We also want to thank barnes noble for allowing us to be here with all of you. John obrien is the founder, chairman ceo of operation hope, the largest Nonprofit Organization in the United States focusing on Financial Inclusion and empowerment, serving over 3. 6 million youth and adults since 1982. He is also the chairman and ceo of the frank Group Ventures and the promised homes company, the largest forprofit minority controlled owners for singlefamily Residential Rental homes in the United States. In addition to that, he was recently named by american magazine for the 2016 innovator of the year and hes also served the last five United States president s has a counseling, as a counselor and advisor for all of them. We are very excited to have him this afternoon and we look forward to a great conversation and book signing featuring his latest bestseller the memo. Without further ado i would like to invite and introduce all of you too chairman, founder, ceo john obrien at this time, and my friend. [applause] because im the founder i can change the rules a little bit. I think the honored citizen is not me, its one of our success stories. Id prefer if you hear from her first. Is that okay . Im sorry, im from a black church. Im used to speaking and hearing response. Part of the work of operation hope, and as i mentioned, he is a visionary of our organization and its really Financial Inclusion and empowering youth and adults to improve their economic quality of life. One of those individuals who has been blessed by chairman brians vision and the work of operation hope is laverne and she has been such an inspiration to not only those of us at operation hope that the community we serve in the great city of atlanta. Laverne is going to tell you a very inspirational story about her life, her path, her journey to empowerment, but also how it could affect each and every one of us. Without further ado, i would like to have missed laverne come up. She is part of our Small Business program at operation hope and tied to ebenezer location here in the city of atlanta. Without further ado, its have around of applause. [applause] hello everyone. My name is laverne corday and i am from tampa florida. I have a 26yearold son. I am also the second oldest of three siblings and wants of one beautiful niece and two handsome nephew. Knowing me i would read my speech but today i felt inspired to speak my speech freestyle. I would normally read it because i do suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder so if i do pause for a moment its because im trying to recall some information, but i migrated from florida in 2015 after i had received my masters of business ministration in 2013. Unfortunately, i was not able to utilize my degree in Corporate America back at home the way i thought that i would be able too. I was encouraged to migrate here in 2015 and to explore some opportunities here locally. I had a nice savings nest and i committed myself to a commission only position in the Insurance Industry which was very costly in the long run. So, to make a long story short i was doing very strong and well, ended up going through all of my savings, clients started canceling, i lost my commission and lost my apartment. So probably in december of 2015 i would end up calling my vehicle home for about three days. After words i stayed at the Salvation Army from calling different shelters trying to find a place to secure some housing, i was compelled to start calling different shelters and the Salvation Army was kind enough to open their doors to me for six long character building months. That is when i would receive a diagnosis of being posttraumatic stress disorder from a crisis i went through. The lady over the Salvation Army gave me a referral for a Housing Program where im currently living for permanent housing which is in the king district. One day i was walking the neighborhood and decided to stop at the king district to see what exactly was on these grounds. Being from florida, im trying to connect more with my heritage and so as i was walking through the church i saw a sign that said operation hope cafe and i received some good oldfashioned Southern Hospitality from the staff at operation hope. I started asking questions, what is this operation hope about and was explained to me, basically you can turn your dreams into reality and so coming from a lot of brokenness with my finances, housing, and everything, that really had inspired me so i immediately connected with my credit counseling coach who started working on my credit repair and within three months my credit score increased by 40 or 50 points. Then i was encouraged to take a homeowners Workshop Program where i had met mr. John hope the first time and so throughout this whole process im getting these coaching, these coaches that would normally cost 500 or thousand dollars. Hour to help you free of charge. Now, i just graduated last week from the Small Business entrepreneur class because my aspiration is to start a nonprofit 5o1c3 for women suffering with Mental Illness and homelessness prevention. My nonprofit will financially support their endeavors by paying their application fees and rental deposits for those transitioning out of a homelessness situation and into permanent housing. I dont think this would be possible because of my disability challenges, not having a Financial Plan and not having any support from anyone on the outside. Well, operation hope stepped in and my business advisor was able to help me put together a Business Plan and i also received support from a Financial Advisor for my company. In march of this year i was able to register my companys name, next year, within six months i should be up and running off the ground because of the support that i received from operation hope. Not only that, i have a life coach that is helping me set