Black History Month Feature: How Inner-city Kid Farrah Gray Became A Millionaire By Age 14
Las Vegas, NV, February 9, 2012 - At the age of 27, Farrah Gray has achieved more than most 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 fourteen. 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 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; first with Presidents Clinton and Bush and most recently with President Barack Obama.
Gray began his entrepreneurial, personal, and civic development as a stellar young citizen at the age of six, 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 twelve and sixteen, 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 twelve 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. His 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 - publishers of 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. This series was translated into more than forty languages and sold more than 112 million copies, with total retail sales of Chicken Soup for the Soul branded merchandise topping $1.3 billion.
Las Vegas, NV, February 9, 2012 - At the age of 27, Farrah Gray has achieved more than most 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 fourteen. 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 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; first with Presidents Clinton and Bush and most recently with President Barack Obama.
Gray began his entrepreneurial, personal, and civic development as a stellar young citizen at the age of six, 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 twelve and sixteen, 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 twelve 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. His 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 - publishers of 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. This series was translated into more than forty languages and sold more than 112 million copies, with total retail sales of Chicken Soup for the Soul branded merchandise topping $1.3 billion.
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