The Boy the System Wrote Off | Jeff Cordell's Incredible Journey

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For anyone who doesn't know, why should they 
listen to this podcast? Because it's a raw

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story of truth. One night I had a knock on 
my door, right? My aunties came in and she

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goes out there's some people outside asking for 
you. I had a funny feeling when she said that,

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right? So then I went outside. Two guys with 
balaclavas and masters. Stop it. They're screaming

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at me saying like, "Where's your money? Are these 
guys going to stab me? are they going to shoot

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me? It was a real sign of you need to separate 
yourself to elevate yourself. Who's my audience,

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right? Like who who do I relate to the most? And 
for me at that time, it was it was young people in

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school. I decided that's what I was going to do. 
And I started to build workshops and motivational

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assemblies on mindset and purpose and stuff like 
that and going to schools and delivered. I've gone

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from one of the most deprived areas in Birmingham 
to standing on the stage at St. James's Palace

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getting an award as an award-winning changemaker 
from King Charles himself. You know, I had news

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and newspapers write about me, right? Richard 
Branson sent me a letter of encouragement. Idris

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Alber said, you know, the an inspiring person 
that I look at these days is called Al Jeffers,

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like from Idris Alba. Lionel Richie interviewed 
me. Like, come on. In the words of Connor Ben,

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put that in your pipe and smoke it. You've built 
yourself back up. You've You are an inspiration

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to others and keep doing the work because we need 
it. Okay, Cordell. Welcome. Thank you for having

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me here. For anyone who doesn't know, why should 
they listen to this podcast? People should listen

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to this podcast because it's a raw story of truth. 
A raw story of somebody that's turned hardship and

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pain into purpose. Somebody that's turned their 
purpose into a mission. And somebody that wants

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to help the world, help serve. help serve in 
terms of helping people find their true self,

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their true identity, their purpose and how can 
they then use that purpose to serve other people.

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And most importantly, as a public speaking 
coach and an inspirational speaker, I love

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to help people understand what their stories are 
to share them as well. So, this is going to be

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a raw story. There's no filters here. Like, we we 
try to talk as real as possible. And yeah, that's

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why this is the thing. it. You are the real deal. 
So you don't come, you haven't had it easy. You've

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had to graft and scrape and scratch and fight your 
way through. Yeah. And you've come through so much

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so that you're then hanging out with King Charles. 
We can we can say that. We can literally say that.

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That is mega success. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. 
Been awarded by the King of England, King Charles.

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um rub shoulders with many you know what people 
would call celebrities, famous people being

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co-signed and you know by people like Idris 
Alba, you know, Richard Branson and Yeah. So

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I've done I've done some great things. You've 
done some great things. You've helped lots and

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lots of people. So that's the thing. You you've 
not you're not just hanging out with them for no

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reason. Yeah. I know. Of course. It's through 
your work. Yeah. It's through my work. It's

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through it's through sharing my story and sharing 
my adversities and just being a real person,

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right? Like I feel like in this world, especially 
with social media, people try to put a mask on,

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right? Cuz we want to show perfection. We want 
to show our best self. Yeah. But when you share

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your truth, when you share the vulnerable parts of 
you, those emotional scars, but when you can show

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people how you've overcome that and how you can 
how you've been able to overcome and use that as a

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as a driving force for your own life, when you can 
share that, you know, people will come, you know.

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It's tough though. Yeah. No, it is. It's tough. 
No, it is. It's definitely tough. But I always

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say, right, your your vibe will create your tribe, 
right? And you just need to be able to share. Just

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share your truth, right? Don't try to fit in with 
everyone else. Don't try to polish everything.

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Don't try to make your Instagram or your personal 
brand look so polished, right? Cuz actually that

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creates a disconnect from the real people, right? 
People want to see where you're at. And in order

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to connect with people, you have to meet them 
where they are, right? So show people that you

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was either just like them or you are where they 
are and let them come on that journey with you.

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And that's what I've done as a as a speaker, 
as as someone that's been building my journey.

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I'm not perfect, you know. I'm still not where I 
dreamed to be, but I'm building every single day.

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And I share that and I share my hardships with 
people. And I've been able to create a community

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and create some amazing opportunities for myself 
to the point where I've gone from one of the most

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deprived areas in Birmingham to standing on the 
stage at St. James's Palace getting an award as

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an award-winning changemaker from King Charles 
himself. Right. So, just be real. I detect the

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northern accent, so we're gonna we're going to go 
into that. But yeah, yeah, it's you know, on the

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podcast, we've got all kinds of people and um and 
you know, lots lots of them have got great success

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and things and I do want to tap into the mindset 
and go, well, how did you what did you do? How

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did you do this? And I I want to hear from people 
that have done stuff and moved the the dial for

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themselves, you know, that they've taken control 
of their life which might not have been in control

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and and made a difference for themselves first 
and foremost because you you had to do that. You

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had to actively work on yourself to come out of 
that. And the podcast is about everyone learning

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that they can take control of their life and they 
can do something about it. We don't have to stay

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in that position. We have the power over our own 
own destinies. We're the authors of our own books.

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Yes. And we can do it. Right. We're going to 
step into your story. Okay. All right. Let's

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go back. You're a baby. Where are you born? So, 
I was born in in Birmingham. Born in Birmingham,

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which is again amazing place, very diverse, 
right? You've got every single culture, every

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single nationality and you know school was school 
was good in terms of where was I living? So I was

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living at home um single mom was a single parent 
to a certain point right so my dad and my mom were

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they were together bit of a situation you know if 
you can read between the lines reading between the

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lines it might not might not have been so there 
was a situation when the situation occurred how

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old were you situation so I was born into this a 
situation oh you were born into where my mom and

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dad you know they were might have not been should 
have been doing what they were doing right? They

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might not should have had that relationship that 
they was having, right? Um but my dad was there

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for like the first like you know seven years 
of my life. Um he had to he had to leave when I

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was like 7 years old, right? He had to he had to 
leave. He moved to America for for some reasons.

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Did you feel the strain of that relationship 
at at that young age or or wasn't it too bad?

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I was I was always kind of prepared for 
it because my mom always said, "Listen,

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like you know, one day that your dad's going to 
have to go back to America, right? So, she kind

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of prepared before it." However, you can't never 
really prepare for that, right? You got somebody

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so such a great connection in your life, it's and 
then they leave, right? Maybe obviously back then

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you not when you're a kid, you don't really tap 
into your emotions as much, right? So you don't

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know what's going on. You might be confused. Well, 
where's dad now? Why is he gone? You don't really

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understand it. So you might grieve in different 
ways. And that might come out in my that I think

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that was coming out possibly within behavior 
and not behavior at the time of seven, eight,

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nine years old, but in my in my kind of later 
years when I went to school, right? Yeah. Um,

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so things started to to kind of change because 
because I remember in primary school hearing

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about like kids, you know, in the classroom, their 
parents who get divorced and things and you hear

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that word divorce and you you you I was just I 
was very fearful of it. I remember as a primary

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school kid and whenever I saw my parents argue, 
I'd be thinking, "Oh no, don't do not," you know,

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and I would ask them, "Are you going to get 
divorced? Are you going to?" But that fear like,

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you know, I mean, I definitely had that as a 
kid. I didn't want like no one no kid wants

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their their parents to wake up. That's all you 
know. You don't and obviously as a as you know a

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dad and and a boy son right like looked up to my 
dad a lot and yeah it was it was unfortunate but

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it was a situation that had to happen was going to 
happen. My mom kind of prepped me for it. It more

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affected my little brother. I had seven years 
with my dad right like so up until up until he

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left and we listen my dad's still in my life now. 
Like we phone each other every week. we speak.

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He still lives in America. Um he's traveled 
down once or twice since then. Um you know,

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it's not ideal like he's not like in my life 
in terms of he's here physically and he hasn't

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been since I've been seven re realistically, 
right? But we still have a close bond. Um but

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more through you know the the technology of your 
phone and and social media and FaceTime. Now,

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it affected my brother a lot a lot more because 
he was he was like when my dad moved to America,

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he was lit my brother was just born, right? So, 
my mom literally was pregnant as she moved. So,

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he didn't have Yeah. So, he didn't and he when he 
moved, he didn't even know my mom was um having

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going to have another child. So, my mom told him 
the news when he was in America, right? So, there

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was that. So by the my my brother kind of my my 
brother grew up without a dad basically you know

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he didn't even get to have any of those years you 
know. Okay. And I mean so how's home life? Your

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dad goes and so you your your mom's looking after 
you two boys. Yeah two two boys. Listen my mom she

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we've got a good family network like so back then 
you know we my my granddad was around obviously

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the past my granddad my nan they were around. So 
there was a strong family unit. We're very small,

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very needed, but very close family. So that, 
you know, that's always good to have, you know,

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got cousins and and stuff like that. But my mom, 
you know, in the years, she always let me know,

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listen, this was a situation we was in. Dad's 
moved on. Don't ever, you know, hate him for

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that or don't ever Oh, that's good. She, so she 
always primed me for that. So I never had that.

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So I always kept a good relationship with my dad. 
Um she continued as a single mom and she worked

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extremely hard. She went to university. She got 
her degree still. She worked, you know, two jobs,

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you know, to provide. My mom was a go-getter. She 
was someone that had a mission and she she would

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try to complete it, right? We all have different 
levels of generations, right? Like my grandparents

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came over from the Caribbean. They came on, you 
know, literally the wind rush. They came on a ship

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over to the UK, right? Got into factory work, 
built a stable foundation, built a family, and

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then my mom took it to the next level where she 
got into university and then you got into like,

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you know, into a a good position within the 
community youth work sector. And then for me,

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it was just like, okay, how do I push that next 
level, right? Yeah. Of course, there might not

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have been millionaires, but they used what they 
had and they worked what they had. And then it,

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you know, it's just for me to now take that to 
the next level. And then, you know, God willing,

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my daughter, she takes it to another level. So 
that's that's how it's kind of worked from from my

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family's came from ground up, right? So you've got 
a pretty at this to this point, it's still pretty

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stable. And your mom's looking after you and she's 
working very hard to to as a single mom. Stable

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with these two boys. Yeah. Yeah. Stable in the 
sense of my mom was stable. She she worked hard.

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It was and family helped out as well, right? So 
she was she was coping. My mom's a very positive

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person, very you know, she's she doesn't let much 
get her down. So yeah, she worked hard and it was

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just the norm now. Like I just had to continue. 
So why are you hesitating when I say stable to an

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extent? What's the same to the extent of there 
was no I wasn't I never I don't come from any

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kind of I don't come from a background where there 
was any sort of wealth any sort of you know fancy

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stuff you know just the the basics the necessities 
but they were provided and most importantly my

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mom gave she gave love tough love but love you 
know like tough love but but definitely a lot

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of love and she was always reading she was always 
trying to upskill herself with qualification. So,

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I saw all of that. So, getting that in my 
subconscious as a as a youngster has obviously

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helped me now. Do you know what like I have um 
I I really like hearing people's backgrounds and

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I love hearing about their parents and especially 
about their moms and you know like loads of like I

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said lots of really successful and amazing people 
have sat on this sofa opposite me. I'm very lucky

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in that way. And you know what? It's always their 
their mom. Yeah. It's the moms, you know. Massive

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shout out to the moms of this world. Massive 
shout out to mom. Massive massive shout out.

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Massive sh Well, if it's not for the moms, we 
wouldn't be here, would we? The moms are Yeah.

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And they protect they protect. They're lionesses. 
They're good. They they look after their Yeah.

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They're young and and as a boy, Yeah. that's all 
you want to do for your mom, right? You just want

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to protect her, right? So, yeah. You know, it's 
always the moms behind the whoever's sitting here,

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it's the moms that have given them that as a kid 
that there's something in their brain. Yeah. And

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um I especially like the stricter moms. Yeah. 
Yeah. My mom my mom was she wasn't like my mom

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came from a strict background, right? Like a 
Caribbean background. It's it was it was strict

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discipline. All right. My mom work hard, you know. 
Yeah. Of course. My mom kind of in, you know, she

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had discipline as well. So she instilled that into 
me. Like we couldn't mess around. Like my mom, she

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gives you the look, you know what time it is. You 
you sit down and you just keep quiet, right? You

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know, she wasn't scared to take the slipper out, 
right? like you might get a whack around the ear,

0:14:35.440,0:14:40.640
right? But it never harmed me. It never harmed me. 
Like in this day and age, you can't obviously do

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those things, right? So up till that, so primary 
school, you know, your dad goes, you're seven,

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that's really sad and you feel it. You can feel 
that loss. Um and then and your mom's doing this

0:14:51.920,0:14:56.800
and she's working and you're getting older. Take 
us through to high school. Yeah. Yeah. So in that

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time, the reason why I was able to kind of get 
through that as well cuz I was modeling my mom,

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right? Well, people always say muddle success, 
right? So, I was modeling what my mom was doing in

0:15:06.160,0:15:11.200
terms of she was staying resilient. I I know how 
much my mom and my dad were close and obviously

0:15:11.200,0:15:17.200
there was a bit of a separation there. So, seeing 
my mom push through just I just modeled what she

0:15:17.200,0:15:20.480
was doing. Okay. Well, I've got to push through 
too, right? So, okay. That's how we kind of got

0:15:20.480,0:15:26.720
through that stage. So, secondary school now was a 
different ball game, right? So, where would can we

0:15:26.720,0:15:30.960
can we say what school you went to? Yeah, it's 
just describe it to us maybe. Yeah, it was it

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was it was it was called international at the 
time. It's now called TC Cross Academy. Again,

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very diverse school, right? My mom wanted me to 
go to a she wanted me to go to a better school,

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right? But because of the catchment areas and 
things like that, I wasn't I wasn't able to

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get into the one that that that I tried to get 
into and um so I went to Ty Cross Academy. So,

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was this more sort of considered rough or was 
it more Why wasn't it a better school? What was

0:15:57.760,0:16:04.560
wrong? Just, you know, you've got those kind of 
grammar type schools, right? Yeah. So, and listen,

0:16:04.560,0:16:08.240
I probably wasn't at the time smart enough to 
get into that school, them schools anyway. But

0:16:08.240,0:16:14.800
I went to this school, Tarross Academy. Was it 
rough? It was it was a challenge. That's all I

0:16:14.800,0:16:19.680
can say. Yeah. From the from the get- go. Cuz it 
you had people from all different areas from a lot

0:16:19.680,0:16:24.320
of deprived areas all going to one school, right? 
And there was a mix of people which was good. So,

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you know, we had every single nationality which 
was good. So I was always able to connect with

0:16:29.200,0:16:38.480
people from different backgrounds, but school 
for me was a challenge. Now at the time I didn't

0:16:38.480,0:16:45.440
realize I I learned a little bit later on in life 
that I'm dyslexic. So I was already struggling in

0:16:45.440,0:16:56.960
the domain of trying to catch up in education and 
also I was around circles where you get you mess

0:16:56.960,0:17:02.080
around right you you're coming out of classroom I 
kind of rebelled against the school system right

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very early on because I had a teacher and it's 
so funny I was saying this to my friends over

0:17:06.560,0:17:12.000
there I had a teacher called Mr. Golden and Mr. 
Golden if you're watching this I'm sorry mate but

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Mr. Golden was he was the worst teacher you could 
be introduced to in school. Like he he actually

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had I actually think he wasn't all there, right? 
And the reason why I say that is because he used

0:17:23.440,0:17:30.720
to have outbursts of raid. You used to throw 
cops across he would throw cops like at not he

0:17:30.720,0:17:35.600
wouldn't he would throw them above you so they 
don't hit you. But it it was such a he ended up

0:17:35.600,0:17:40.160
getting sacked cuz he had a fight with one of the 
students, right? Yeah, but like that introduction

0:17:40.160,0:17:44.560
into secondary school was was just it was awful, 
right? And then no, that's not normal. Yeah. And

0:17:44.560,0:17:50.560
and plus so there was that I struggled and then I 
might not have you know I was not in necessarily

0:17:50.560,0:17:56.080
the right kind of uh circle of friends. So what 
circle was it? More the cool kids, right? Like we

0:17:56.080,0:18:00.160
just kind of do we make up our own rules, right, 
for the school. So I kind of got into that kind of

0:18:00.160,0:18:05.520
circle where it was it was a little bit more not 
taking it serious, not taking education serious.