realistic goals and put a plan of action into place that is totally realistic for me too achieve within the next year or two. My next goal is to be a homeowner by the year 2020. With operation hope helping me with my budgeting, Financial Planning, this will definitely be possible. And so here today, what i want everybody to take from this conversation is so many people say theres no help out here that we cant get anyone to help us. With operation hope, that i just talking about a dream, theyre making a dream become reality. One of my famous quotes from a very worthy history maker is doing good for others pays off. I want to thank everyone for listening to me today. [applause] isnt that inspiring and really this encompasses what donald brians latest bestseller book is about, the memo. Over and took it upon herself to empower herself, she didnt allow naysayers to tell her her dream was not possible. She did not allow obstacles and distractions in her life to keep her from staying focused on the goal in her dream. She is a great example of following through and making things happen for her life. I was able to attend her Graduation Ceremony this past week with ten other graduates and it really speaks to the spirit of the memo. We are very excited to have you here today to hear directly from the author himself, john obrien who im proud to say have been a friend of his since going back to compton. Over 30 years. Recently i just moved to atlanta so im even more excited to be here personally to share this experience with you. Again, without further ado, lets give a round of applause for the founder, chairman chairman john obrien. Its really hard to speak publicly. She did a great job. You didnt read one note. It was all from your heart. So, i want to thank the manager, barnes noble. Im happy to have you here. Not running a store your running part of the community. Were honored to be here. Thank you. I want to thank cspan for recording this and getting the word out about what we are doing and the crew that is part of the atlanta process for cspan which is first class and run by another woman of empowerment. I have been speaking all over the world, 100 countries ive had a chance to travel too. I get to see all the complexions of us but whats interesting about this book and message is that its universal. The last time i spoke was in new york city and the audience was mostly mainstream. This audience is mostly of color and what is pitiful about this is some people would say that we dont read books, but the reality is the Number One Group of book buyers are black women. I dont know if you knew that. We look at what propelled this book and whats got my Facebook Page rolling at 11000 followers. Week on Financial Literacy and Economic Empowerment is primarily people of color who decided to take their life back and so you should be proud of sitting at a moment in history and being part of history makin making. History never he feels historic when youre sitting in it. It just feels like another day. What if i told you the new color wasnt black, white, red, brown, or yellow as in skin color, but the new color was green as in the color of u. S. Currency. What if i told you that the next movement was not to be in the streets as in civil rights but more so in the suites as in silver rights. What if i told you the next move was not going to be about erasing the color line but about class and poverty. What if i told you that we are sitting in a moment in history but history never feels historic when youre sitting in it. It feels like another day. That doesnt mean history is not changing right underneath your feet. Some would say in the midst of all this that theres a conspiracy to keep some people down. Emily confirmed that there is a conspiracy but its not the conspiracy you think. Thats not white people against black people, its not black people against brown people, its not indians and asians against somebody else, its none of the things you thought or you been told. Those who have unconsciously against those who dont. Nobodys getting up in the morning and saying they hate you or they want to jam you up or they want to see you as a failure. Nobody has the energy for all that. From. People arent getting up in the morning thinking about you and thats the problem. Are we having a conversation . Yes. Okay, youre allowed to talk to me. I have no notes. This is from my heart my head directly to you. I know im talking about and feel free to interrupt me when you feel compelled. There is a conspiracy but its not the one you think. The issue is not love or hate today. Its radical indifference. Nobody cares enough about you to hate you. I dont mean that literally. I dont mean, your family loves you, your friends love you, but the people on the street Running Companies and Building Wealth care mostly about themselves. Theyre not waking up in the morning saying let me hurt you, let me hate on you, in fact have high level of private schools, private roads, private planes, private security, private lives or they dont hate you. Theyre not thinking about you. I put this in the book. Im getting ahead of myself, let me back up and tell you about the rules and then will have a real conversation. Rule number one on this conspiracy that is undermining your aspiration, i need to be clear because this is primarily an audience of color but i said the same thing to a mainstream caucasian audience last week in new york city and minnesota everybody, your problem today is not that your black or white its that youre part of what i call the invisible class. Youre invisible to power, youre invisible to wealth, you dont feel like your vote counts. Thats why hundred Million People didnt vote. There is a prominent guy in the media, i wont mention his name, i think hes done a lot of great things for social justice and social rights but he didnt vote and