When I was deciding what to do after high school, college wasn't my first option. I knew I wanted to start a business, and I thought being fully immersed as an entrepreneur would give me all the lessons needed to be successful. I shortly realized I was halfway correct. As I started my business, I had questions. How can I support my community? How can I turn my small business into a big business? What do other entrepreneurs look like? After hours of research, I realized that I would find the answers to these questions at North Carolina A&T. My experience at NC A&T taught me that being an Aggie means being committed to a community of excellence and to be a part of a community that will support all students in making their dreams come true. My biggest goal in life is to start a sneaker store and make it my full-time commitment. When I became a freshman at NC A&T, I saw that dream become a reality. The campus was full of students just doing unimaginable things. I saw students traveling the world and visiting places like Africa, Brazil, and countries in Europe. I talked with multiple students managing amazing businesses while in college. I even spoke with students who later became shoppers of my store. This experience showed me that being an Aggie means being a leader, being a doer, taking pride in your education, and ultimately being proud of being black. As a freshman, I knew I wanted to find ways to help me develop personally and professionally. This led me to join the William Deese Toyota Leadership Development Cohort. This program educated and walked students through what it means to be a leader in all aspects of life. Within this program, I’ve been able to take a personal look at my life and find ways to apply the skill sets of a leader to manage my responsibilities better. Understanding aspects of prioritizing work, setting goals, understanding emotional intelligence, and having a curiosity to learn. The program helped transform my work ethic and how I work with others. As a freshman in this program, it’s helped me reach my goals of raising my GPA, contributing more time to my business, while becoming a better leader. Entering my junior year of fall 2025, I have learned that hard work and commitment pay off. Taking the time to study, read, and practice new skill sets showed transformative change in my life. Creating a habit of focus helped me learn new things, help other students, and make new friends. One of the biggest challenges being faced in college is being able to balance life and college. My sophomore year was a year when I had to balance work, school, while finding an apartment. It was nothing short of a challenge and a walk of faith. Yet, through the lessons I learned as a freshman, my commitment toward my education grew stronger. By communicating my goals and plans to my family. I successfully upheld good grades, found a place to stay, and stayed fully present at work. From this, I learned that hard times can create an opportunity to learn and shouldn’t be something to shy away from. I want to take this lesson and face any challenge headstrong and with a positive mindset. My future goal is to manage a shoe store. I started my online sneaker store in high school and still operate the business today. I want to leverage my education in business administration to expand my sneaker store globally and participate in other business ventures.

A time I demonstrated exceptional leadership skills in college was my freshman year. I used my leadership skills to join on-campus organizations, start a business, and find a community. My intention in college was to start a shoe business and sell sneakers to students. I wanted to learn to start and manage a business which led me to choose Business Administration Management as my major.  Yet, the challenge I was facing was maintaining balance with my responsibilities. Being a full-time student and a business owner isn't easy. As a freshmen student, I wanted to be active on campus and find groups and student organizations to join. So I took the initiative to find students who were also business owners looking to develop leadership skills. I was able to join the Toyota Leadership Development Group. This is a group of students who were in leadership roles either as a business owner or a student organization leader. Meeting and discussing with this group helped me become a better student and a better business leader.  My grades as a freshman didn’t reflect my understanding of the coursework or my work ethic. So I decided to improve. I talked with my classmates and friends from my business group. I found students who understood the content of the class better than I did. This inspired me to seek tutoring and continue to connect with my classmates. Asking questions and participating in on-campus tutoring improved my performance as a student. What helped me to overcome this challenge was to ask for help, find students that I could relate to, and then practice to increase my performance.  Applying these practices allowed me to raise my GPA and to continue to connect with students in my major. I even participated in networking opportunities that allowed me to obtain my first internship. My ability to adapt, study, and seek help were characteristics that helped during my internship and developed the leader within me.   I plan on using my skills in my future career to be resourceful, creative, innovative, and energetic. I want to be able to seek opportunities and overcome challenges with an energetic attitude. This will make a positive difference in my life by bringing forth the right energy needed to accomplish any goal. In hopes of maintaining an energetic attitude can bring positive change in the workplace. To create a positive change for other people would be sharing and building with others to become leaders. As a leader, there is individual work that takes place to develop certain characteristics. But what truly helped me was being able to seek help and build with others with the same mindset. To create positive change would be to make sure to bring forth the right characters of individual with a community of likeminded people.