0:18:05.520,0:18:10.480
So what are you doing at this point? So we, you 
know, we're chewing. We're not in class most of

0:18:10.480,0:18:19.920
the time. We're skipping school. Skipping school. 
You know, we My problem more than anything was

0:18:19.920,0:18:24.800
teachers just didn't like that I always had an 
answer. Okay. So I had an answer for everything.

0:18:24.800,0:18:30.640
So I would question I was cheeky, but I used to 
question everything more than anything. So you

0:18:30.640,0:18:36.720
know, like if if you're telling me 2 plus 2 equals 
4, I just want to know. Okay. So what's so where?

0:18:36.720,0:18:42.400
Okay, so how like where's the the root of that? 
Just an example. I'm always asking why, how,

0:18:42.400,0:18:45.360
how did you learn that? Like where did you get 
that from? And teachers were just like that's

0:18:45.360,0:18:49.360
just how it is. And then I was like, but okay, so 
you've just read this from a book, right? So I'm

0:18:49.360,0:18:54.320
just trying to always ask questions. Dangerous 
territory. Yeah. Cuz I and then it was just like

0:18:54.320,0:18:58.640
they was just like, okay, you're disrupting the 
class. Get out. Right. And but let me just ask,

0:18:58.640,0:19:02.800
were you deliberately because you know like Nico 
Milano and those guys when they do these videos

0:19:02.800,0:19:06.720
where they're sitting with like they get these 
people in a room and they deliberately rage bait

0:19:06.720,0:19:10.480
them and it's like and they go no the world is 
flat and then they they're doing it as a joke.

0:19:10.480,0:19:15.920
we doing as a joke or we doing genuinely curious 
and asking them like come on hey I would do it

0:19:15.920,0:19:21.040
I would do it generally curiously at first but 
teachers get triggered right they get triggered

0:19:21.040,0:19:25.360
so then it's like it's my way or the highway 
this is it don't don't say anything so they got

0:19:25.360,0:19:29.520
annoyed with so then they would get annoyed with 
me and then I'm rage baiting then my reaction is

0:19:29.520,0:19:34.960
rage baiting right so and then because it I'm 
quite a good debater at the time you know I'm a

0:19:34.960,0:19:41.600
good debater but actually what I believe the the 
teacher should have done then is see a skill in

0:19:41.600,0:19:46.560
me. Right? He's inquisitive. He's curious. Right? 
That's what we want. We want curious children cuz

0:19:46.560,0:19:51.360
they're curious children are the leaders of the 
world, right? Being curiosity is is an important

0:19:51.360,0:19:55.440
uh mind frame to have. Always ask questions. 
Understand the first principle. You know,

0:19:55.440,0:20:02.960
understand your disciplines. And the teachers, 
they just see me as somebody that was too mauy,

0:20:02.960,0:20:06.640
you know, too chatty. Get out the classroom. 
And I was I literally wasn't helping you.

0:20:06.640,0:20:10.880
it wasn't helping me because then I spent most of 
my time either in detention or isolation, right?

0:20:10.880,0:20:16.480
And I just felt suppressed. So then the more that 
they would do that, the more I would rebel against

0:20:16.480,0:20:20.480
vicious circle because the teachers also, you 
know, they they get together where they, you know,

0:20:20.480,0:20:23.600
I've heard about the insights with teachers and 
they sort of get together in their teacher room

0:20:23.600,0:20:26.640
and they're having their tea or the biscuits and 
they talk about it and they go that kid is doing

0:20:26.640,0:20:31.600
this and that and then you get that like stamp. 
Yeah. Exactly. And then it's like they watch you.

0:20:31.600,0:20:35.120
So even if you didn't mean anything because they 
think you're like that, they're going to interpret

0:20:35.120,0:20:41.360
it. That's it, right? It's And it's it's funny 
because I used to get kicked out of school for

0:20:41.360,0:20:47.120
talking. Now I get paid a lot of money to talk. 
Right. So it's it's it's it's crazy. But but this

0:20:47.120,0:20:52.480
is what I'm saying. When you see skills in young 
people, instead of suppressing them, nurture them,

0:20:52.480,0:20:56.320
right? If don't kick me out the class because 
you think I'm the one that's, you know,

0:20:56.320,0:21:00.880
the ring leader of the class or disrupting the see 
me as someone that could be influential. So get me

0:21:00.880,0:21:05.600
on side and give me some more responsibility so 
I can lead my peers and lead the class, right?

0:21:05.600,0:21:10.080
But they're not thinking like that. They're just, 
okay, you're we need to just remove you. And

0:21:10.080,0:21:15.280
that's not the answer. Like you've got to nurture 
this skill. Gosh, the teacher so important. Yeah.

0:21:15.280,0:21:20.400
Like if I'm talking or you know, I've always I'm 
debating like can't you see me? Okay. There's a

0:21:20.400,0:21:24.880
future lawyer there. There's a future politician. 
There's there's a speaker within this child. Like

0:21:24.880,0:21:29.360
let's nurture that. He's curious. He he might 
be expressing it in the wrong way, but we can

0:21:29.360,0:21:35.200
definitely nurture this into into talent. But to 
be fair with the school system and the teachers

0:21:35.200,0:21:38.640
that are there, they're under pressure, right? 
They they just care about results. It's just

0:21:38.640,0:21:45.600
like we got to get results offstead and all these 
things, right? So that's that's their their focus.

0:21:45.600,0:21:50.400
But it would be good if teachers could have that 
time to nurture children because there's so many

0:21:50.400,0:21:56.160
young children and and talented kids inside the 
classroom that might have uh disabilities like

0:21:56.160,0:22:00.240
being dyslexic or whatever it may be, but that's 
their superpower. Can we nurture it? Can we help

0:22:00.240,0:22:05.120
these guys become future leaders? And I just 
don't think school gives the teachers the time

0:22:05.120,0:22:10.720
to want to do that. Yeah. They are under a lot of 
pressure. And it is it's tough. It's tough. And

0:22:10.720,0:22:14.480
some schools are better than others. And some 
schools are lucky enough to have these amazing

0:22:14.480,0:22:20.720
teachers. Yeah. That that seek out these kids and 
help them. Yeah. Yeah. But it's Yeah. It's tough.

0:22:20.720,0:22:26.640
So you you got basically you got like in a spiral 
and you got sucked into this thing and you didn't

0:22:26.640,0:22:30.480
like school and you were fighting the school. 
ended up and the school was fighting you. Yeah. I

0:22:30.480,0:22:35.920
ended up rebelling against the school system and 
then Okay. eventually. Yeah. I'll never forget

0:22:35.920,0:22:43.040
I got called to my head teacher's office, right? 
His name was Mr. Golden. And I was thinking, okay,

0:22:43.040,0:22:46.400
what have I got? What have what am I in trouble 
for again? Before you tell me, what was the straw

0:22:46.400,0:22:52.640
that broke the camel's back? For me, it I had 
a it was a lung. It was it was loads of little

0:22:52.640,0:22:59.200
little things over years that just there just was 
just like you know this this so a teacher probably

0:22:59.200,0:23:04.640
complained and just yeah teachers teachers were 
complaining like they're fed up with me right and

0:23:04.640,0:23:08.560
you know they probably could see some potential in 
me but I'm rebelling against the system cuz I just

0:23:08.560,0:23:15.040
this system this hat that they was trying to fit 
on me did not fit right and I knew that and I was

0:23:15.040,0:23:21.040
fighting against it okay um and then obviously 
I'm dyslexic as well so like I was struggling

0:23:21.040,0:23:28.960
also right. So after loads of you know messing 
around like in terms of like fights and getting

0:23:28.960,0:23:33.600
kicked out of classrooms and being cheek and 
all these little things, detentions, isolations,

0:23:33.600,0:23:39.360
I think it came to a point where they was like, 
"Okay, enough is enough." So I got called to the

0:23:39.360,0:23:45.280
head teacher's office, Mr. Golden. No. And I'm 
sitting down. Oh no. His, you know, they had

0:23:45.280,0:23:49.760
he had a nice big wooden table. He had all like, 
you know, awards for the school or plaques behind

0:23:49.760,0:23:57.120
him. Yeah. And I never forget it was it was a cold 
early December and I'm in the office. The office

0:23:57.120,0:24:01.520
is freezing. It's freezing cold. Literally, he 
always had it cold. I don't know why. I think it

0:24:01.520,0:24:06.800
was cold blooded, right? Literally, you could 
breathe out the the condensation, right? And

0:24:06.800,0:24:13.840
he sat me down and he goes, he goes, "Codell," he 
goes, "I want you to open this letter in front of

0:24:13.840,0:24:17.680
me." And he put the letter and he passed it across 
the the table, right? And I've opened the letter.

0:24:17.680,0:24:22.400
I'm thinking, "Okay, what's this? another another 
ex another like you know suspension because I I

0:24:22.400,0:24:27.920
would always get suspended from school as well 
like two weeks yeah one week yeah and I opened it

0:24:27.920,0:24:35.440
and this time in big bold letters across the top 
it said permanent exclusion and you know in that

0:24:35.440,0:24:41.440
moment I thought bloody hell like how I didn't 
really like I kind of had it out like whatever but

0:24:41.440,0:24:48.000
I was quite scared of what my mom was going to say 
right that was the number one now listen I'll be

0:24:48.000,0:24:52.800
honest with you. My mom in school, she tried her 
hardest to defend me until it got a bit too bad.

0:24:52.800,0:24:56.160
Like she would defend me. She was like, "You're 
not kicking my kid out of school. I'm going to get

0:24:56.160,0:24:59.840
lawyers." Like she was that kind of mom. Like she 
would she would be like, "My son's this." Like she

0:24:59.840,0:25:03.760
she loved me, right? But she got to a point where 
she was just like called out like you're taking

0:25:03.760,0:25:07.040
him and you're embarrassing me cuz I'm trying to 
fight your case. But you know, there's only so

0:25:07.040,0:25:10.880
much there's only so much I can do. There's only 
so much you can do. So I got I got permanently

0:25:10.880,0:25:17.440
excluded. And I never forget what am I going to 
say to my mom? What am I going to say to my mom?

0:25:18.160,0:25:24.080
And Mr. said, he said, "Sorry, Cordell, you've 
been permanently excluded. We cannot have your

0:25:24.080,0:25:28.480
behavior and the way you're acting in our school 
system no longer." He goes, "We can try sort you

0:25:28.480,0:25:32.880
a manage move or look for other schools for 
you, but within this school system, you know,

0:25:32.880,0:25:38.880
there's no more there's no more chances for 
you, right?" Oh god. And I thought, you know,

0:25:38.880,0:25:42.080
I had a tear in my eye cuz I was like, well, I 
didn't know whether that tear was coming from

0:25:42.080,0:25:45.760
him cuz he had bad breath. Like, I'll be honest 
with you. Like, he's it was he he was literally

0:25:45.760,0:25:49.600
breathing in my face. I never forget. just had 
the the permanent coffee breath all the time,

0:25:49.600,0:25:54.800
right? But also I'm thinking, oh my gosh, my 
mom, right? That's all I'm thinking. What am

0:25:54.800,0:25:59.680
I going to tell her? She's been working so hard, 
two jobs, going to uni, always saying, "Cordell,

0:25:59.680,0:26:04.160
make sure education, you get your education. 
Please, please do it." Right? So, I felt like I

0:26:04.160,0:26:11.680
felt a sense of Yeah. duty. Embarrassment. Yeah. 
I felt a sense of duty to get it, but I start a

0:26:11.680,0:26:17.360
sense of embarrassment to my mom and sense of 
failure that I'm going to let her down, right?

0:26:17.360,0:26:22.560
And that was when it all came to like, okay, call 
out, you need to something has to change. So, I'll

0:26:22.560,0:26:29.440
never forget on that day on that school bus going 
home and I've got home and listen, I was thinking

0:26:29.440,0:26:33.200
they might have told my mom before I've even got 
there. So, I had to move, step a bit different,

0:26:33.200,0:26:38.240
right? Don't forget my mom, she was strict, right? 
She was small, but honestly, she was very strict,

0:26:38.240,0:26:42.000
right? And if she pulls out that slipper, you 
know what time it is, right? And I never forget,

0:26:42.000,0:26:45.440
I've opened up the door. I've looked left. I've 
gone into the hallway. I've looked left. I've

0:26:45.440,0:26:48.880
looked up the stairs trying to figure out where 
she is. And then I could hear that she was in

0:26:48.880,0:26:53.360
the living room, right? So then, gosh, I'm scared 
for you. I'm scared for you. So I thought, let me

0:26:53.360,0:26:56.800
just try and run upstairs, go to my room, right? 
So I tried to run up the stairs and then I hear,

0:26:56.800,0:27:05.440
"Cordal, can you please come down here, please, 
son?" So I've gone downstairs and then she goes,

0:27:05.440,0:27:08.560
"Cordal, do you?" She was sitting down on the 
sofa. She goes, "Do you have anything to tell

0:27:08.560,0:27:14.800
me?" And I said, "No, I don't." I said, "Okay." I 
said, "Yeah." I said, "You know, the sun's shining

0:27:14.800,0:27:19.200
a little bit outside. Have you seen the weather?" 
She goes, "Cordal, do you have anything to tell

0:27:19.200,0:27:22.000
me?" And then when you could hear that tone of 
voice, you hear that tonality and you're like,

0:27:22.000,0:27:26.000
"Okay, she's serious now." And I knew she 
had known at this point. So I said, "Mom,

0:27:26.000,0:27:31.520
I'm I'm sorry. Like I've let you down. Like I 
know how hard you work. I I know that education

0:27:31.520,0:27:38.720
is important thing and I've been kicked out of 
school." and she turned around and she gave me the

0:27:38.720,0:27:47.280
most confusing reaction I've ever had. She smiled 
at me and she goes, "Don't worry, son." Now,

0:27:47.280,0:27:50.960
I'm thinking, "Is this woman on happy pills or 
something?" Like, "What is going on today?" Like,

0:27:50.960,0:27:57.200
"What do you mean don't worry?" And she goes, 
"Cuz I've got a better solution for you." I said,

0:27:57.200,0:28:02.400
"Okay, what's that?" Cuz normally I'm getting 
a smack or something, right? So, she had this

0:28:02.400,0:28:06.240
this smile in her in in her face and she goes, 
"I've got a better solution for you." She goes,

0:28:06.240,0:28:11.680
"I'm going to send you to live with your 
grandparents in the Caribbean." Oh. And you're

0:28:11.680,0:28:17.440
going to go school over there. You've you've 
ruined your opportunity here. You're going to

0:28:17.440,0:28:22.960
go over there and you're going to learn how it's 
done. The thing is the thing is as a as a mom,

0:28:22.960,0:28:27.440
Yeah. you're not going to break your child. You're 
not going to, you know, they already been kicked.

