Gray, Farrah 1984-

views updated

GRAY, Farrah 1984-

PERSONAL:

Born 1984.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Farrah Gray Foundation, 67 Wall St., Ste. 2212, New York, NY 10005. E-mail—fg@farrahgrayfoundation.org.

CAREER:

Entrepreneur, writer, broadcaster, business consultant, public speaker, publisher, and philanthropist. Relational Brokers Alliance Consultancy, cochair. New Early Entrepreneur Wonders (NE2W), founder. Farr-Out Foods, founder. National Coalition for the Homeless, spokesman; National Marrow Donor Program, spokesman. Frequent guest on television and radio shows, including Good Morning America, 20/20, ABC World News Tonight, The Montel Williams Show, The Tavis Smiley Show, The Tom Joyner Show, and Starting Over. Guest on television and radio networks including CNBC, Black Entertainment Television (BET), National Broadcasting Company (NBC), Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), National Public Radio (NPR), and the Bravo Channel (Bravo). Served on the board of directors of the United Way of Southern Nevada and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Whitney M. Young, Jr., Entrepreneurship Award, National Urban League; Hoosier Lottery Entrepreneur Award, Indiana Black Expo; Alabama A&M Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Award; Love of Learning Lifetime Educational Achievement Award, Davidson College; Central State Award of Appreciation for contributions made in the area of entrepreneurship; NV Magazine Vision Award; American Red Cross Award of Appreciation; named one of the most influential black men in America by the National Urban League's Urban Influence Magazine. Recipient of proclamations from Illinois Governor George Ryan; Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley; Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn; Nevada Lt. Governor Lorraine Hunt; Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, and the Clark County, Nevada, Commissioners. Recipient of honorary degree from Allen University, Columbia, SC. Received the keys to the cities of Dallas, TX, Shreveport, LA, and Cincinnati, OH.

WRITINGS:

(With Fran Harris) Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out, Health Communications (Deerfield Beach, FL), 2004.

InnerCity Magazine, publisher.

SIDELIGHTS:

Farrah Gray is an entrepreneur, writer, motivational speaker, and philanthropist whose personal story demonstrates the results that can be achieved in life with the application of energy and determination, even at a young age. A millionaire by his middle teen years, Gray is a highly successful businessman and generous contributor to social causes through his self-named Farrah Gray Foundation. C.C. Williams, writing in Essence, described Gray as an "in-demand motivational speaker and a baby-faced businessman with a social conscience."

Born in 1984, Gray's early life was spent in the impoverished projects of Chicago's South Side. There, he watched as his mother worked constantly to provide for her family. When her struggles resulted in a heart attack, the six-year-old Gray decided that he had to help with the family's support. "Setting out with an executive-size ambition to make life easier if he could, Gray made use of the most basic resources available to him,—such as the rocks he found in the street," reported Bob Brown on ABC News. Gray would paint the rocks and sell them door-to-door as bookends and doorstops. He began collecting partially full bottles of hand lotion and combining them, selling the new bottles of lotion for one dollar and fifty cents. His initial entrepreneurial adventures eventually netted him about fifty dollars, which he used to take his mother out to dinner, he told Williams in Essence. However, the experience showed Gray what could be done with determination and ignited a brightly burning desire to be a successful businessman. With single-minded determination, Gray proceeded to do just that. When he was eight years old, he started a business club called the Urban Neighborhood Economic Enterprise Club, or UNEEC, which was intended to help kids from the projects learn about business. When the family moved to Las Vegas, Gray found himself appearing on a local talk show and then being offered a spot as a cohost. Speaking engagements began to fill the twelve-year-old Gray's time, and he founded a food company, Farr-Out Foods, that created flavored syrups. The company's sales ballooned to more than 1.5 million dollars, and when Gray sold the company at age fourteen, he became a teenage millionaire.

In the years since, Gray's business dealings have expanded into several successful operations. UNEEC expanded to become New Early Entrepreneur Wonders, or NE2W, Gray's first Wall Street organization and a company designed to help at-risk young persons find legal ways to make additional money. Gray has been involved in businesses such as the One Stop Mail Boxes & More franchise, KIDZTEL prepaid phone cards, radio talk shows for teens, a venture capital fund, InnerCity magazine, and more. He continues to be a sought-after consultant and public speaker, donating the honoraria from speaking engagements to his Farrah Gray Foundation. He served on the board of directors of the United Way of Southern Nevada when he was fifteen, and he was the youngest member of the board of advisors of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Among his honors are the keys to a number of American cities and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Allen University. The National Urban League has called Gray one of the most influential black men in America.

Among his many accomplishments, Gray is also the author of Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out, written with Fran Harris. In his book, Gray defines a "reallionaire" as someone who "pursues his or her purpose and passion with authenticity, sincerity, and honesty, whether he or she has a million dollars in the bank or a nickel in their pocket." Gray explains "his nine key principles to success and offers exercises to help the reader achieve" wealth, noted a reviewer in Career World. A Publishers Weekly contributor called Reallionaire "a sound book for anyone seriously interested in getting ahead on his or her own terms."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Gray, Farrah, and Fran Harris, Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out, Health Communications (Deerfield Beach, FL), 2004.

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, September-October, 2005, Andria Y. Carter, review of Reallionaire, p. 72.

Booklist, December 1, 2004, David Siegfried, review of Reallionaire, p. 623.

Business Wire, December 8, 2005, "Farrah Gray Signs on As Spokesperson for National Coalition for the Homeless"; May 4, 2006, "Twenty-One-Year-Old Farrah Gray, the Youngest Person Conferred an Honorary Doctorate in HBCU History," profile of Farrah Gray.

Career World, January, 2005, review of Reallionaire, p. 30.

Communications Today, November 25, 2002, "Teenage Venture Capitalist Gets Satcom Patents."

Decatur Daily, January 8, 2006, "'Reallionaire' to Address MLK Breakfast," profile of Farrah Gray.

Denver Post, May 31, 2005, Tom McGhee, "Twenty-Year-Old Magazine Publisher to Give Keynote Address at Aurora, Colo. Summit," profile of Farrah Gray.

Ebony, April, 2005, "Thirty Leaders of the Future," profile of Farrah Gray, p. 88; May, 2006, "Farrah Gray: Entrepreneur, Author, Philanthropist," profile of Farrah Gray, p. 24.

Essence, November, 2005, C.C. Williams, "Young Millionaire Motivator; at Eight, he Started a Kids-Only Investment Club," profile of Farrah Gray.

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May 1, 2002, Whitney Joiner, "Moguls in the Making," profile of Farrah Gray.

Library Journal, March 15, 2006, Susan C. Awe, "Going over the Books," review of Reallionaire, p. 36.

PR Newswire, November 20, 2002, "Rocket Scientist Places Satellite Communications Inventions with Eighteen-Year-Old Venture Capitalist in Las Vegas During COMDEX," profile of Farrah Gray; January 10, 2005, "Getting Rich from the Inside Out: As seen on Good Morning America, Young Farrah Gray is the 'Reallionaire,'" review of Reallionaire.

Publishers Weekly, November 22, 2004, review of Reallionaire, p. 46.