Since he was 5 years old, Winston Ben Clements said he knew he was meant for something big, that he was going to make some kind of big impact. Now he says he’s found his purpose through being a motivational speaker. But he admits growing up he often wondered how he’d do it. You see, …
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092: Dartanyon Crockett: An Underdog From Inner-city Cleveland Turned Bronze Medalist and Destined for Greatness
Dartanyon Crockett, 28, calls himself an underdog. He says he had three strikes against him growing up in the inner-city of Cleveland, Ohio: he was black, poor and physically limited. Having been severely near-sighted all his life, his mother died when he was 8, his father battled drug and alcohol addiction, and he grew up …
091: Eli Brown: Entrepreneur Shines the Light On Mental Illness with his Inspirational Clothing Brand
Founder and CEO of the inspirational fashion brand ShineThe Light On, 25-year-old Eli Brown knows first-hand what it’s like to struggle with mental illness. An avid tennis player since the age of four he was so good that he later received a tennis scholarship to attend a prestigious university and compete with Team Canada. But …
089: Jessica Key: Why This U.S. National Dragon Boat Team Racer Says to Be The Champion of Your Own Life
Jess Key is a remarkable woman who says she’s a major underdog story. She’s a 41-year-old mother of three and she’s a dragon boat racer on the U.S. National Dragon Boat Team. You’d never know it today, but Jess has overcome multiple adversities. Both of her parents were drug addicts, she grew up with physical …
086: Justin Birckbichler: Using A Ballsy Sense of Humor to Spread Awareness About Testicular Cancer
Justin Birckbichler was a 4th-grade school teacher and just 25 when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. When it came to finding resources or information from a patient’s perspective, Justin didn’t find what he was looking for. So he decided to become a source himself and started his blog, A Ballsy Sense of Tumor. He …
078: Kirsty Salisbury: What a Near Death Experience (NDE) Taught Her and How She’s Now Inspiring Others to Design Their Life
Today, Kirsty Salisbury tells us in detail about her near death experience when she was just 12 years old. What’s even more fascinating is that Kirsty says that when she awakened, she inexplicably had the knowledge of the condition of her health and prognosis. She knew she was going to be okay despite doctors telling …
066: Yazmin Salazar: The Girl Who Can’t Smell; Living with Anosmia
Yazmin Salazar has Congenital Anosmia. That is, she’s missing one of the basic human senses. She was born with the inability to smell. She says when she initially tells people of her condition, they tend to either discount her or dismiss her. But, living with the inability to smell comes with daily stresses, anxieties and …
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064: Contessa Louise Cooper: How a Mother of an Autistic Child Made Ends Meet by Becoming a Stripper and Now is an Autism Advocate and Author
Today’s guest is Contessa Louise Cooper, author of Mad At The World: How To Move On And Find Peace When You’re A Special Needs Parent. At 16 she had a baby and a few years later, doctors diagnosed her son as mentally retarded and suggested he be institutionalized. Years later he was diagnosed as autistic. …
060: Andrea Hall: How Getting a Brain Tumor Ultimately Taught This Lawyer to Be in the Present
Andrea Hall was a successful criminal defense attorney and a self-described “A-type” personality. Her goal was to become a mother and also was thinking of changing careers. But, all that came to a halt when she learned she had a brain tumor and needed emergency surgery. She told herself if she made it through the …
058: Dan Zerin: How This Stand Up Comedian Uses his Tourette Syndrome as a Way to Raise Awareness in his Show
A manager at the only comedy club in Iceland, Dan Zerin found what he says a fun way to raise awareness about Tourette syndrome, a disorder where he began noticing having symptoms since he was a kid. Feeling like what he calls a “freak,” Dan says he didn’t know exactly what was going on with …