IAMWORTHY Youth Development partners with other community organizations as a direct service provider, to create a “circle of support” for adolescents and young adults ages 12-24. Considering the fact that I don't know my father and grew up as a troubled youth, statistics would say that there is a small chance that I would be a willing and active father in my son's life, so to have full custody of
him is an amazing thing. I was born in Tacoma, Washington. When I was around 2, my father left and forced my mother to take on both roles, she tried her best and made countless sacrifices to move me to a better community to ensure that growing up without a father wouldn't mean that I would be influenced by the streets, which is exactly what ended up happening, by the time I was 18 I had already been locked up 4 or 5 times which eventually led to a 5-year sentence at the ripe age of 18. Then, without warning and in the blink of an eye life changed, I was expecting my son but at the same time, staring a 10-year sentence right in the face for an incident on March 19, 2008 where I was arrested for delivery of a controlled substance (co***ne) and 2 gun charges. I took the case to trial and fought my way down to 5 years, when all was said and done I ended up serving 3 out of the 5 years. While I was locked up, I was influenced by a lot of the older individuals to do better and turn my life around, I started to work on personal development and completely changing my mindset. Being a new father also helped foster the change inside of me. A year after being released my custody battle began due to a domestic abuse situation. Here I was back in court, fighting...but this time for something bigger than my freedom, this time it was for my son. I fought hard against a system not really geared towards giving Fathers the benefit of the doubt, I immersed myself into the process and learned everything I could without the benefit of a lawyer to represent me. I studied the system and through sheer determination of wanting to be a major part of my son's life and better my own, I won full custody! Now, I am on a journey to share my story and experiences with the world. In 2014 I was given the opportunity to speak at a leadership class, the response I received was amazing and changed my life. At first, I didn't follow my dream, I didn't know how but through networking with different leaders and visionaries I started to take things to the next level. Now, as Entrepreneur, Speaker and soon to be Author I am building my brand IAMWorthy across the northwest and soon the nation. Let the IAMWorthy movement provide you with the value and life skills needed to impact the world in your own special way!