hes proud he didnt vote. I have a problem with that. That creates an environment where some people become elected to office or dont represent your interest and maybe even public interest, but we endorsed that by not voting. When you feel invisible you dont show up in your own life. Its extremely important. It means the bad guys win so, i will make clear here that there is a bogeyman in your life but its not just your life, its 80 of everybody in america because 70 of all americans are living from paycheck to paycheck. If youre living in new york city making 70000 a year, youre struggling to make ends meet. If youre living in Atlanta Georgia making 50000. Year, 40000. Year, which is middleclass, struggling to make ends meet. Can i get an amen. If youre living in a small town of alabama making 35000. Year youre struggling. You have too much month at the end of your money. There is one third of all americans have to sell their car to raise 3000. 65 america dont have 500 in savings for an emergency. Thats not a racial thing. Thats a human thing. Theres something going on in the world. This is a global issue. 1 of the worlds population own half of the wealth of the world. Ill repeat that. By the way. These are not just rich caucasian spread their rich asians, rich russians, rich africans. These are just rich people from all parts of the world who got the memo so you have 1 in the world that own half of the worlds wealth which is not equitable and not sustainable but theres a way to go about leveling the Playing Field that makes sense and theres a way about going about it that does not let me tell you the way that does not. People say we like socialism. Im comparing this to somebody who says we hate rich people. Heres my response. No you dont. No you dont. You hate rich people and so you become rich. What you hate is being manipulated. What you hate is feeling like no matter how hard you work you just cant prosper. Youre on a treadmill and no matter how hard you work no matter how hard you try to take care of your children, you cant seem to get ahead and if youre smart and youre intelligent and you wouldve gotten a College Degree and you got everything right and kept her nose clean and you didnt break any law, and you never went to jail and you can secede, theres a perception that must be a rigged system. Correct . Ill suggest theres something else. You never got the memo. The memo is not written down anywhere. Its not any university book. Its not in the curriculum no one ever taught you the memo. Its actually not written down not for you but 80 of people in the world who never got the memo. Go back to this concept of we want socialism. Not just the crown prince of norway yesterday in new york who is the future king of norway, which as you probably know that part of the world is known for a socialist type of approach. But its not socialism because even if you want to distribute money like a socialist you must first collect money like capitalist. Am i getting too deep . Ill repeat this. If you want to distribute money like a socialist, challenge everything that im saying if you dont understand, you must first collect money like a capitalist. Before you can get away, you have to collect it. You cant give away something you dont have so then you say explain to me norway. Its a wonderful country. Theyve got oil. They were poor hundred years ago but they found oil and they took the oil and used it for good purposes. Now they have one of this largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. Sweden, socialist country. They have agriculture. Theyve got for stray and not a lot of people so basically without damaging the environment they can take enough of this Agricultural Land and chop the lumber and sell it to a world that needs dust chairs and banisters. This gets my central point. The first rule of my book is you live in a Free Enterprise system, embrace it. This is the first rule of the book, you are capital. These are two things i want you to understand. The media with the Free Enterprise system first. From the time you get up in the morning until the time you get to bed at night, if youre life is not about god or love your life is about money. I want you to challenge everything that im saying this is not me speaking to you. You can interrupt me anytime youd like. Challenge me if something im saying doesnt make sense to prefer the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed at night youre having an economic conversation with yourself and the rest of the world, yes or no to get up in the morning you brush your teeth. Did some socialist state give your toothbrush ordered summary by it . Summary purchased a toothbrush and toothpaste, somebody purchased, the lights dont come on by themselves, somebodys paying the light bill, children think the lights come on by themselves. Lights dont come on by themselves. By the way, my mother divorced my father and i asked if shed ever get married again and she said yes it will be a bmw i said you marry a car and she said no black man working. My mothers credit score is 840. Lets look at this. By the way, i would really, i dont want to destress you but when i say from the time you get up in the morning to time you get up at night youre dealing with a financial transaction, in reality its 24 hours a day. Its when you sleep. Who paid for the mattress that you sleep on . The sheets on the mattress, the pillow you lay your head down on. Is this clicking yet. You set an alarm on what, on your phone and if youre oldschool you have an alarm clock. Who paid for the alarm clock . So i have people coming to me, i have this Facebook Channel that, we want people to buy books from barnes noble today but people my Facebook Page, 44 Million Viewers and 88 of all viewers watch on this, not a tv set but this. Maybe im naive. Did the government of the night entry in the