0:28:27.440,0:28:32.480
You've been you've read that you've been excluded. 
That's a horrible thing to read. It's like that's

0:28:32.480,0:28:37.040
us and you you're not part of the club. So, you've 
been kicked out. You've got to deal with rejection

0:28:37.040,0:28:41.920
here and you're her baby and she doesn't want you 
to be rejected. But at the same time, she's got to

0:28:41.920,0:28:46.640
protect you. You're spiraling in a bad situation. 
And she realized that there was no hope and they

0:28:46.640,0:28:50.880
said there's no more hope for you. So, she's doing 
the best thing that she can do as a mom and take

0:28:50.880,0:28:55.120
you out of an environment that was actually 
toxic for you. Yeah. And but I didn't realize

0:28:55.120,0:29:01.120
that. I'm the cool kid. um, you know, got my first 
girlfriend and stuff like that. You know, I don't

0:29:01.120,0:29:05.040
want to be taking out my environment to go to the 
Caribbean. Now, for most people that are watching,

0:29:05.040,0:29:09.280
the Caribbean, obviously, beautiful, gorgeous 
place, right? The palm trees, the pina coladas,

0:29:09.280,0:29:14.320
the beach, the ocean, it's beautiful, right? 
The cruise ships. But the part of the the part

0:29:14.320,0:29:18.720
of the when I went to the Caribbean, it was 
a small island called Senitis and beautiful,

0:29:18.720,0:29:24.080
gorgeous island, one of the best islands in the 
world. I I I love it. However though where I went

0:29:24.080,0:29:28.720
to school and you know living with my grandparents 
it's it's a bit different when you're living there

0:29:28.720,0:29:33.520
in in within and amongst certain the communities 
there there's not a lot of resource you know.

0:29:33.520,0:29:37.920
Okay. So so let's just frame this. So then your 
brother stays with your mom and in Birmingham. No

0:29:37.920,0:29:44.800
no no. So so my mom sends my mom came for the to 
the Caribbean as well. So she came with me. Okay.

0:29:44.800,0:29:50.320
She takes my brother. Okay. So all of you go. So 
we all go right. And let me take a bit let me let

0:29:50.320,0:29:56.080
me take you a bit before that. So when I got when 
my mom told me that I said okay and I just thought

0:29:56.080,0:30:01.440
in my head I I ain't going like that my mind is 
there's no way I'm leaving my environment to go

0:30:01.440,0:30:06.320
to the Caribbean right um and the reason why is 
because you know everything I knew was here and

0:30:06.320,0:30:10.080
I used to go I used to travel to my grandparents 
over the summer in in you know to the island of

0:30:10.080,0:30:16.320
Sanitis and it was overly strict like I don't 
want to go there like no way like to live with

0:30:16.320,0:30:22.320
to live with grandad it's another level of strict 
right so I'd done everything I not to go. I hid my

0:30:22.320,0:30:28.960
passports and I said I hid my passport. My mom 
I'll never forget the day my mom was literally

0:30:28.960,0:30:32.480
turning upside the house and she's like, "Have you 
hid this passport called out? Where is it? Where

0:30:32.480,0:30:37.520
is it?" And I I just said no, I haven't. So once 
she found it and she found where it was and stuff

0:30:37.520,0:30:42.640
like that and I had to own up to it. Obviously I 
got a bit of a beating for that as as you do at

0:30:42.640,0:30:47.360
the times. You know, I got a bit of a smack for 
that back then back in them times. But you know,

0:30:47.360,0:30:52.080
my family my family didn't want me to go either. 
They didn't think it was a good decision,

0:30:52.080,0:30:56.560
right? So, my friends and my family, they tried 
everything to not make me go. So, they made it

0:30:56.560,0:31:00.800
very hard for my mom. But my mom was she's very 
strong-headed and she thought this was going to

0:31:00.800,0:31:04.320
be what was best for you. She thought this is what 
she said this is my son and this is what's best

0:31:04.320,0:31:09.120
for me. And um as much as we tried to fight it 
right up until the last minute of going. I mean,

0:31:09.120,0:31:13.040
everybody tried to fight it, you know, cuz nobody 
wanted to me leave me to leave. I'm a I was a

0:31:13.040,0:31:19.680
love person, right? And but you know, I left and I 
cried. I literally cried all the way from And she

0:31:19.680,0:31:24.240
came with you to do. Yeah. Yeah. I cried all the 
way. Okay. And then you land up and you're there

0:31:24.240,0:31:29.040
on the strict island. Yes. It's nice. There's 
beaches, but it's strict. What? How was it strict?

0:31:29.040,0:31:36.000
It When I say strict, my grandparents were very 
strict. So, like more strict than your mom? Oh, my

0:31:36.000,0:31:40.480
mom was nothing compared to my grandparents. But 
they're strict, right? Like it's they come from

0:31:40.480,0:31:45.600
a a time where, you know, there was no messing 
around. Like children didn't have an opinion. if

0:31:45.600,0:31:49.120
you open your mouth like you're in trouble right 
you can't have an opinions back then so I came

0:31:49.120,0:31:53.760
that that was the kind of you know the discipline 
that they had so that's what they believed is how

0:31:53.760,0:31:58.800
you know you teach teach young people and but 
over there there was when I say there was a

0:31:58.800,0:32:06.000
lack of resources in terms of it wasn't like how 
England is right built up loads of opportunities

0:32:06.000,0:32:12.320
there wasn't that and that's what mama wanted 
me to see she wanted me to be in a place where

0:32:12.320,0:32:20.560
there's not a much resources but the people there 
are very resourceful and actually that is such an

0:32:20.560,0:32:27.040
important skill to have. You know, being able to 
have uh maybe not as much resources as you would

0:32:27.040,0:32:34.000
like but still be resourceful with what you have, 
right? Use what you've got. And that's what I've

0:32:34.000,0:32:39.440
seen people over there. They would have shack 
houses, right? They'd come out of shack houses,

0:32:39.440,0:32:43.760
but you know, they wouldn't have much, but the 
kids might be in poverty, but the one thing that

0:32:43.760,0:32:48.400
they did have was their education, and they would 
really strive hard to get that because that was

0:32:48.400,0:32:53.120
their only dream. They never had options, right? 
So, everybody was working towards that goal. So,

0:32:53.120,0:32:57.840
the seeing the kids out there like really be 
resource with what they had. And even the way I

0:32:57.840,0:33:01.520
seen them make money and stuff like that, there 
wasn't a lot of opportunities, but they'd go to

0:33:01.520,0:33:07.040
the beaches with and sell things to the tourists 
and items. And just seeing that was a massive

0:33:07.040,0:33:12.320
um was a massive kind of mindset shift. And 
going to school there, it wasn't a big school.

0:33:12.320,0:33:16.000
They never had all the computers like what I'm 
used to and all the iPads and all that stuff,

0:33:16.000,0:33:21.280
right? A lot of the the times the the castles were 
underneath a tree, right? Like that was the level

0:33:21.280,0:33:28.160
of raw and realness that was there. Teachers 
back then in my time like 16, 18 years ago,

0:33:28.160,0:33:34.160
however long ago it is now, they were still giving 
you the cane as well. So you'd still get beat with

0:33:34.160,0:33:40.960
a cane. You okay? So So the Cordell from from the 
school in Birmingham misbehaving and talking back

0:33:40.960,0:33:48.960
and then are you doing that in in the are you 
trying it on a little bit? Not really. I didn't

0:33:48.960,0:33:55.200
try it on because I was quite you know I was I was 
I was in a whole new environment you know the new

0:33:55.200,0:34:00.800
people knew everything. So I was definitely Yeah. 
Yeah. And I was definitely humbled. Right. I was

0:34:00.800,0:34:10.640
humbled. So I had to I had to I tried to fit in. 
But did I get beat? Yes, I did. By by Mr. Glasgow.

0:34:10.640,0:34:16.400
Um my my head my head teacher. And listen, they 
they're not like over there. The head teachers

0:34:16.400,0:34:23.040
look like army generals, right? Like they're 6 
foot beefy guys, right? So you're respecting. So

0:34:23.040,0:34:28.000
yeah, you have to respect. And that is like they 
told me, listen, you they told me from the get-go,

0:34:28.000,0:34:32.320
listen, we've seen your school report. we we 
see what you've done over there in England and

0:34:32.320,0:34:35.600
you messing around. She said that would not 
be that would not be tolerated in our school

0:34:35.600,0:34:41.600
system and our education system here. You have 
to respect our values and that was set from the

0:34:41.600,0:34:46.880
the beginning. But the reason why I actually got 
in trouble with the headteer is because I kept

0:34:46.880,0:34:51.680
um wearing things that he didn't want on my 
uniform like I'd wear like you know earrings

0:34:51.680,0:34:57.520
or I might have my hat on in school or something 
like that and eventually I got beat. And I'm could

0:34:57.520,0:35:03.440
you could you actually imagine that over here in 
the UK where I'm giving back chat and I'm speaking

0:35:03.440,0:35:07.600
I'm getting sent out of classrooms. No like and 
that to going over there and getting beat for

0:35:07.600,0:35:14.000
your school uniform. Crazy like it was crazy. And 
when that happened do you listen when I'm telling

0:35:14.000,0:35:19.680
you my my uniform was pressed ironed every morning 
after that beating. Like it was Well, you got to

0:35:19.680,0:35:23.360
respect your uniform. That's the thing. I like 
schools where you have to respect the uniform.

0:35:23.360,0:35:27.120
You need to wear it, you know. Not the skirt up to 
there. The skirt has to be like four fingers above

0:35:27.120,0:35:32.240
the thing like no thousands of earrings and the 
hair loose spreading lice around the school like

0:35:32.240,0:35:35.680
I'm sorry like it's school you have to respect 
your uniform. I went to school in South Africa and

0:35:35.680,0:35:40.640
the same like I remember the the guys used to get 
beaten with like a cricket bat. Bloody hell. And

0:35:40.640,0:35:46.640
they would write their names on everyone that got 
her lashes. They used to bend over and the girls

0:35:46.640,0:35:53.120
I had it on my hands. They take a little whip. 
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like they used to they

0:35:53.120,0:35:56.400
would never do it now. They used to do it back 
in the day in England, right? Like so my mom my

0:35:56.400,0:36:01.040
mom and stuff like that said that that you'd get 
a bit of a beating, right? And um you couldn't

0:36:01.040,0:36:05.200
go home to tell your mom or dad that you'd get 
beating back then cuz you'd get another beating,

0:36:05.200,0:36:09.200
right? But we're in a different world and a lot 
of people might be listening to this thinking

0:36:09.200,0:36:13.840
that's wrong. And that's fine. I don't believe in 
that now. Um I definitely don't believe in it now

0:36:13.840,0:36:18.320
cuz there's there's better ways. They didn't. But 
that's how it was. But that's how it was. That is

0:36:18.320,0:36:24.000
the real that's the real and I'll be honest that 
shaped me. And but after getting that beating,

0:36:24.000,0:36:29.760
obviously, you know, I thought this is too strict 
for me. I'm going to have to just like listen to

0:36:29.760,0:36:33.360
what he's saying and fit in and make sure that 
I've got everything right. Don't get me wrong,

0:36:33.360,0:36:38.480
I still struggled in school over there cuz I 
thought, okay, the obviously the education system

0:36:38.480,0:36:44.080
in England is valued all around the world, right? 
But I'm telling you, the kids over there were

0:36:44.080,0:36:49.440
super smart. Like they are so intelligent. They 
were they were they were they were miles ahead of

0:36:49.440,0:36:56.400
of students here. So it was even it felt like I 
was even dumber at the time, right? Cuz I'm like

0:36:56.400,0:37:03.120
these kids are way too smart for me. But whilst 
I was there, my mindset shifted. I had a paradigm

0:37:03.120,0:37:07.600
shift while I was there because I saw kids with 
nothing still make something for themselves. They

0:37:07.600,0:37:11.600
were striving. They were determined, right? When 
they're going to sell things to the tourists and

0:37:11.600,0:37:15.360
make that bit of money. And I'm like, "Oh, let's 
go to town and let's spend it." No, they've got

0:37:15.360,0:37:19.360
to go back home and put that money on the table so 
that, you know, they're they can have food for the

0:37:19.360,0:37:26.320
household. Seeing that seeing that discipline, 
seeing that that in that raw form shifted my

0:37:26.320,0:37:32.560
mindset completely and that made me realize I had 
so much opportunity in the UK. You know, I had so

0:37:32.560,0:37:37.760
much things around me and I needed to make sure 
when I get back there to the UK, I'm going to do

0:37:37.760,0:37:41.120
everything. I'm going to take every opportunity. 
Is that what you were thinking? You were thinking

0:37:41.120,0:37:45.680
like when I go back there, I'm going to make more 
of it. Appreciating it. Yeah. after being there

0:37:45.680,0:37:49.520
for like six, seven, eight months, you know, like 
I was just like, "Yeah, I need to get back to the

0:37:49.520,0:37:54.720
UK and I need to make a difference because 
actually I had everything and actually I was

0:37:54.720,0:37:59.440
messing around in school and I and and I should 
have took it serious because these kids have

0:37:59.440,0:38:04.560
nothing. When I say nothing, I mean nothing. But 
these kids are still going to school, turning up

0:38:04.560,0:38:09.040
doing what they have to do. And that just shifted 
me, you know, when you get taken and that's why

0:38:09.040,0:38:14.320
at the start, I absolutely did dislike my mom for 
it. Like a proper dislike my mom for taking me,

0:38:14.320,0:38:18.560
right? I did not want to go. You know, no one 
wants to go at that, you know, when you're at that

0:38:18.560,0:38:24.480
age. However, as time went on, I realized that was 
the best thing that she could have done, taking

0:38:24.480,0:38:29.440
me out of my environment. And I think if anyone 
has an opportunity to take their kid out that,

0:38:29.440,0:38:33.840
you know, that might be struggling with kids that 
are with, you know, might not be appreciating,

0:38:33.840,0:38:38.400
might be ungrateful, you know, we have children in 
this day and age. We try to give them and provide

0:38:38.400,0:38:42.720
them everything, right? And then sometimes they 
might turn a little bit ungrateful or whatnot.

0:38:42.720,0:38:48.400
If you have an opportunity to take them out of 
their environment and show them a different world

0:38:48.400,0:38:53.280
where there's where people have got nothing and 
but they're still, you know, striving, do that

0:38:53.280,0:38:57.360
because it it will it will change their mind and 
I lived around it is everything. Yeah, environment

0:38:57.360,0:39:03.040
is everything and it it definitely shifted my my 
mindset and then if you think about even in nature

0:39:03.040,0:39:08.480
and you think about you know the the temperature 
of water you know and certain fish like that

0:39:08.480,0:39:12.240
colder water and then you've got the tropical fish 
and they like a different type of temperature and

0:39:12.240,0:39:15.520
then the plants will grow in this one but they 
won't grow in the other one and this one has a

0:39:15.520,0:39:19.680
higher pH doesn't we all have our different things 
we have different environments and you have to

0:39:19.680,0:39:25.760
know what environment like a mango tree can't grow 
in England can it right it needs the the sun it

0:39:25.760,0:39:31.280
needs certain you know, elements of, you know, the 
the the Caribbean soil or, you know, the African

0:39:31.280,0:39:37.520
soil, for example. So, environment is key. It's 
and and I say that as well, like my mom took me

0:39:37.520,0:39:42.080
outside my friendship group. She took me away from 
everything that I was known, I was comfortable

0:39:42.080,0:39:47.360
with, and I was forced to grow. I was literally 
forced to go. Credit to your mom. Yeah. Credit to

0:39:47.360,0:39:55.120
my mom. And good. It it it showed me the lesson of 
change is necessary. Change is growth. And if you

0:39:55.120,0:39:59.440
can get out of your environment that you're in, 
if you're in an environment that might be toxic,

0:39:59.440,0:40:04.880
abusive, or you know, it's not inspiring, take 
yourself out of that environment and fit yourself

0:40:04.880,0:40:09.040
in places that's going to force you to grow. 
You know, where there's more inspiring people,

0:40:09.040,0:40:13.680
more successful people than you because that's 
going to help you level up, right? And that's

0:40:13.680,0:40:19.840
that early intervention, that early lesson gave 
me that school of thought. Yeah. Yeah. And I

0:40:19.840,0:40:24.560
almost think that because you resisted it that 
much, I it was really bad for you. you weren't

0:40:24.560,0:40:29.200
thriving. Like that's a fact. You weren't thriving 
there. And the because you resisted it that much,

0:40:29.200,0:40:34.160
that almost showed you how much you needed it. The 
more you resisted it. And it being that bad for

0:40:34.160,0:40:40.160
you showed you just how much you needed that how 
much more I needed it. And and you know, I always

0:40:40.160,0:40:46.000
say, right, like, you know, if if if you put a 
shark in a in a in a in a fish tank, you know, it

0:40:46.000,0:40:50.080
doesn't grow to become the shark, you know, an 8ft 
shark, right? It grows there a couple of inches.

