazine dubbed Farrah Gray an “all-star” with “priceless advice.”
Suze Orman, New York Times Bestselling Author: “You are just the best and the real thing.”
Good Morning America: “Farrah Gray is the ultimate American success story.”
ABC 20/20: “America’s Reallionaire.”
CNN: “Farrah Gray is the youngest African American of his generation to make his mark on Wall Street and to become a millionaire.”
MSN.com placed Farrah Gray on its 2010 Young Tycoons List along with Mark Zuckerberg.
