Spoke at the homeless shelter I used to live at

No, I grew up an orphan and I was in the foster care system most of my teenage years. And on my 18th birthday, I emancipated foster care. So that meant that, you know, they weren't going to take care of me anymore. And on my 18th birthday, my social worker picked me up and dropped me off here. And so on a day that's supposed to be like exciting, you're turning 18, I found myself homeless here. Um, and honestly, it changed my life. I come back here, but when I was here, you know, I decided that I was a victim up until that point, and I was no longer going to be a victim and I was going to be victorious. And I would do the work that I needed to do to make something of myself, to be successful. And so I met a therapist here that was phenomenal. I started working through a lot of abuse, trauma, what led me here, and I ended up getting into sales. Um, I ended up making six figures in my early 20s, going on to be top in the nation in sales for a Fortune 500 company. And, um, I started my own business a couple years ago teaching financial literacy, sales, and I do that all over the US and Europe. And I come back here, I just recently did a financial literacy seminar and just teaching the youth, you know, how to get out of here, how to manage their money, but also give them the skills to get out of here. I think a lot of people, since they've never experienced homelessness or struggle, they come back and they're like, oh, I feel sorry for you or I'm so sorry that happened to you. And I'm more like, I don't feel sorry for you. This is going to be the best thing that ever happened to you. And one day, it's going to shape you and you're going to thank God that this happened to you and you're going to be successful if you choose to be successful and get resources, utilize the resources here and find good people in your life, mentorship, put God first, all of those things. So, um, I come back here and I give back. I've been doing it over the years. It's a full circle moment, but just know that what you're giving back is an amazing cause and homelessness can happen to anyone. Like, people that you see on the street, you have no idea what they're struggling with. When I was homeless, nobody knew I was homeless. And now, like, I would tell people, yes, I was an orphan, I didn't have parents and I was homeless and they're like, oh, I would have never known that. And so, again, it can happen to anyone. Most people are living paycheck to paycheck. They don't know how to manage their money and they're one or two checks away from being homeless. So, there's no one that's like holier than thou or it could never happen to you. Um, and so, just know that you're giving back to an amazing cause, amazing people that put their heart and soul into this and they helped me tremendously and I'm just so grateful. So, that's it. Thank you, Kimberly. I have to tell you, she did a workshop maybe a month or two ago with the young people. I want to say it was at three or four hours and they were engaged the entire time, had amazing things to say about it, how they learned about budgeting and saving and all of that. So, thank you, Kimberly, for continuing to come back.