0:40:50.080,0:40:53.920
If you put the shark in its natural environment 
in the ocean, it grows eight foot or more,

0:40:53.920,0:40:59.760
right? Your environment is key. So that that was 
the the message that I had from that. And that,

0:40:59.760,0:41:04.720
you know, I I love to share to everyone else. You 
know, that's beautiful. Get get yourself out your

0:41:04.720,0:41:09.920
your comfort zone. Go into environments that force 
you to grow. Okay. And then so you you did that,

0:41:09.920,0:41:14.800
you did your school there and then and then 
what? So yeah, my I'd done some school there

0:41:14.800,0:41:23.200
and then I decided after being there for, you 
know, a year and a half, I I I sat my mom down

0:41:23.200,0:41:27.200
and I my mom could see the changing with me. I'm 
walking different. I'm a little different. I'm

0:41:27.200,0:41:32.480
more respectful in certain things. Not that I was 
never disrespectful, but respectful for everything

0:41:32.480,0:41:37.760
around me, right? Like at school, inside the 
household, you know, I'm my mom can see. Yeah,

0:41:37.760,0:41:42.400
there's a shift. and she could see and I sat 
her down and I said, "Mom, listen, I want to go

0:41:42.400,0:41:49.760
back to the UK. I want to can we can I go back, 
right?" And at first she was kind of opposing

0:41:49.760,0:41:54.080
the idea because she wanted to she had to stay 
actually at this point because my grandparents

0:41:54.080,0:41:59.680
were getting old. Um, she wanted to stay to look 
after them. Um, and she had already built while

0:41:59.680,0:42:03.040
she was there for a year and a half, she had built 
a bit of a career over there as well as a school

0:42:03.040,0:42:07.440
guidance counselor working in the schools, right? 
And my brother was in school and stuff. So then,

0:42:07.440,0:42:13.520
but I I wanted to get back like cuz don't forget 
my brother's only like what 7 years old. I'm like

0:42:13.520,0:42:19.920
40 15 now. Okay. You still I'm still young but 
I've got a little bit of my own kind of you know

0:42:19.920,0:42:26.800
like perspectives and things that I want to do and 
she decided that she would send me back to live

0:42:26.800,0:42:32.960
with my auntie my auntie Angela. Um and my auntie 
Angela took me in. But you know, I never forget

0:42:32.960,0:42:38.480
the day when we was leaving when I was leaving 
the Caribbean and you know, my mom was at the

0:42:38.480,0:42:44.800
airport and she hugged me and as she hugged me, 
she was she was crying and my brother was holding

0:42:44.800,0:42:50.720
me crying, right? And my mom was just like, "Be 
careful, son." And you know, my my brother was

0:42:50.720,0:42:56.720
like, "Please just don't leave me." Right? And it 
was hard hard decision to be able at 15 to leave

0:42:56.720,0:43:01.920
my mom to leave my little brother. I don't have 
my dad around, don't forget. Right? It was it was

0:43:01.920,0:43:06.000
also she's worried about you because you're 
going back. You're going back. Yeah. And she

0:43:06.000,0:43:10.800
doesn't want me to She knows what happened before. 
Yeah. She knows what happened before, but she that

0:43:10.800,0:43:15.200
decision that she made and that I made, you know, 
it turned me from a boy into a man. And as I was

0:43:15.200,0:43:18.720
going through that airport and looking back at 
my mom, I realized, you know what? That's my

0:43:18.720,0:43:25.200
reason why. You know, I'm going to do everything 
in my power to to make this woman proud of me. And

0:43:25.200,0:43:31.920
honestly, going through them departure gates and 
just that picture that I have in my mom in in when

0:43:31.920,0:43:35.680
I was leaving, I said to myself, "Yeah, that's 
it." Like, I'm going to do everything that I

0:43:35.680,0:43:39.520
can. And yeah, I came back. I came back to the UK. 
And that's what you have to have as well, right?

0:43:39.520,0:43:43.360
You have to have a strong reason why. You know, 
when you go on a mission in any sort, you have to

0:43:43.360,0:43:47.280
have a strong reason why. You know, if you've got 
a purpose or you're building something, if you if

0:43:47.280,0:43:51.520
your reason why is not big enough, you know, if 
it's not bigger than your excuses, you're never

0:43:51.520,0:43:55.840
going to complete or achieve what you want to do. 
Yeah. So that was my reason why and I carried that

0:43:55.840,0:43:59.680
through. So Auntie Angela, she's really nice to 
take you in after knowing that you were a bit

0:43:59.680,0:44:05.920
of a trouble causer as well. No, my auntie, she 
loves me. She loved you. She Yeah, she's got a s

0:44:05.920,0:44:11.440
for me. I love I love my So she opens the door and 
she's like, "Come in, live here." Yeah. She opened

0:44:11.440,0:44:17.440
up the door. She came in. Um she lived in a she 
lived in an area called Neutrals in Birmingham.

0:44:17.440,0:44:25.840
Um, very lovely lovely home, lovely house, lovely, 
you know, come from come from a good family. But

0:44:25.840,0:44:29.760
the area wasn't the best, right? Like the like 
the environment outside of there wasn't the best,

0:44:29.760,0:44:36.960
right? So why why it was a it's a deprived 
area. There's no resource there. Crime, drugs,

0:44:36.960,0:44:44.160
guns, gangs, you know, and and my friends now, 
don't forget, I've been away for a while now,

0:44:44.160,0:44:52.240
right? So my friends have gone from messing around 
in the playground to now more serious things,

0:44:52.240,0:44:56.640
right? More crimes. They're in gangs and stuff 
now, right? And I've had that year and a half out.

0:44:56.640,0:45:02.800
So I didn't really get too sucked into that. You 
would have been though, right? Imagine I didn't

0:45:02.800,0:45:07.040
go. I would have been I would have been so sucked 
in. But I've came back here with a whole new

0:45:07.040,0:45:12.160
mindset, right? So now I'm thinking, how do I just 
take how do I take everything I've learned in the

0:45:12.160,0:45:19.280
Caribbean? Horrible though. Yeah. Yeah, of course. 
But I had a bit of a stronger mindset cuz listen,

0:45:19.280,0:45:25.440
getting that beating from Mr. Glasgow, I'd rather 
I'd rather I'd rather like go go prison than get

0:45:25.440,0:45:29.360
that. Like I didn't want to get that again. So 
I was just like I don't want to get sent back,

0:45:29.360,0:45:35.360
right? So I want to I want to just this is my next 
my last chance. I've got to make it work. But the

0:45:35.360,0:45:40.000
struggle and the conflict was how do I take 
everything I've just learned in the Caribbean,

0:45:40.000,0:45:44.880
the values, the mindset, the, you know, the 
paradigm shifts. How do I take that and apply

0:45:44.880,0:45:51.520
it in an environment that just don't support it? 
Right? Cuz now everybody around me is, you know,

0:45:51.520,0:45:59.520
that they're on a different path than that I want 
to be on. So that was a struggle. But I got into I

0:45:59.520,0:46:05.760
got into reading from a teacher. a teacher showed 
me um a book Rich Dad Poor Dad right and I read

0:46:05.760,0:46:12.960
that as my first book at like 16 years old I was 
right now and that book changed everything for me

0:46:12.960,0:46:18.000
and I got into personal development and I realized 
okay I might be in a bad environment but I'm not

0:46:18.000,0:46:23.120
going to be a product of my environment I'm going 
to be a product of my mindset right okay were they

0:46:23.120,0:46:30.160
trying to suck you into the gang the friends 
was tempting at times obviously they they they

0:46:30.160,0:46:39.120
probably wasn't aware but I was pulling back a lot 
right so you know um my partner at the time well

0:46:39.120,0:46:45.760
not at the time but still my partner now but at 
the time she lived out far so I would always try

0:46:45.760,0:46:50.480
to go there I try to be away from it as much as 
I can right but I saw a lot of stuff whilst you

0:46:50.480,0:46:54.800
know in the times that I was around and you know 
things happened and people went in and out of

0:46:54.800,0:47:02.400
jail you know there was people that I know doing 
murders going to jail for long periods of time.

0:47:02.400,0:47:10.800
Like it was really bad, right? But I never paid 
no part of it, you know. Um but at the same time,

0:47:10.800,0:47:14.320
it was hard cuz these were people that I always 
known. These were people that these were your

0:47:14.320,0:47:19.920
friends. They were friends, you know, like I 
didn't want to dissociate myself from them, but

0:47:19.920,0:47:24.960
I couldn't be doing what they was doing. It just 
didn't fit to my values, right? And it was tough.

0:47:24.960,0:47:29.200
It was hard. But I'd done everything I could to 
try to get out of that situation. And actually I

0:47:29.200,0:47:34.560
went back to college, I got my qualifications and 
I tried my hardest to to get out of that as much

0:47:34.560,0:47:40.000
as possible. But whilst I was reading that took 
me away as well like I was just reading reading

0:47:40.000,0:47:44.560
I went from Rich Dad Poor Dad to think and grow 
rich think and grow now the secret and I'm reading

0:47:44.560,0:47:49.520
these books at 16 years old right so you could my 
mind's even you know I'm just like no this isn't

0:47:49.520,0:47:52.880
my environment. You're pulling yourself into 
that world. Yeah I'm pulling myself into that

0:47:52.880,0:47:58.000
world to the point where I'm like okay I need to 
I need to make new friends right. So, where do I

0:47:58.000,0:48:02.720
make new successful friends or new friends that do 
things event seminars, right? So, then I was like,

0:48:02.720,0:48:06.640
remember I bought like a Primark suit for I think 
probably about 20 pound. It was the baggiest suit

0:48:06.640,0:48:10.480
you'd ever see, right? But I'd just turn up 
into little this little kid in like, you know,

0:48:10.480,0:48:16.000
in these seminar rooms and that's where my journey 
kind of started to think about entrepreneurship

0:48:16.000,0:48:21.920
and all these things. Okay, that's cool. Okay, 
so you you would drive away get try and get away

0:48:21.920,0:48:27.200
from the toxic because you knew that it was and it 
was super. That's another level of toxic. That's

0:48:27.200,0:48:31.520
that's that's as bad as it gets. But then you you 
remove yourself and then you read and then you're

0:48:31.520,0:48:36.000
attending what like business seminars and stuff. 
Yeah, business seminars and I'm reading and listen

0:48:36.000,0:48:40.960
I never had no money to invest in anything but you 
know I'm just trying to put myself in a different

0:48:40.960,0:48:50.160
environment right cuz like I said environment is 
key and I never forget I brought I had was getting

0:48:50.160,0:48:54.960
I was going college at the time and at the time 
I don't know if if you remember there was a thing

0:48:54.960,0:49:00.480
called EMA. It was like a maintenance allowance, 
right? So if you're on time, you'd get30 a week,

0:49:00.480,0:49:03.680
right? Which decent. Think about that now. I 
don't even know if they have that now, but you

0:49:03.680,0:49:07.760
get 30 pound a week for being on time, having good 
behavior, right? So it was a good incentive. Oh,

0:49:07.760,0:49:11.120
yeah. And obviously it was for people from 
low-inccome backgrounds, right? So obviously

0:49:11.120,0:49:14.880
I was come from a low-inccome background. So 
you know, I was I was qualified to get it. Um,

0:49:14.880,0:49:20.160
and I saved up all my EMA money. Now listen, the 
teacher I was always late to be fair, but bit of

0:49:20.160,0:49:24.000
a charmer, right? Like I could charm my way around 
the teachers. I'd go to my favorite teacher that

0:49:24.000,0:49:29.360
would sign it off. Um, and you know, she she'd 
she'd have a bit of a weak spot for me. And um,

0:49:29.360,0:49:35.440
I remember I got a bulk of EMA. I saved it all up. 
And then I remember one day my cousin came ra came

0:49:35.440,0:49:40.960
came in the uh in in the in the house. I lived 
at my auntie's so she had a daughter, Nikilia,

0:49:40.960,0:49:45.760
who's like me and her like this like like my 
sister, right? And she came in raving about these

0:49:45.760,0:49:50.800
new boots that she had. She was going crazy and I 
was like, "But how much are they?" She was like 22

0:49:50.800,0:49:54.640
22 250 or something like that. I was like, "Well, 
what are they called?" And they were UGG boots,

0:49:54.640,0:49:59.440
right? So you remember when the craze of UGG boots 
like 10, 15 years ago, right? And I was, "Okay,

0:49:59.440,0:50:05.920
that's interesting." So then I went online and I 
typed in UGG boots, right? And then there was a

0:50:05.920,0:50:12.640
manufacturer that made real UGG boots, but also 
made UGG boots that were kind of unlicensed as

0:50:12.640,0:50:17.920
well. So that has completely exact same boot, but 
it just didn't have Yeah. Yeah. Like the on it,

0:50:17.920,0:50:21.440
right? Brand. Yeah. It didn't It wasn't branded, 
but it was the same boot. So I was like, "Okay,

0:50:21.440,0:50:26.080
maybe if I get them." They were cheap. like really 
cheap. I was buying them for like what 20 quid,

0:50:26.080,0:50:30.720
right? Like for for per item. So I brought a bulk 
of them. I said I thought, "Oh, I've got some EMA

0:50:30.720,0:50:34.400
money here. Let me buy them and try to sell them, 
right?" And I brought them and every I put them on

0:50:34.400,0:50:39.520
eBay and oh my gosh, like I bought like five and 
they just went in like literally two like probably

0:50:39.520,0:50:44.080
two hours, right? And I was just like, "Okay, wow. 
I've just made myself like a hundred, you know,

0:50:44.080,0:50:48.160
like hundreds of pounds, right? Just from the Cuz 
I was selling them. I bought them for 20. I sell

0:50:48.160,0:50:52.960
them for£50." Entrepreneurship, didn't you? That 
was my first taste. Yeah. And that's when I was

0:50:52.960,0:50:57.840
like, "Okay, I'm on to something. So, I don't need 
to do what my friends are doing. I don't need to

0:50:57.840,0:51:02.960
sell drugs or be around that, right? Like, I can 
make a lane like this." So, then I took the money,

0:51:02.960,0:51:09.200
I reinvested it and I'm just buying more and more 
and more. Then I went on to selling um GHD hair

0:51:09.200,0:51:13.360
straighteners as well. Oh, yeah. Right. So, I 
bought a bulk of them and then I will knock and

0:51:13.360,0:51:17.200
then I was thinking, okay, I was putting them 
on eBay. eBay took them down cuz it was like,

0:51:17.200,0:51:21.680
you can't sell this this brand, right? Cuz I was 
selling them as brand new. They said, "You can't

0:51:21.680,0:51:26.800
sell as brand new. You have to sell them as, you 
know, un used or whatever." So I was like, "Okay."

