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Farrah Gray

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Farrah Gray is an American businessman investor, social entrepreneur, philanthropist, bestselling author, syndicated columnist, motivational speaker, and the CEO of Farrah Gray Publishing (which is distributed by Health Communications, Inc, publishers of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.)

Gray began his entrepreneurial, personal and civic development at six years of age selling home-made body lotion and his own hand-painted rocks as book-ends door-to-door. At age seven, he was carrying business cards reading "21st Century CEO". At age eight, Gray became co-founder of Urban Neighborhood Enterprise Economic Club (U.N.E.E.C.) on Chicago's South Side. 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. Gray is the youngest person to have an office on Wall Street.

Between the ages of 12 and 16 years old, 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," [1] 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 & grant assistance for students from at-risk backgrounds to attend HBCU's (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). Gray donates his honorarium from speaking engagements 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's work did not remain under the radar screen for long. He soon then became the youngest member of the Board of Advisors for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. He was also given a three-year term on the Board of Directors of United Way of Southern Nevada at the age of 15. Gray continued his philanthropic work signing on as the spokesman for the National Coalition for the Homeless [2] and the National Marrow Donor Program.[3][4] As a private consultant he has worked with JP Morgan Chase and the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency.

Dr. Gray’s latest books Get Real, Get Rich and The Truth Shall Make You Rich a no-holds-barred rejection of the fallacies we've all heard—and believed—about success and how to achieve it. Dr. Gray’s first book Reallionaire was nominated by NBC & Publishers Weekly Quill Awards in the category of "Health/Self-Improvement." His book appeared on the Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble's Best-sellers lists two weeks before its international release. Reallionaire was also named as the #1 Best-selling Nonfiction Paperback book in the August 2005 Issue of Essence Magazine.

Reallionaire was endorsed by former President Bill Clinton, Pierre Sutton, Stedman Graham, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Gray's book and his journey to succeed against the odds have become required reading and part of classroom study from elementary school to entrepreneurship departments on college and university campuses such as Harvard University and Princeton. Gray’s books have been translated into Russian, Korean, Indonesian and Vietnamese languages with book sales in Africa, Australia, and Europe and in Central and South America countries.

Media

Since his first interview at 11 years old on KVBC Channel 3, Gray has been featured in thousands of print, magazine, radio and television media interviews including The NBC reality show Starting Over, 20/20,[5] Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, The Montel Williams Show, Oprah & Friends, Tom Joyner Show, The Michael Baisden Show, The Tavis Smiley Show, CNBC, BET, NBC, FOX, CBS, NPR, Ebony, Jet, Essence, Upscale, Black MBA, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. He was also featured as one of the Dream Team Financial Experts for O” The Oprah Magazine in March 2008 issue.[6] He is also a syndicated columnist [7] with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) federation of 200 weekly newspapers reaching more than 15 million readers. As an AOL Money Coach, Dr. Gray gives advice to millions of AOL subscribers daily on leadership, personal development, diversity, strategic planning, creativity, business development and financial management.[8] Gray also is a popular motivational speaker and commencement speaker,[9] earning $10,000-$15,000 per appearance. Gray is listed with speakers bureau's such as International Speakers [1], Premiere Speakers Bureau [2] and other leading bureaus.

Gray’s latest books The Truth Shall Make You Rich (2009)Plume,ISBN 0-452-29017-1 / ISBN 978-0-452-29017-4, and Get Real, Get Rich(2007) Dutton, ISBN 0-525-95044-3 / ISBN 978-0-525-95044-8 a no-holds-barred rejection of the fallacies we've all heard—and believed—about success and how to achieve it. Gray’s first book Reallionaire(2005) HCI,ISBN 0-7573-0224-6 / ISBN 978-0-7573-0224-4 was nominated by NBC & Publishers Weekly Quill Awards in the category of "Health/Self-Improvement." His book appeared on the Amazon and Barnes & Noble's Best-sellers lists two weeks before its international release. Reallionaire was also named as the #1 Best-selling Nonfiction Paperback book in the August 2005 Issue of Essence Magazine. Gray is also a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the African-American Soul.

Reallionaire was endorsed by Former President Bill Clinton, Stedman Graham, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Pierre Sutton. Gray's book and his journey to succeed against the odds have become required reading and part of classroom study from elementary school to entrepreneurship departments on college and university campuses such as Harvard University and Princeton. Gray’s books have been translated into Russian, Korean, Indonesian and Vietnamese languages with book sales in Africa, Australia, Europe as well as Central and South America countries.

Honors

Gray's honors include Keys to the Cities of Dallas, Texas Shreveport, Louisiana and Cincinnati, Ohio. He has also received Proclamations from the Governors of Illinois and Nevada, the Mayors of Chicago, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Wilmington, Delaware, and Clark County Nevada Commissioners. Gray's Awards include The National Urban League Whitney M. Young Jr. Entrepreneurship Award, The Indiana Black Expo (IBE) Hoosier Lottery Entrepreneur Award, The Alabama A&M Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Award, The Davidson College Love of Learning Lifetime Educational Achievement Award, Central State Award of Appreciation for contributions made in the area of entrepreneurship, NV Magazine Vision Award, The Network Journal “40 Under-Forty" Achievement Awards [10] and the American Red Cross Award of Appreciation."

Books

Title Co-Authors Year Publisher ISBN
Reallionaire: Nine Steps of Becoming Rich on the Inside Out Fran Harris 2005 HCI ISBN 0-7573-0224-6 / ISBN 978-0-7573-0224-4
Get Real, Get Rich - 2007 Dutton ISBN 0-525-95044-3 / ISBN 978-0-525-95044-8
The Truth Shall Make You Rich: The New Road Map to Radical Prosperity - 2009 Plume ISBN 0-452-29017-1 / ISBN 978-0-452-29017-4

Additional Notes

"The Truth Shall Make You Rich: The New Road Map to Radical Prosperity" (2009) was originally published as "Get Real, Get Rich." (2007)

References

  1. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://farr-outfoods.com
  2. ^ http://www.nationalhomeless.org/getinvolved/farrahgray.html
  3. ^ http://www.marrow.org/MEDIA/Public_Service_Announcements/index.html /
  4. ^ http://www.marrow.org/NEWS/News_Releases/2006/20060717_farrah_gray.html
  5. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Business/story?id=2247424&page=1
  6. ^ http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/02/prweb671363.htm
  7. ^ http://www.blackpressusa.com/News/Article_Search.asp?NewsID=17276
  8. ^ http://coaches.aol.com/money/farrah-gray/main
  9. ^ http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/05/prweb525458.htm
  10. ^ http://www.tnj.com/40-under-forty/2008/farrah-gray

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