One of the Most Influential Black Men in America

In the April/May 2006 issue of Urban Influence Magazine, 21-year-old Farrah Gray, winner of The National Urban League Whitney M. Young, Jr. Entrepreneurship Award, was named as one of the most influential black men in America.


NEW YORK, NY

Other
luminaries included Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and Dr. Randal
Pinkett, winner of The Apprentice. Urban Influence Magazine is an
official publication of the National Urban League. The magazine is
designed to extend the message of the National Urban League throughout
its membership and beyond.  The National Urban League is the nation\’s
largest civil rights and community based organization. With over 100
affiliates in 35 states, The National Urban League serves 2 million
people in African American and urban communities nationwide.  


Urban Influence Magazine\’s annual “Men of Influence” issue celebrates outstanding black men whose strides in various fields empower and ignite others. “We selected Farrah Gray as an “Urban Influence\’ Man of Influence because he possesses an indomitable spirit…he is a proven leader who has found a way to make his passion work,” says Tracy Truitt, editorial director of Urban Influence Magazine.


Gray, raised in the projects of Chicago\’s Southside, defied all odds by becoming a self-made Millionaire by the age of 14. His meteoric rise from poverty to national and international prominence as an entrepreneurial icon and pre-eminent power speaker has inspired millions around the world. Gray\’s entrepreneurial career began by watching his mother work tirelessly at three jobs to support the family. To help, at age 6, Gray sold hand painted rocks and home-made body lotion door-to-door.

At 7, he carried business cards that read “21st Century CEO.” However, Gray didn\’t stop there at just helping his own family. At 8, he became co-founder of Urban Neighborhood Enterprise Economic Club (U.N.E.E.C.) on Chicago\’s Southside. U.N.E.E.C. was the forerunner of New Early Entrepreneur Wonders (NE2W), the flagship organization he opened on Wall Street.

NE2W enlisted, educated and engaged “at-risk” youth by creating and developing legal ways for them to acquire additional income. Gray\’s sense of social responsibility motivated him to create the non-profit organization, The Farrah Gray Foundation. Among other programs and initiatives, his Foundation focuses on inner city community- based entrepreneurship education and provides scholarship/grant assistance for students from at-risk backgrounds to attend HBCU\’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities).

Gray donates his honorariums from speaking engagements (which can be upwards of $10,000) and the proceeds of his book to his foundation, in what he refers to as his “selfimposed” youth tax. Gray is a spokesman for the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Bone Marrow Donor Program. Gray\’s sister, Greek, is in dire need of a bone marrow transplant and Gray works tirelessly to raise awareness about the need for African American marrow donors who are greatly underrepresented in the Donor Registry.

He has consulted with companies and organizations from JP Morgan Chase to the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Development Agency and aided in the creation of a youth entrepreneurship institute. The Farrah Gray Foundation is in partnership with the Kauffmann Foundation, launching entrepreneurship programs in inner-city schools across the country.

Gray has been given the keys to the cities of Dallas, Shreveport, and Cincinnati. He has received proclamations from the Governors of Illinois and Nevada, the Mayors of Chicago, Las Vegas, St. Thomas, New Orleans and Clark County Nevada commissioners. Earlier this year, First Premiere Bank and Diamond Financial Products unveiled its newest debit card, The Farrah Gray Prepaid MasterCard¬Æ, which features Gray\’s likeness.

Gray was also the youngest member of the “African- American Leadership” Roundtable, where he was invited by President George W. Bush. He is the author of the best-selling book Reallionaire, which was endorsed by former President Bill Clinton and Stedman Graham. Gray\’s book and his journey to succeed against the odds have become required reading and part of classroom study from elementary schools to college and university campuses such as Harvard University.