0:51:26.800,0:51:30.240
So they took my listing down. So then I went and 
knocked loads of doors around my area that were

0:51:30.240,0:51:35.120
hairdressers. So I knocked every hairdresser 
around like Ernington, Sen Colefield and stuff

0:51:35.120,0:51:38.880
like that. And I got a few people to to buy my 
products and yeah, I was just buying and selling

0:51:38.880,0:51:43.680
online. And I was making, you know, hundreds of 
pounds a week as as a youngster, 16, 17 years old.

0:51:43.680,0:51:49.040
Um, yeah. So I was doing that going to college. 
But then, and your outgoing personality helped you

0:51:49.040,0:51:53.280
cuz you were selling. Yeah. Well, I learned the 
outgoing personality from that. So, I'm selling.

0:51:53.280,0:52:01.360
Listen, sales is the most important skill I think 
everyone should start with. Right? If you've got

0:52:01.360,0:52:07.360
kids, send them to a doortodoor company or some 
sort of sales company. Get them that raw talent

0:52:07.360,0:52:11.840
cuz you learn how to communicate. You learn 
how to have to present and talk to people from

0:52:11.840,0:52:16.560
different backgrounds. And you know those those 
and it number one, it helps you face rejection,

0:52:16.560,0:52:23.680
right? Oh, you get humbled again. you get humbled 
and it's like all those egos that's it and I never

0:52:23.680,0:52:27.040
forget that at that time when I was knocking doors 
a lot of rejection and I was getting rejection but

0:52:27.040,0:52:31.200
then I came home I typed into Google entrepreneurs 
that face loads of rejection and it was just like

0:52:31.200,0:52:35.760
every entrepreneur faces that right but then 
there was a story of Colonel Sanders KFC the

0:52:35.760,0:52:43.840
owner KFC and I I read that he he knocked he had 
the he had the the recipe for KFC nobody wanted to

0:52:43.840,0:52:54.240
invest in it but he knocked 1,09 doors Right. He 
got rejected but then on the last door he knocked

0:52:54.240,0:53:00.800
say it was 1. somebody invested into his into 
his recipe and now we have KFC, right? You know,

0:53:00.800,0:53:04.960
and he started that at what I think he was like 66 
years old or something like that when he started

0:53:04.960,0:53:10.240
it. That story like yeah, my head went after that 
reading. I said, "Okay, I'm going to I need to no

0:53:10.240,0:53:13.280
one cares. Just work harder. Just keep knocking 
more doors." And that's what I So, so like the

0:53:13.280,0:53:21.040
tennis players and like the Nova Djokovic, is 
that how you um just any any famous sports person,

0:53:21.040,0:53:25.920
how many times Michael Jordan, how many times have 
they all missed? Yes. How many times? How many

0:53:25.920,0:53:31.280
times? Right. But people don't see that, right? 
But it's the thing, you you you um you train the

0:53:31.280,0:53:36.320
ego. You tame and train it, I would almost say, 
because it it's wild and proud. Yeah. You know,

0:53:36.320,0:53:40.880
and it's like, oh, yeah. No, of course. You 
can't reject. And then no one likes rejection,

0:53:40.880,0:53:45.760
right? But then you you train it and it becomes 
humbled, but it also becomes better. It becomes

0:53:45.760,0:53:50.960
and it becomes a a better salesperson, a better 
communicator. It's a great lesson to be humble

0:53:50.960,0:53:58.800
in that way. Well, getting at 16 though that 
that that it's terrific that kind of um lack

0:53:58.800,0:54:02.960
of fear of rejection cuz I had at that time I 
was I don't care about getting rejected like

0:54:02.960,0:54:07.920
that's fine because every no brings you closer 
to a yes, right? Like not more doors, you know,

0:54:07.920,0:54:11.920
law of averages. I'm going to get a sale at the 
end of it. So I reject so I seen rejection as a

0:54:11.920,0:54:15.360
good thing. Okay. Yeah. Rejected. I'm closer to 
the yes, right? Like that's the mind frame that

0:54:15.360,0:54:19.440
you have when you're doing doortodoor and you 
know trying to sell a product. And um yeah,

0:54:19.440,0:54:24.720
that has definitely played a massive part in 
my life just in other areas, you know. I love

0:54:24.720,0:54:29.360
that. I love that you're saying that. Yeah, I'm I 
I adore sales and I believe that we should all be

0:54:29.360,0:54:34.720
investing more in our comm skills. I I agree with 
you. It's a superpower. Yeah, it's a super they

0:54:34.720,0:54:39.520
teach, you know, you go to do these MBAs and 
things like that and actually, you know what,

0:54:39.520,0:54:45.440
like communication skills. Yeah. Communication 
skills 101. Do that communication and it will take

0:54:45.440,0:54:51.120
you so much further. Yeah. 100%. Being able to 
communicate your you know your value or your ideas

0:54:51.120,0:54:56.720
in the right way is is is the number one is one of 
the number one skills. Yes. So you started to tap

0:54:56.720,0:55:01.200
around in this you're doing this entrepreneurship 
and everything. What's next? Yeah. So what

0:55:01.200,0:55:05.840
happened was in that time don't forget I'm I'm in 
an area I'm still I'm doing this whilst I'm still

0:55:05.840,0:55:14.880
in a area that's quite tough and rough. Right. And 
then one night I had a knock on my door right on

0:55:14.880,0:55:21.360
my auntie's door. It was bit of a bang. It was a 
bit of a bang, right? And my auntie's answered the

0:55:21.360,0:55:26.480
door and then she came in and she goes, "Cordal, 
there's there's some some people outside asking

0:55:26.480,0:55:30.960
for you. They're saying CJ." So people used to 
call me CJ. My initials was Cordell Jeffers,

0:55:30.960,0:55:34.640
right? Mhm. But I was thinking it was a bit 
strange. I had a funny feeling when she said

0:55:34.640,0:55:39.280
that cuz normally she would either let them in cuz 
they know me. Not Not a lot of people knew where

0:55:39.280,0:55:44.560
my auntie lives, right? Or they would call me by 
Cordell. They wouldn't say CJ to my auntie, right?

0:55:46.240,0:55:55.120
So I thought that I went outside and as I went 
outside I seen people like shifting around

0:55:55.120,0:56:02.560
the corner and then I was you know met by two guys 
with balaclavas and I'm masked on stop it. Yeah.

0:56:02.560,0:56:08.560
And you know they kind of they grabbed me they 
kind of put me to the floor and you know No. Yeah.

0:56:08.560,0:56:12.560
They kind of like they're screaming at me saying 
like where's your money? Like oh no. Yeah. Where's

0:56:12.560,0:56:17.760
money? What do you have for me? for these kind 
of things. So much was going on and obviously in

0:56:17.760,0:56:24.080
that moment I'm thinking I don't know what these 
guys have on them. You know my first thought was

0:56:24.080,0:56:28.000
are these guys going to stab me? Are they going 
to shoot me? I mean I'm in an area where these

0:56:28.000,0:56:32.480
things happen, right? So it's not it's not got 
wind. Someone got wind you were making money.

0:56:32.480,0:56:36.480
I don't know what they got wind of right. I I 
still up to this day I don't know what it is.

0:56:36.480,0:56:39.840
I don't know whether it was jealousy. Jealousy was 
probably the thing. Right. Do you think it was one

0:56:39.840,0:56:49.440
of your friends? No, I don't. I got a I do kind of 
know who it was now. I've got a sense. And um it

0:56:49.440,0:56:55.920
was people that I've seen that knew me that were 
around my friends that see me as a target. They

0:56:55.920,0:57:00.960
was watching. Yeah. They must well there must have 
been right. And I don't I I never got involved in

0:57:00.960,0:57:06.000
any any kind of activities like that. So they're 
probably thinking, well, how is he getting on

0:57:06.000,0:57:10.480
and what's he doing? How's he like progressing 
whilst we're all out here doing what we're doing,

0:57:10.480,0:57:16.240
right? So yeah, I got attacked and it was a it was 
a very scary moment, right? Like imagine masked a

0:57:16.240,0:57:21.200
gang of masked people coming to your house, right? 
And then um you know I I end by the grace of God

0:57:21.200,0:57:26.160
like I don't know how I ended up you know getting 
away shifting off. I've got inside and you know

0:57:26.160,0:57:31.680
my auntie saw saw the people outside closed the 
door and you know we pressing against the door.

0:57:31.680,0:57:35.360
My auntie is saying she's screaming like go away 
I'm going to call the police. I'm going away. I'm

0:57:35.360,0:57:39.120
going to call the police. And you know these guys 
ran off like and you could tell they must have

0:57:39.120,0:57:47.920
been youngsters as well, right? And um yeah, in 
that moment it was it was like it was a real sign

0:57:47.920,0:57:57.840
of you need to separate yourself fully to elevate 
yourself because I was still around my friends.

0:57:57.840,0:58:02.720
Not a lot. I was on my own path but I was still 
around it a little bit. Right. Yeah. They watching

0:58:02.720,0:58:08.720
you and I became I became a target. So that made 
me realize separate in order to elevate. And I

0:58:08.720,0:58:13.120
remember that moment depressed me because you've 
got to think I've just came from the Caribbean.

0:58:13.120,0:58:17.280
I've just come to my auntie's home. She's opened 
the doors for me to stay there. Right. And now

0:58:17.280,0:58:22.320
I've brought this to her home. Yeah. Yeah. You 
know, and I didn't even Yeah. And I didn't want

0:58:22.320,0:58:26.880
to do that. Right. So it was it was a it was 
a tough time. And I never forget I went into

0:58:26.880,0:58:32.640
college the next day. No. Well, a few days after. 
And the teacher because in college I got on with

0:58:32.640,0:58:37.360
my teachers. I didn't get on with them in school, 
but in college is a little different cuz the way

0:58:37.360,0:58:41.040
you're writing, you can express yourself a little 
bit more. You know, when you're doing essays,

0:58:41.040,0:58:44.640
you can have your own perspective on and that's 
what I enjoyed and that's all I wanted was in

0:58:44.640,0:58:47.840
school. Like I want to share my perspective, 
but in school it was completely shut down,

0:58:47.840,0:58:54.560
right? In college was a bit more accepted. So I 
got with my teachers and I'll never forget you

0:58:54.560,0:59:00.640
know he just told me he said listen you know you 
have diamond and you have coal. He goes underneath

0:59:00.640,0:59:07.040
earth there's a process where you know coal goes 
through an extreme like heat and pressure and it

0:59:07.040,0:59:12.480
creates forms and elements of a diamond. He 
said pieces of a diamond are elements of coal

0:59:12.480,0:59:16.720
right and he says right now you're the coal you 
you know you you're a bit unpol you know you're

0:59:16.720,0:59:20.960
not polished but you got a lot of potential. And 
he goes, "The pressure that you go through that,

0:59:20.960,0:59:24.560
you know, getting kicked out of school, going to 
the Caribbean, coming back, trying to do well,

0:59:24.560,0:59:29.440
people attacking you." He says, "You can use 
all of that and you can create yourself into a

0:59:29.440,0:59:34.800
diamond." He said, "Pressure creates diamonds." 
He said, "Remember that." And you're a terrific

0:59:34.800,0:59:43.840
teacher. Terrific. Right. And that literally again 
another significant moment cuz I thought I changed

0:59:43.840,0:59:48.480
my frame. Instead of being depressed, why me? 
Why have I been attacked? Why did I get targeted?

0:59:48.480,0:59:52.000
I'm trying to do a good thing. I changed it. I 
thought, okay, this is a divine intervention.

0:59:52.000,0:59:57.200
Another one. All right. One was when I went to 
the Caribbean. This is the second one. This is

0:59:57.200,1:00:02.640
actually a moment of gratitude. These guys came 
to your home. But now, you know, I've got to get

1:00:02.640,1:00:07.040
out of here. And that was my complete my complete 
thing. So, so what did you do? I worked hard, got

1:00:07.040,1:00:10.320
all my qualifications and went to uni because it 
was the only way. I didn't want to go to uni. I'm

1:00:10.320,1:00:14.240
I'm a I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a seller. I don't 
need uni. That's what I was thinking. You know,

1:00:14.240,1:00:20.240
I can sell products. I can I want to grow a 
business. But I I needed to go to uni cuz it

1:00:20.240,1:00:25.040
was the only way out. You know, getting your 
student loan and living out living out of the

1:00:25.040,1:00:29.200
Where did you go? I went to Manchester. Okay. So, 
you went to Manchester. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

1:00:29.200,1:00:34.080
I went to Manchester. New environment. How is it? 
New environment. It was good. Loved it. You know,

1:00:34.080,1:00:38.880
international students. I'm around people from 
China and Middle East. It was good. I went to

1:00:38.880,1:00:46.240
study business and economics. Um. Perfect. Yeah. 
Economics again. like I've got my qualifications

1:00:46.240,1:00:51.280
but again uni was another level right it was hard 
so hard yeah I never forget the first day I went

1:00:51.280,1:00:55.600
into into lecture the teachers talking about 
equilibrium and all this stuff for economics

1:00:55.600,1:00:59.920
I was like okay I don't I think I picked the wrong 
subjects like this is this is this is too much but

1:00:59.920,1:01:04.880
yeah I went uh I changed my course to just then 
business and marketing but again I I still carried

1:01:04.880,1:01:09.040
on my entrepreneurial journey over there but this 
time I'm doing events so I'm doing like uni events

1:01:09.040,1:01:13.200
you know parties and stuff like that I got into 
a you know I met a guy called Owen up there who

1:01:13.200,1:01:16.800
who had his own events company. So, we partnered, 
you know, cuz I, you know, I got at this point,

1:01:16.800,1:01:21.120
I've got the gift of the gab. Like, I can speak to 
anybody. So, we I was doing well over there. And I

1:01:21.120,1:01:25.760
was, you know, I was using my student loan money 
um to just live and try to survive. And I just

1:01:25.760,1:01:29.840
felt so good cuz I'm away from everything. 
It was like a fresh start, man. Honestly,

1:01:29.840,1:01:35.440
it was like everything was off my shoulders. And 
in that time when I left, you know, I had friends,

1:01:35.440,1:01:39.520
you know, they went to jail for long periods 
of time, you know, being involved in in things

1:01:39.520,1:01:45.040
like the riots and stuff like that. People around 
me, you know, we had the Birmingham riots back in

1:01:45.040,1:01:48.480
and you can always look back at that and see 
that that could have been my path. In fact,

1:01:48.480,1:01:52.720
that was your path. That could have been But then 
I look, but then this is what I'm saying. Changed

1:01:52.720,1:01:59.920
it. You've got to understand, right? Like things 
don't happen to you. They happen for you. Right?

1:01:59.920,1:02:05.680
When you go through times of hardship, times of 
you know lust or greed, like I'm telling you,

1:02:05.680,1:02:12.560
you've just changed the frame. See it from the 
other side. How is this serving me? You know,

1:02:12.560,1:02:16.560
the quality of questions you ask yourself will 
determine the quality of, you know, your life and

1:02:16.560,1:02:23.360
your results. When you're going through something 
hard, instead of focusing on the negative, because

1:02:23.360,1:02:27.280
where your focus goes, your energy goes, right? 
But instead of focusing on that, change the frame

1:02:27.280,1:02:31.200
and go from it all of a sudden and say, "Okay, 
how is he serving me?" Asking a question like

1:02:31.200,1:02:37.040
that in a hard time. Yeah. Completely changes the 
paradigm. I always think that life I mean this is

1:02:37.040,1:02:43.040
the mindset I try and I try and live by this that 
life will always teach you the lessons you need to

1:02:43.040,1:02:47.680
learn. So that's why I say when you were resisting 
and you were like being very, you know, even

1:02:47.680,1:02:52.240
though you were in this bad situation, you were 
still resisting. That's just the more resistance

1:02:52.240,1:02:56.560
you were showing, the more life was going, you 
really need to learn this lesson. You know,

1:02:56.560,1:03:01.840
100% learn it because it will keep happening to 
you. And those guys that were stuck in that jail,

1:03:01.840,1:03:06.480
they weren't learning from that lesson. Life was 
presenting them with what they need to learn and

1:03:06.480,1:03:11.920
they still weren't learning. So, not everyone 
makes the decision to learn. Yeah. Not everybody

1:03:11.920,1:03:17.920
makes a decision to learn. But whilst I was there 
in university with this whole fresh start, I'm

1:03:17.920,1:03:23.680
thinking well actually and then when I'm seeing 
like my friends go to jail and stuff like that.

1:03:23.680,1:03:28.080
Don't get me wrong, I've seen a few of them come 
out and they've done good now. So they've they've

1:03:28.080,1:03:34.640
rehabilitated and they've came out of normal but 
at that time I'm thinking imagine them guys didn't

1:03:34.640,1:03:40.880
come to my home and try to attack my home and you 
know make me and my eyes. If that didn't happen I

1:03:40.880,1:03:45.360
would have still been there. So it could have 
been worse, right? So you've got to understand

1:03:45.360,1:03:50.160
things happen for a reason. Divine intervention, 
divine timing, and believe in it fully, right?

1:03:50.160,1:03:56.960
Things happen. You have to just frame your mind 
and ask the question, how is this serving me right

1:03:56.960,1:04:04.960
now? And if you can ask that in times of hardship, 
you'll have a better result out of it. You know,

1:04:04.960,1:04:09.600
you'll be able to use it as transformation rather 
than a tool that can bring it down. It's not easy

1:04:09.600,1:04:16.400
and I'm not saying it's easy for anyone, but it's 
definitely an important way. Yeah. So, you've

1:04:16.400,1:04:21.760
made the decision to come out of there. You're in 
Manchester and you're at the university and you're

1:04:21.760,1:04:27.520
doing well and then do you what happens? I didn't 
pass I didn't pass university. I didn't pass um

1:04:27.520,1:04:33.440
well I didn't but I came out the second year. 
Right. I'm in a business of marketing and I I

1:04:33.440,1:04:41.520
at this point I've done knocked doors, hundreds of 
doors. I've sold on eBay. I've made money like off

1:04:41.520,1:04:46.880
my own back. I've read every single book you could 
think of. I've more qualified than these teachers

1:04:46.880,1:04:49.920
that are trying to teach me these lectures. I went 
to my lecturer and I said, "Okay, so do you have

1:04:49.920,1:04:55.040
a business?" Uh, no. Okay, so I'm a business. 
You're teaching me business and marketing right

1:04:55.040,1:05:00.080
now. You don't have a you don't have a business. 
He said, "No." I said, "Okay, that makes sense.

1:05:00.880,1:05:05.680
But obviously sarcastically, right? So then I 
walked out. Then in my other class, I asked the

1:05:05.680,1:05:11.920
teacher, "Okay, so what sales have you done? You 
don't sell or are we going to learn sale? Are you

1:05:11.920,1:05:16.960
going to teach us like how to sell or anything 
like that?" No, no, we don't teach sales here.

1:05:16.960,1:05:21.760
So obviously I've had experience on the past. This 
ain't making no sense to me right now, right? So

1:05:21.760,1:05:24.720
then I left. I was like, "This is something for 
me." Like this this ain't for me. So what did

1:05:24.720,1:05:31.840
you do next then? So then came back to Birmingham 
and then I was just like okay my mom had a home my

1:05:31.840,1:05:37.200
family home it was rented at the time. So I came 
back to Birmingham after a few years and then I

1:05:37.200,1:05:43.440
I decided okay I want to instead of the hustling 
type stuff that I'm doing like selling buying and

1:05:43.440,1:05:49.840
selling buying and selling I thought to myself can 
I can I start something more you know beneficial

1:05:49.840,1:05:55.600
um you know with a proper business and I started 
a clothing line at the time it was it was it was

1:05:55.600,1:06:01.440
a it was a it was a sportsware brand and I done 
well you know it it got to a decent level within

1:06:01.440,1:06:05.840
the community that I was in selling it to gyms 
and having contracts with gyms and stuff like

1:06:05.840,1:06:13.360
that. Um, but yeah, that was it was quite kind of 
shortlived, but I learned a lot then. And then I

1:06:13.360,1:06:18.800
said to myself, do you know what I really want 
to do? Cuz I'm at this point through I didn't

1:06:18.800,1:06:23.120
stop reading. Reading changed my life. I did 
not stop reading. At this point, I've read

1:06:23.120,1:06:27.520
hundreds of books, right, on the mind, on, you 
know, business and, you know, entrepreneurship

1:06:27.520,1:06:31.840
and reading everybody's autobiographies 
and stuff. And I said to myself, okay,

1:06:31.840,1:06:37.840
I want to share what I know. Like I want to speak 
and I was because I always used to listen to like,

1:06:37.840,1:06:43.040
you know, Tony Robbins, Les Brown, Mel Robbins, 
Bnee Brown. I'd listen to all these guys, right?

1:06:43.040,1:06:48.160
And I'm like, I can speak. I'm sure I can speak 
and share experiences, my story, my hardship,

1:06:48.160,1:06:54.000
and you know what I know? And I said, who could I 
speak to? Like who's my audience, right? Like who

1:06:54.000,1:06:59.760
who do I relate to the most? And for me at that 
time it was it was young people in school system

1:06:59.760,1:07:05.280
that were the unpolished the coal right that had 
potential to become that diamond right speak to

1:07:05.280,1:07:11.600
them and speaking to them cuz actually if I was in 
school and I had somebody like me going yeah you

1:07:11.600,1:07:15.760
would have you would have I would have I would 
have probably yeah I would have listened right

1:07:15.760,1:07:20.000
I could have changed and I decided that's what I 
was going to do and I started to build workshops

1:07:20.000,1:07:25.680
and motivational assemblies. I'd build workshops 
on mindset and purpose and stuff like that and

1:07:25.680,1:07:31.520
going to schools and deliver them. And that was 
where my career just went, you know, opportunity.

1:07:31.520,1:07:37.200
How did it go up? Cuz I started to share my story 
and, you know, I schools loved what I was doing

1:07:37.200,1:07:42.480
and they could see results in the students like I 
was shifting their minds and they would, you know,

1:07:42.480,1:07:47.120
they would see change in behavior. kids that were 
on the verge of getting excluded or you know I'm

1:07:47.120,1:07:52.400
getting reports saying you know they they've made 
a massive turnaround that them kids were just like

1:07:52.400,1:07:56.240
me. I got excluded though like you know but I 
was trying to show these kids listen if I had

1:07:56.240,1:08:01.680
got my GCSEs if I had got you know that if I had 
took school seriously at the time I would have

1:08:01.680,1:08:05.760
you know probably been a lot further where I am 
now or I would have achieved what I've achieved

1:08:05.760,1:08:12.880
now quicker and you know these kids were you know 
taking me they were listening and yeah I was I was

1:08:12.880,1:08:16.400
sharing I was sharing things like business and 
how to become an entrepreneur and the teachers

1:08:16.400,1:08:21.920
loved it and I ended up working schools across 
Birmingham um schools across the UK you know ended

1:08:21.920,1:08:27.680
up working with, you know, thousands and thousands 
of young people. And then I this is necessary,

1:08:27.680,1:08:32.880
you know. No, it's necessary. This is required 
to talk to these lost kitties and to to help

1:08:32.880,1:08:39.280
them. You know, this is really needed. No, it's 
needed. It's needed. And what I found what a

1:08:39.280,1:08:46.080
lot of the kids had was a lack of purpose, 
a lack of and it's not that they needed to

1:08:46.080,1:08:51.840
know fully what they wanted, but you need some 
form of direction of where they may want to go,

1:08:51.840,1:08:56.960
right? Where their skills. So the skills that I 
had, you know, with these naughty kids, you know,

1:08:56.960,1:09:01.440
I had some of these traits that the naughty kids 
had. That's what I'm I'm saying that like naughty,

1:09:01.440,1:09:06.240
but I see them as future leaders cuz I knew I was 
one, right? that I used to get labeled everything.

1:09:06.240,1:09:10.640
The fog, the ring leader, the the person that 
distracts the class, the class clown. That's

1:09:10.640,1:09:15.200
what the teachers would say to me, right? But I 
I believed in myself, especially when I started

1:09:15.200,1:09:20.000
to read. And then I said, "Okay, you know what? 
Let's look." So, I made like the kids write down

1:09:20.000,1:09:24.720
all of those traits that the teachers would tell 
them that, you know, they're too argumentative.

1:09:24.720,1:09:30.800
And then I'd make them find where that skill is 
used in other careers and high paying careers.

1:09:30.800,1:09:35.920
And that they'd associate their skill to it. And 
actually brilliant they would just like reframe it

1:09:35.920,1:09:41.520
say actually I could be a great debater then right 
and just these little things they have some hope

1:09:41.520,1:09:45.840
and they have a vision of something different 
is sort of spiraling like all their mates and

1:09:45.840,1:09:50.160
everyone in that that that neighborhood that they 
feel that they have to do these drugs and have

1:09:50.160,1:09:55.040
these vapes and do all the things that's going on 
in that environment. Apologies to anyone who likes

1:09:55.040,1:09:59.440
vapes but I'm not a fan. I don't think they're 
good for you. But you know like oh they smoking

1:09:59.440,1:10:03.360
I'm going to smoke it. Let's all spiral down. But 
actually there's a when you see these people that

1:10:03.360,1:10:07.520
are doing all these other things and you oh I 
could do that too. It's it's because they might

1:10:07.520,1:10:13.200
not have that in their home their parents might 
be also really struggling. No and spiraling. No.

1:10:13.200,1:10:18.400
Exactly. And so it's good to we have to go we have 
to see what where the young people show a bit of

1:10:18.400,1:10:24.960
motivation and we have to tie that to their if the 
kids that you know for example are not if they're

1:10:24.960,1:10:29.200
not performing how you would like them in their 
education. It's not. And but you, for example, you

1:10:29.200,1:10:34.480
might have a a young person that loves football, 
loves he's so motivated with his football. He's so

1:10:34.480,1:10:38.480
motivated with his games, you know? He's always 
playing them. He's he's he's the best gamer,

1:10:38.480,1:10:44.720
but in school, he might not be showing up, right? 
So, what we tend to do is say, "Forget the game,

1:10:44.720,1:10:48.640
right? You need to learn, focus on your school." 
But actually, what we need to do is look at what

1:10:48.640,1:10:54.080
their values are. Look at their hierarchy of 
values. If their value is in game, then show them,

1:10:54.080,1:10:58.080
okay, that's a good I I love what you're doing 
there. like let's look at a career for that then.

1:10:58.080,1:11:02.960
So what careers can you have that's involved? Oh, 
you can become a game designer. You can uh become

1:11:02.960,1:11:07.680
I don't know like create a gaming community. 
There's all these other ways that you can become

1:11:07.680,1:11:12.880
a gamer, right? Okay. Now, what we've got to 
do is tie that to the school curriculum. So,

1:11:12.880,1:11:16.640
how does English help you become a better grader? 
Oh, so you can write code for the games. Okay. So,

1:11:16.640,1:11:20.160
you're going to need to have good English and math 
skills for that, right? And then what you're doing

1:11:20.160,1:11:24.400
is you're tying their value to something that they 
don't enjoy. But then when you tie their values to

1:11:24.400,1:11:28.240
that, that becomes more of an enjoyment because 
they can see where it can lead them. And this

1:11:28.240,1:11:33.200
is what we're not doing for our young people. So 
stop telling them forget the game, forget Netflix,

1:11:33.200,1:11:36.800
right? Cuz he could be the next film director, 
but he's got to know how to write scripts,

1:11:36.800,1:11:42.800
right? So Sure. Sure. Let tie that to the school 
curriculum, you know? So uh when did you meet King

1:11:42.800,1:11:48.080
Charles? He was then Prince Charles. Yeah, he 
was Prince Charles. So I became ambassador for

1:11:48.080,1:11:54.880
the Prince's Trust. you know, they they saw my 
work. They could, you know, I applied for it to

1:11:54.880,1:12:02.240
be fair and it was a it was a young ambassador. 
So, I became a young ambassador and I would they

1:12:02.240,1:12:06.800
would send me to events to speak, share my story, 
my journey. Um, they gave me a little bit of help

1:12:06.800,1:12:12.400
in my first my first business which was well my 
first legitimate business like registered business

1:12:12.400,1:12:17.040
um which was my clothing line. Um, so they gave 
me a bit of funding for it and stuff like that.

1:12:17.040,1:12:22.240
It was a little bit of money. I I had to pay it 
back, but it it helped and it gave me a little

1:12:22.240,1:12:26.240
bit of a mentor and stuff like that at the time. 
But so they was like, "Oh, we would love to share

1:12:26.240,1:12:29.840
your journey. You know, you've got you seem like 
you got everything that we want you to share your

1:12:29.840,1:12:35.680
journey at event." So I'm almost there was almost 
kind of like using me in a sense as a fundraising

1:12:35.680,1:12:41.840
tool, right? Like cuz I'd go to big events 
and speak. I knew it. I've seen it as okay,

1:12:41.840,1:12:47.360
if I go to these big events and I speak on 
stage, then I'm going to get more connections,

1:12:47.360,1:12:51.840
right? And I've been doing this in schools, but 
I haven't been doing it at big stages in terms of

1:12:51.840,1:12:56.160
businesses, right? And I was thinking, but I've 
added, you know, you have that self-imposter

1:12:56.160,1:13:00.960
syndrome. Who's going to listen to me on these big 
stages, right? Yeah. That I'm used to school kids,

1:13:00.960,1:13:06.560
but I quickly found out the school kids were a 
lot harder than the business people, right? So

1:13:06.560,1:13:12.160
when I was on these big stages, they would send me 
like, you know, massive events and I would speak,

1:13:12.160,1:13:17.360
I would inspire and the response that I got was 
just overwhelming, right? Like I had people reach

1:13:17.360,1:13:22.800
out to me like saying like, Cordell, your story 
is incredible. Keep going. I'd have people and

1:13:22.800,1:13:26.560
then I was just like, okay, maybe I can take 
public speaking like as an actual career and

1:13:26.560,1:13:31.760
just become an inspirational speaker rather than 
just in school. Then you don't. So my journey I

1:13:31.760,1:13:36.160
was speaking for the princesses trust building my 
connections building my personal brand in a sense

1:13:36.160,1:13:42.560
like wasn't intending wasn't intending to but 
you know I'm speaking at you know Facebook and

1:13:42.560,1:13:48.240
you know downing street and all these places right 
and I became quite a prominent figure because I

1:13:48.240,1:13:53.840
was raising them a lot of money number one and 
number two I was I was a great communicator at

1:13:53.840,1:13:59.440
the time right I could communicate and then I 
took public speaking serious and then I started

1:13:59.440,1:14:04.400
to learn how the art of communication, how to own 
the stage, how to be more confident and you know

1:14:04.400,1:14:10.560
show leadership qualities. I was I was reading 
into that and then I started to do training and

1:14:10.560,1:14:16.240
speaking for businesses around mindset. So I'd 
work with sales teams help to develop the you know

1:14:16.240,1:14:20.560
winning mindset and stuff like that and all of 
these kind of strategies and things I was learning

1:14:20.560,1:14:24.880
from all these books that I was reading in my 
young my young ages are just develop into work

1:14:24.880,1:14:31.200
programs and I became very successful at doing 
that you know worked for you know places like KPMG

1:14:31.200,1:14:36.880
and you know things like that like massive brands 
this is the young the youngster from you know N

1:14:36.880,1:14:41.600
Park Road you know from Stetford that got kicked 
out of school that was told you know you're you're

1:14:41.600,1:14:44.960
you're not going to be anything right you're 
excluded you're not going to make anything of

1:14:44.960,1:14:53.760
yourself to working at KPMG and you know Facebook. 
You're an example of of someone that Yeah. despite

1:14:53.760,1:15:00.480
adversity, despite challenges in a really not 
nice environment. You you pulled yourself out. You

1:15:00.480,1:15:05.440
pulled yourself out. You worked hard on yourself. 
Yeah. Worked extremely hard on myself. Right. And

1:15:05.440,1:15:09.520
you know for you know I know you have an amazing 
like community of people that watch and you know

1:15:09.520,1:15:14.880
people that work on theirel as well but yeah 
just continue right and I would say the best

1:15:14.880,1:15:19.680
investment is you right I I took every personal 
development course you can think of like I'm I'm

1:15:19.680,1:15:23.200
very impulsive right like sell me something good 
that can I can learn from like I'm going to buy

1:15:23.200,1:15:29.840
it right but I've took all the courses and then 
so the buildup to me meeting Prince Charles or

1:15:29.840,1:15:37.840
King Charles King now Prince then yes was um for 
my award of award-winning change maker, someone

1:15:37.840,1:15:42.080
that's made impact and worked with hundreds of 
thousands of young kids cuz my workshops have

1:15:42.080,1:15:47.760
at this point I've done I've worked across the 
UK, you know, I've developed programs and yeah,

1:15:47.760,1:15:52.480
I've worked and inspired hundreds of thousands 
of people, right? From stages, from assemblies,

1:15:52.480,1:15:58.240
from workshops, you know, from oneto ones, 
mentoring. So, I've done all that work. And

1:15:58.240,1:16:04.160
um but you know it what was so crazy when I got 
that award it meant so much to me because not

1:16:04.160,1:16:09.200
long before that my mom this was in the middle of 
COVID as well by the way right so you know co was

1:16:09.200,1:16:15.200
what about 3 years or something like that right 
and then yeah my mom she came to visit me from the

1:16:15.200,1:16:19.440
Caribbean so she was in the Caribbean and she was 
seeing all this progress yeah so my mom was super

1:16:19.440,1:16:25.360
proud with you yeah but don't forget when I left 
that airport I said to myself that's my reason why

1:16:25.360,1:16:32.720
so when any time there was any sort sort of like 
bad thought. I would think you keep going. You've

1:16:32.720,1:16:37.120
got to make that woman proud. She took you out 
of the Caribbean. She made a good choice for you.

1:16:37.120,1:16:42.400
Make that woman proud. And I'd done it. And she 
was beaming with light every time she heard of a

1:16:42.400,1:16:50.480
new success or a new achievement. Right? So when I 
got told I was going to go for that award, she was

1:16:50.480,1:16:56.720
um extremely happy. Right. Um she was extremely 
happy of some of the things that I was doing.

1:16:56.720,1:17:02.320
But I never got because of COVID, I didn't get 
my award for quite a while, right? Um because

1:17:02.320,1:17:07.600
obviously it was an event and you know the events 
were locked down. But in between that time, my mom

1:17:07.600,1:17:13.520
came to visit me. She came from the Caribbean. 
She came to visit me and my little brother cuz

1:17:13.520,1:17:18.000
we was obviously my brother was here now. So my 
brother, he came over when I when he was about 15

1:17:18.000,1:17:23.200
as well. He lived with me for a while. So my 
mom came over and I did tell my mom. I said,

1:17:23.200,1:17:28.960
"Mom, co not too sure." But she was like, "Cod, 
I haven't seen you in a couple of years now. You

1:17:28.960,1:17:32.240
know, like I want to see the the airports have 
opened. I want to just I just need a break. I

1:17:32.240,1:17:38.800
just want to come and see you." So I said, "All 
right, cool." So she came and while she was here,

1:17:38.800,1:17:42.880
I met her. Never forget, I took her to Pizza 
Express as soon as she came. She loved she

1:17:42.880,1:17:46.320
loved the pizza, right? We went Pizza Express. We 
had a good time. She came to my home, you know,

1:17:46.320,1:17:52.640
I brought a beautiful home out in the countryside 
at 27 years old, right? um for me and my family.

1:17:52.640,1:17:56.720
That was a massive achievement at the time for 
me as well. And she came and she just couldn't

1:17:56.720,1:18:03.120
believe it. She was just like what doubt like wow 
like you know and it was a it was it was a home

1:18:03.120,1:18:08.080
that I always envisioned. I had you know the the 
spotlights the court works the title like it was

1:18:08.080,1:18:15.760
something that I worked hard for and I was able 
to achieve. Right. And she so she came she visited

1:18:15.760,1:18:25.440
me and then after that visit when she came she um 
caught CO she caught CO and uh she she died within

1:18:25.440,1:18:34.960
like 3 weeks right um Oh my So she caught CO in 
the UK she caught CO while she was here. Yeah.

1:18:34.960,1:18:44.000
I'm so sorry. Oh no. Yeah, it was it was tough, 
you know, when Oh, no. Yeah. When she caught it,

1:18:44.000,1:18:49.120
it you know, she she caught it. She was sick for 
a while. So quick. Yeah. Like literally so quick.

1:18:49.120,1:18:52.880
She she caught it. I remember the first week I 
was on FaceTime with her while she caught it and

1:18:52.880,1:18:56.480
she was like trying to you know keep herself 
to herself and stuff like that cuz she didn't

1:18:56.480,1:19:01.840
want anyone else to catch her obviously. She was 
isolating. And then I was on FaceTime to her and

1:19:01.840,1:19:06.000
she was just like, "Wow, this is really feeling 
like it's really getting to me like it's not Yeah.

1:19:06.000,1:19:11.360
And then she got worse. She got a bit worse. 
And then she went to the she went hospital. And

1:19:11.360,1:19:16.320
um while she went to the hospital, she she seemed 
okay. She got this is all in the UK. This is all

1:19:16.320,1:19:21.120
in the UK. She's on a holiday. She's on holiday. 
She was meant to be going back within that window.

1:19:21.120,1:19:26.480
She meant to be going back the next month to the 
Caribbean. So it really took her like it really

1:19:26.480,1:19:31.760
Yeah. Yeah. It took and the hospital couldn't. 
So, in the hospital, she was she seemed to be

1:19:31.760,1:19:38.960
okay once she got on some oxygen and stuff like 
that. And she was still facetiming me, right? But,

1:19:38.960,1:19:42.480
you know, she she wasn't quite happy with like 
the way that like some of the nurses might have

1:19:42.480,1:19:49.360
been. and she had a few complaints and then out of 
nowhere, I never forget, I was driving, you know,

1:19:49.360,1:19:56.080
and pulled over cuz my phone kept ringing 
and you know, I pulled over cuz it was the

1:19:56.080,1:20:01.600
doctors and they was like, "Okay, so your mom, 
she's been on this ventilator for a few weeks,

1:20:01.600,1:20:08.560
but she's not doing well. Like her lungs are 
getting worse. We need to we need to put her in,

1:20:08.560,1:20:17.280
you know, the you know, a coma, like pretty much 
ICU. we need to put her to sleep. I phoned my mom

1:20:17.280,1:20:19.920
cuz she was, you know, she she wasn't in the 
comment at this point. They wanted me to make

1:20:19.920,1:20:24.160
this decision. Like they're like, "You got to make 
a decision. Like, we can't we don't know what to

1:20:24.160,1:20:32.080
do." And I phone my mom and Yeah. God bless her, 
man. She She literally was like, "Codell, I don't

1:20:32.080,1:20:36.560
know what to do. Like the one they're telling me 
that they want to put me to sleep and they don't

1:20:36.560,1:20:40.400
know when I'm going to wake up." That's what 
she told me, right? Could you imagine the fear

1:20:40.400,1:20:44.000
that you know? Yeah. Right. There's no one around 
her. I couldn't even visit her. Yeah. You know,

1:20:44.000,1:20:48.240
I couldn't I couldn't go to visit her cuz you know 
the hospitals wouldn't allow you to visit. Right.

1:20:48.240,1:20:55.600
That that's just it's it's a lot. Yeah. It was a 
lot. Right. And um yeah, she did I said so I said,

1:20:55.600,1:21:00.560
"Mom, just wait there." So I tried to phone 
anyone that had like a medical background,

1:21:00.560,1:21:04.640
nurses in the family and stuff. And I'm saying 
Yeah. I'm like, "Should I be doing this? Should

1:21:04.640,1:21:10.400
should I tell them? Like I don't I was so confused 
cuz I'm I I'll be honest. I'm a conspiracist,

1:21:10.400,1:21:15.360
right? Like I don't really know what was going 
on at that time didn't really trust what was

1:21:15.360,1:21:19.920
going on. You know, we had everyone had some like 
apprehension towards it, right? Like what is this,

1:21:19.920,1:21:26.320
right? And um and you know, anyone that I knew 
that went on a ventilator like died, right? A

1:21:26.320,1:21:31.200
lot of people were dying at that time, right? So 
I was just like, I don't want to do this. It's a

1:21:31.200,1:21:36.160
big decision for you. Big for me, right? I didn't 
phone. can't see her. You got to make you're not

1:21:36.160,1:21:41.680
a medically trained individual and you have to 
make that crazy. You know, when I said to my mom,

1:21:41.680,1:21:46.160
"What do you want to do?" She said, "I don't know, 
but they're telling me if I don't go on this,

1:21:46.160,1:21:52.480
I could die." Yeah. Right. Okay. This is madness. 
Like 3 weeks ago, she's at my home, you know?

1:21:52.480,1:21:56.800
She's she's we we're s we're chilling. Like I'm 
making her food. We're having a good time. Right.

1:21:56.800,1:22:03.840
How is this even happening? Yeah, it was it was it 
was the worst time ever. And um she they put her

1:22:03.840,1:22:09.120
on a ventilator to put her to sleep. I had I made 
the decision cuz my you know family members were

1:22:09.120,1:22:15.280
saying yeah like that's the only way that we know 
right you know that were kind of in a in a NHS and

1:22:15.280,1:22:20.640
stuff. So you know I said yes to put her to sleep. 
You know, weeks went by, a couple weeks went by

1:22:20.640,1:22:26.160
where they were saying that she's not getting 
better at her. And you know, every single night I

1:22:26.160,1:22:30.480
would speak to the nurse and I'd put the phone to 
her ear and I'll try to read the affirmations like

1:22:30.480,1:22:34.880
I don't she can't she's not conscious, but I know 
she could probably hear me still, you know. Oh,

1:22:34.880,1:22:40.960
that's unbearably difficult. It was so difficult. 
Yeah, it was so difficult. And um they called me

1:22:40.960,1:22:47.360
in one time and yeah, they told me that Oh, no. 
that she's she she had passed, right? And you

1:22:47.360,1:22:52.240
know when the doctor told me that sitting down 
I had my partner there. I had my little brother

1:22:52.240,1:22:59.200
across from me and honestly my heart just broke. 
Yeah. You know my heart broke to know that dad to

1:22:59.200,1:23:04.720
turn off the Yeah. It was hard and I just went to 
my brother straight away like cuz like my little

1:23:04.720,1:23:10.240
brother like that was her baby, you know, like Oh 
yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was her baby, right? Like

1:23:10.240,1:23:15.760
but it's but but do you know why? Like obviously 
in hindsight what we know. Do we know why it was

1:23:15.760,1:23:20.800
so particularly bad for her? Like why did she 
have such a such a She never had she never had

1:23:20.800,1:23:25.920
no underlying issues. I don't Yeah. Yeah. She had 
a little bit of I think she had a few little bit

1:23:25.920,1:23:30.480
of blood pressure but that was Did they explain it 
at all? Did they say maybe it's because of some So

1:23:30.480,1:23:34.560
there was no condition. She just no condition. 
There was no condition. There wasn't explaining

1:23:34.560,1:23:40.080
much like it's just co you you remember that time 
right? I do remember it. news was just saying

1:23:40.080,1:23:46.000
this person this every minute there was numbers 
around the world like 10,000 20 30 100,000 this

1:23:46.000,1:23:51.040
person people were dropping like flies right but 
when I used to watch it you wouldn't think it's

1:23:51.040,1:23:56.480
going to some come so close to home no yeah yeah 
right yeah especially your mom she came on holiday

1:23:56.480,1:24:01.760
Caribbean and at this point we was kind of coming 
we was coming out to the like the opened up the

1:24:01.760,1:24:06.880
place people could go out at this point as well 
right so like yeah people was a little bit people

1:24:06.880,1:24:14.720
were still wearing masks and stuff But yeah, like 
losing my mom to co Oh, that's that's uh Yeah. No,

1:24:14.720,1:24:21.280
that's not that's not right. That's not right. 
It was a devastation. And you know, like I could

1:24:21.280,1:24:27.440
again I thought to myself in that time I could 
be against the hospital and NHS and the system,

1:24:27.440,1:24:30.000
but I knew that wasn't going to do anything 
for me. It's not going to bring my mom back,

1:24:30.000,1:24:38.320
is it? Right. And you know when I was you know 
when I buried her and you know had the funeral

1:24:38.320,1:24:42.160
gave her a nice send off. It was hard cuz she was 
here one moment and she just was gone the next.

1:24:42.160,1:24:46.560
Right. You know like there was no time to prepare 
for anything like that. You can't prepare for

1:24:46.560,1:24:50.720
anything like that. In the Caribbean was it was 
it bad there as well? Was it going around? No, it

1:24:50.720,1:24:55.760
wasn't it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. Not 
as bad as here. But it but it was there obviously

1:24:55.760,1:25:00.960
very minimal though. It wasn't like a It wasn't 
luckily cuz the you know the island that my mom's

1:25:00.960,1:25:07.520
from it's a small island. It's a small island. 
Yeah. Yeah. Luckily it wasn't nothing man. But

1:25:07.520,1:25:14.400
you know when she when she passed I had to do deep 
reflection right and all the personal development

1:25:14.400,1:25:21.440
everything that I've learned I had to lean into. 
I was it broke I felt broken you know worst thing

1:25:21.440,1:25:25.840
that's ever happened to me. I had to lean into 
everything I knew. So I had to reframe. That's

1:25:25.840,1:25:29.200
the only thing that I knew. I had to ask myself 
myself the question, how's this serving? And your

1:25:29.200,1:25:36.720
why is it's gone. So but I used it. Okay, how is 
this serving me? Why is this happen? You know,

1:25:36.720,1:25:41.760
cuz I I'm I'm a massive believer in the universal 
laws, right? And you have the universal law that

1:25:41.760,1:25:46.080
got me through this was polarity, right? Which 
means everything is dual in nature. You can't have

1:25:46.080,1:25:50.560
one without the other. You can't have good without 
bad. You can't have bad without good, right? You

1:25:50.560,1:25:53.520
can't have up without down. You can't have down 
without up. You can't have an inside without an

1:25:53.520,1:25:58.880
outside and outside without an inside. Everything 
has its complete polar opposite. So in that time

1:25:58.880,1:26:06.720
of devastation, what is the transformation? Right? 
In that time of hardship, what is the the the

1:26:06.720,1:26:13.920
equal opposite side of that? Right? In that time 
of being it being a bad time, what good can I get

1:26:13.920,1:26:18.240
from this? These were the questions I sat down 
with myself every day and asked myself. That's

1:26:18.240,1:26:23.360
strength. That's that's mental strength, man. 
It's a really good way of if I didn't grief that

1:26:23.360,1:26:27.600
you're going through right now. I'm going through 
grief. It's a raw, you know, but if I didn't do

1:26:27.600,1:26:32.800
the personal development all my life, I I would 
have folded. Yeah. You could have gone back. I

1:26:32.800,1:26:35.920
would have folded. I would have just folded. I 
don't know what I would have done, right? Like,

1:26:35.920,1:26:42.400
you know, things make people do different things. 
But I asked myself that question and actually what

1:26:42.400,1:26:48.240
came from it is people when she passed people's 
reaching out from students from all over the

1:26:48.240,1:26:53.440
world. I still get it now. Like I even got one the 
other day saying, "Your mom was like a icon to me.

1:26:53.440,1:26:59.040
She helped me. She But my mom never really Yeah. 
bigged herself up. She would always big me up,

1:26:59.040,1:27:03.440
right? Her sons, she just big up her sons. She 
never really put So I knew what she was doing but

1:27:03.440,1:27:11.200
not at the level. And then that made me think, 
okay, actually I'm going to share her journey,

1:27:11.200,1:27:15.360
share the truths and the things that she's taught 
me with the rest of the world." Right? And I had

1:27:15.360,1:27:22.000
more of the mission to to to continue the legacy. 
Right. Totally. And I wrote down on a piece of

1:27:22.000,1:27:27.760
paper the benefits and the disadvantages. I knew 
what the disadvantages were. My mom leaving, but

1:27:27.760,1:27:33.200
what were some of the benefits? She could now see 
me from above. She she missed a lot of my my my

1:27:33.200,1:27:37.280
kind of achievements cuz she was in the Caribbean. 
So I just thought now she's got a front front row

1:27:37.280,1:27:40.480
seat, right? Well, that's what I I mean, I don't 
know and I don't know what the viewers believe

1:27:40.480,1:27:46.000
or whatever, but I'm happy to say I believe in 
heaven and I chilling out and looking down having

1:27:46.000,1:27:50.400
a tea and going, "Look, this is with talking 
to Alexandra. They're talking about me." You

1:27:50.400,1:27:56.640
know what I mean? Like, I believe in heaven. I No, 
that's it. And, you know, having that frame. Yeah.

1:27:56.640,1:28:01.120
You need to completely Yeah. I had to frame it, 
right? Frame it. And listen, getting through that,

1:28:01.120,1:28:04.320
it wasn't It's still I'm not going to just act 
like, "Hey, I just had this piece of like it still

1:28:04.320,1:28:09.760
was hard. Don't get me wrong. It still is hard. 
But I framed it as I'm going to continue this

1:28:09.760,1:28:15.840
woman's legacy. She now lives through me, right? 
She's I'm just a vessel of her. She lives through

1:28:15.840,1:28:20.000
me now, right? Got to give our our moms the the 
credits. Like I'm saying, these people sit on the

1:28:20.000,1:28:26.400
surface and I'm like, mom, got to give the mom. 
Got to give the mom. Your mom had you. You know,

1:28:26.400,1:28:32.240
you're the reason why you're like this. No, 100%. 
So, so that's just what it But what was so crazy

1:28:32.240,1:28:37.520
in that time of hardship, right, I got a phone 
call literally a day or two after I buried my

1:28:37.520,1:28:45.840
mom for two things. One was shortlisted for the 
Pride of Britain. Right. So I was shortlisted

1:28:45.840,1:28:49.520
for the Pride of Britain. There was a few of us. 
I didn't I didn't win it, but I was shortlisted.

1:28:49.520,1:28:53.680
Short listed for the Pride of Britain. Thank you. 
Right. That was a big achievement. Yeah. And then

1:28:53.680,1:28:59.040
the second one was, oh, actually, because you got 
your award from the king and we didn't get to do

1:28:59.040,1:29:05.280
a ceremony, we're going to do a smaller private 
ceremony, but it's going to be at St. James's

1:29:05.280,1:29:10.160
Palace in the king's house, pretty much. And we 
want you to not only get your award from there,

1:29:10.160,1:29:16.880
we want you to open up the ceremony with a public 
speech in front of the king and his guests.

1:29:16.880,1:29:24.080
Mom, thank you. Yeah. Right. like that. She did 
something. She She communicated up there. She's

1:29:24.080,1:29:29.120
right. She done something right. She done 
something and um she did, didn't she? She

1:29:29.120,1:29:33.040
definitely did. And it was hard and standing 
on standing on the stage. But how did you do

1:29:33.040,1:29:37.280
it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Standing on the stage, you 
know, it was tough cuz I was going through it at

1:29:37.280,1:29:44.560
the time. But man, what an opportunity, right? 
And I spoke in front of the king. There was so

1:29:44.560,1:29:48.880
many important people in that room. You know, 
there was like, you know, people from ITV. The

1:29:48.880,1:29:53.040
next day they got me on ITV to talk about my 
award on Good Morning Britain. And you know,

1:29:53.040,1:29:58.800
I had news and newspapers write about me, right? 
Richard Branson, Richard Branson sent me a letter

1:29:58.800,1:30:04.640
of encouragement from NECA Island, right? Like 
everything just blew. Got an award from the

1:30:04.640,1:30:10.720
king and for award-winning change maker. And even 
the king when I done that when I done that public

1:30:10.720,1:30:15.680
speech, you know, that open up the ceremony when 
he was giving me my award, he goes caught out.

1:30:15.680,1:30:20.160
He goes, he goes, "How did you how did you 
do that?" He said, "That was magnificent,

1:30:20.160,1:30:25.040
the way you told your story." He goes, "You must." 
And then he goes, "Two, let's take a picture now,

1:30:25.040,1:30:28.880
son." And then, you know, we turned around 
and we took a picture. I love I love No,

1:30:28.880,1:30:32.880
he's he's got a lot of banter. He's a fabulous 
person. And he's got a lot of banter as well,

1:30:32.880,1:30:37.200
you know. And anyone that's being mean about 
him, stop it. No, he's good. He's actually

1:30:37.200,1:30:41.200
he's a genuine He's a genuine person. Genuinely 
cool guy. Yeah. He's a cool guy. And you know,

1:30:41.200,1:30:47.840
to be awarded as award-winning change maker, 
someone a change maker, someone that's made impact

1:30:47.840,1:30:52.400
in thousands of people's lives, right? Cuz not 
only that, I was doing charity work as well. So,

1:30:52.400,1:30:58.160
we would I'll do work in places like Zimbabwe. 
And so, I'd create like um fundraising campaigns.

1:30:58.160,1:31:02.000
We'd invest. We built, you know, built out a 
library out there in Zimbabwe, a place called

1:31:02.000,1:31:06.400
Gut Zimbabwe. I had a friend at the time that was 
there. He was working on me with a project. So,

1:31:06.400,1:31:10.800
you know, we was we was working in places. I had 
another friend from India. So he'd go to India,

1:31:10.800,1:31:16.400
we'd sell fundraising campaigns, we'd sponsor kids 
in India in Nepole, we sponsor like, you know, 40,

1:31:16.400,1:31:22.400
50 children. So I was doing that as well. So you 
know, like people saw my work of value and what I

1:31:22.400,1:31:26.080
was doing and the impact I was making. So that's 
why I won the award along with all the stuff I

1:31:26.080,1:31:33.360
was doing in the schools here in in the UK. Um, 
but that opportunity was amazing and to go from

1:31:33.360,1:31:38.880
where I come from, that kid that got imagine that 
teacher that when I got back from the Caribbean,

1:31:38.880,1:31:42.720
I tried to get back into my school, you know, 
cuz I came back just at the end of year 11. Don't

1:31:42.720,1:31:47.280
forget, I left with no GCSEs. You know, I had to 
get my GCSEs later on in college. But, you know,

1:31:47.280,1:31:51.360
the teacher said, "No, we're not allowing you to 
go back into our school." They told um they told

1:31:51.360,1:31:54.800
the person that was contacting the school for me 
at the time which was my cousin that no he's he's

1:31:54.800,1:31:59.360
a ring leader and you know he's he's kind of like 
a fog like he was a fog when he was there. That's

1:31:59.360,1:32:06.240
what de labeled me right to to now 10 15 years 
later I'm on the stage in front of the king. So

1:32:06.240,1:32:11.040
you let's have a photo I think in the words of 
Connor Ben if you watch the fight. Did you watch

1:32:11.040,1:32:15.680
the fight? Yeah I watched the fight. In the words 
of Connor Ben put that in your pipe and smoke it.

1:32:15.680,1:32:21.360
Right. And that's how I felt like that award 
was like okay. Yeah, like I've done it. Like,

1:32:21.360,1:32:25.920
you know, by the way, on the Connor Ben fight, 
I can't believe that. I mean, you know what

1:32:25.920,1:32:31.360
what what strikes me is to come back from again 
losing cuz he had lost before on the first time

1:32:31.360,1:32:35.840
against Eubank. He got beaten up. It was a It was 
a difficult fight. I mean, I know he showed some

1:32:35.840,1:32:42.800
signs of promise, but he got beaten up. He lost. 
You have to change that mindset to come back and

1:32:42.800,1:32:48.960
then beat the one that beat you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 
Yeah. That's uh that's something. Well, that's it,

1:32:48.960,1:32:53.680
right? Like life life might knock you down nine 
times. You've got to get up 10. You got to get for

1:32:53.680,1:32:58.560
the 10th time. You got to go keep going, right? 
Like when night when life knocks you down, make

1:32:58.560,1:33:03.920
sure you land on your back because if you can look 
up, you can get up. But it's your reasons why that

1:33:03.920,1:33:08.400
will get you back up. And that's why I say have a 
strong reason why. Yeah. and be have the training

1:33:08.400,1:33:12.320
too because there was also I don't know if you 
watched the postfight interview and he said that

1:33:12.320,1:33:17.840
um he had these moments during the fight where he 
was getting quite like fired up and like angry and

1:33:17.840,1:33:22.240
he was almost like wanting to go to his old ways 
of like I'm just going to you know like like that

1:33:22.240,1:33:27.200
sort of I'm just going to beat him up versus I'm 
going to outbox the guy and this is what you be

1:33:27.200,1:33:31.280
these are the things you have to do hook and you 
know all that stuff and he had to like work on

1:33:31.280,1:33:35.920
himself and control yeah control that you have to 
be to not be cuz then all that training would have

1:33:35.920,1:33:40.320
gone and the people that helped him. He think I'm 
going to let them all down if I go and be Well,

1:33:40.320,1:33:45.520
that's it. You've got to stay disciplined, right? 
It's it's an important part of the process. And

1:33:45.520,1:33:49.840
yeah, that that fight was amazing and yeah, you 
you can learn lessons in every way. They're both

1:33:49.840,1:33:55.920
amazing fighters have put on iconic two two iconic 
events and yeah, we definitely need the third.

1:33:55.920,1:34:00.880
It's such a legacy. We do. I don't know if they'll 
do it. Their dad's amazing, right? So yeah, the

1:34:00.880,1:34:06.720
dad's also arguing now that Connor Connor Ben's 
dad is angry with um Yeah. senior senior because

1:34:06.720,1:34:11.120
of the way that he was dancing and then and 
then he tried to shake his hand after but anyway

1:34:11.120,1:34:15.520
that's another podcast I I gu I guarantee there'll 
there'll be some sort of Netflix deal between them

1:34:15.520,1:34:22.160
both they'll do like an expedition right from some 
old time sake or get paid 50 million each you know

1:34:22.160,1:34:28.720
what I mean so yeah know it's crazy but yeah that 
was that was kind of the journey and you know now

1:34:28.720,1:34:34.720
um you know I'm still building I'm still growing 
I'm still developing working on some important

1:34:34.720,1:34:41.520
projects some good projects. I also do coaching 
and I help professionals dominate the stage and

1:34:41.520,1:34:44.880
share their truth and their stories. I help 
people share their stories with the world.

1:34:44.880,1:34:51.520
I've got a mission that I want to help as many 
people tell their authentic story to the world

1:34:51.520,1:34:55.200
because that's what built me, right? Getting 
letters from Richard Branson and getting,

1:34:55.200,1:35:00.400
you know, newspaper articles where Idris Alba 
has said, you know, the an inspiring person that

1:35:00.400,1:35:06.160
I look at these days is called Al Jeffers, like 
from Idris Alba. Mental, right? Yeah. You know,

1:35:06.160,1:35:11.680
Lionel Richie got interviewed by Lionel Richie. 
I was I was actually on it was online but for a

1:35:11.680,1:35:18.400
charity event. Lionel Richie interviewed me like 
come on that was easy like Sunday morning. Yeah.

1:35:18.400,1:35:24.320
Well, you are an inspiration to others and to 
keep doing the work because we need it. Yeah. This

1:35:24.320,1:35:31.760
country needs it, you know. Yes. Other places, but 
UK Yeah. British schools, this area down there,

1:35:31.760,1:35:35.840
the kids need it. They need to they need someone 
to look up to and they need to be dragged out of

1:35:35.840,1:35:41.440
and out of whatever it is, you know, the pits 
and and the mindset, the wrong mindset. out of

1:35:41.440,1:35:46.160
that mindset and into a new mindset. Yeah, that's 
it. And do good things and there's another way to

1:35:46.160,1:35:50.480
live. So, keep doing what you're doing. No, 
thank you. And you know that like if anybody

1:35:50.480,1:35:56.000
looks at this this journey and listens to this 
story, the main thing is right like keep going,

1:35:56.000,1:36:02.080
keep pushing, use pain as a driving force, 
you know, turn your pain into power, right?

1:36:02.080,1:36:08.480
And another thing is live with purpose, right? 
Find your purpose. People always say, how do you

1:36:08.480,1:36:13.200
do that? Just ask yourself the questions. The 
quality of your questions that you ask yourself

1:36:13.200,1:36:19.440
will determine your results in life. Ask yourself 
what am I good at? You know, where does my energy

1:36:19.440,1:36:25.120
go? What lights me up inside? Find that thing. 
Once you find it, it's already within you. Like

1:36:25.120,1:36:29.280
purpose isn't an external thing. You don't need 
to go out there to find it. It's within already.

1:36:29.280,1:36:33.920
Just ask yourself the questions to bring that 
to your conscious mind. And once you find that,

1:36:33.920,1:36:39.120
think as many ways you can monetize it. package 
that purpose up and go out to the world and find

1:36:39.120,1:36:44.560
your tribe and serve them with it because that is 
what's going to push you, right? Like don't wait

1:36:44.560,1:36:50.160
till tomorrow. Don't wait till next week. I think 
humans have this we we kind of have this foolish

1:36:50.160,1:36:56.160
forgetfulness of our morality. Life isn't going 
to keep going. We we run a time limit, right?

1:36:56.160,1:37:00.720
Every single minute and moment that goes past 
is closer. We're aging, right? And the reality

1:37:00.720,1:37:06.160
is we're this is borrow time. We you're clo the 
every day you're closer to your demise. So take

1:37:06.160,1:37:11.600
action now. It's so important. Live with purpose. 
Keep going and use pain. Anything that goes,

1:37:11.600,1:37:16.320
don't let it hinder you and stop you. Change 
the frame. Ask the question. How can it serve

1:37:16.320,1:37:22.880
you? And keep pushing forth. And keep pushing. 
Thank you so much for Thank you. Take care.