My dream started in middle school. As a 7th grader, I wanted to be a business owner. What excited me most as a 7th grader was to be my own boss. Being able to create own my schedule, control my income, and pursue what I loved. Are the qualities that confirmed that I wanted to be a business owner. Yet, ever since I was young I have always been passionate about sneakers and being creative. I knew the dream for myself was to become CEO of a shoe store.  As I matured my perspective toward business matured. I started to study the importance of ownership and how to be a leader of a business. This allowed me to see the importance of community and creating change. I saw that businesses influenced the way people behave, think, and influence others. I then realized that my shoe store should inspire others to be creative and strive for greatness. Regardless of someone's chosen discipline going to college or starting a business. I wanted my store, to be an outlet for people to be their best, be creative, and follow their passions. What helped me implement this ideology towards my business was my community.  I have always made friends based on shared interests. I then realized that the brand of my store should be an outlet for people to be creative. My passion for footwear and creative outlets like drawing has created opportunities to meet new people, learn new things, and find a career path. This has allowed me to find a community that supports my business ideas.  I'm passionate about this dream because I want to work towards something impactful. Growing up I have seen multiple successful startups grow into big businesses. I saw how the dedication of a business owner can influence positive change in someone else's life. I want my work to be something that I’m proud of and that can also inspire others. I want the message of my business to show how deception and passion can create success.  The sneaker community has always been a strong community of people who share interests. I want to continue to build within the sneaker community to connect with other sneaker lovers and build something that can outlast me. I believe starting a business would be the best avenue for this goal. My shoe store would be an avenue to showcase passion, creativity, and curiosity, and an outlet to inspire others to believe in themselves.

My story of entrepreneurship is rooted in finance. I grew up in a household where financial literacy was a common and easy topic to discuss. I wanted to find a way to become “financially free,” so I decided starting a business would be the best outlet. Studying business and financial literacy introduced me to the wealth gap in the African American community. I found that one of the most significant contributors to the wealth gap was African Americans not being able to buy homes.  Redlining was an act in which African Americans or low-income individuals were declined financial assistance. Organizations such as the FHA, Home Owners Loan Corp, and Veteran Administration would implement policies prohibiting African Americans from buying homes in suburban areas. These organizations would highlight specific neighborhoods in red to show areas that were too “risky” to provide loans. These practices turned into government regulations ultimately segregating America.  This prevention of buying homes prevented African Americans from building wealth through equity. The value of a home grows over time, thus making the owner of that home build equity. The longer an owner holds their property the more equity one builds. If you purchase a home for 70,000 and owe 50,000 to the bank for a 30-year mortgage. Then the value of this home grows to 100,000. The difference between what you owe and the value of that home is equity. Having equity in a home allows a homeowner to use these funds as needed. Rather they are toward purchasing more real estate, starting a business, or paying for education.  This inspired me to start my entrepreneurial journey in real estate. After I graduated high school I obtained my real estate license and became a Realtor. My personal goals of wanting to buy a home and own real estate inspired me to help others in my community buy real estate. My business idea is to close the wealth gap in the black community through real estate, by opening a real estate development firm.  In hopes, that this firm will increase the rate of homeownership within the black community. This pursuit aims to ensure that individuals understand wealth development. Rather someone is a first-time homeowner, first-time investor, or a seasoned real estate investor. The firm will teach individuals strategies for building wealth through real estate.  My experience as a realtor and studies as a business student have allowed me to start working toward this business idea. I was able to, and am studying, how to evaluate community development loans, county development regulations, sustainable construction practices, and the current state of homeownership. This stage of the business is still in the idea phase but my goal is to assist a local real estate development firm to start my development practice later.  The goal is to reconstruct wealth and ownership within the black community. Increasing the ownership rate within the black community will be a process that will influence financial stability. The real estate development firm will target new homeowners, second-home purchasers, and real estate developers. Our service's fundamental goal is to ensure that our clients become homeowners. Ensuring our clients have the right credentials, the firm will also provide strategies to clients to build wealth through real estate acquisition.  The benefit of this firm is that development practices promote acts of sustainability and finance assurance. Thus this firm's idea was rooted in financial instability. The business practices of this firm will also include a community enrichment program to give back any development to the community in acts of charity.

Over the span of my lifetime, I have always enjoyed reading. Whether it was mystery books, horror books, fiction, non-fiction, adventure books, or comic books. Reading has been an important aspect of my life. As I grow older my selection of books has widened. I have most recently started reading philosophy books and autobiographies. One of my favorite philosophy books has been Ryan Holiday’s Ego is the Enemy. I picked up this book because I want to become a better entrepreneur. I wanted to find a way to build the right character and habits to become successful. Though the path of entrepreneurship comes with challenges, multitasking and facing said challenges shouldn’t deter anyone from their goals. My thesis is that no matter the challenges or obstacles some face in their personal development journey, it is essential to slow down and apply good habits in a challenging situation. Having a foundation with your lifestyle, business operations, or personal operations will help triumph over a hard time. The text I will be referring to is, Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. “When success begins to slip from your fingers—for whatever reason—the response isn’t to grip and claw so hard that you shatter it to pieces. It’s to understand that you must work yourself back to the aspirational phase. You must get back to first principles and best practices.” ― Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy Pursuing business endeavors has opened up opportunities to become a person and a better business owner. My business endeavors were formed around the concept of building passion. Due to my interest within retail I studied what people, leaders, and business systems had in common. The people talked about good habits and business leaders spoke about business systems. This pursuit has allowed me to start a business at a young age, go to college, and meet other successful business owners, all while finding ways to develop myself. Developing as an individual and as a business owner becomes a simultaneous path of growth. So, making sure that I equip my personal life with the right tools, reflects how I equip my business. I found the best way to equip my business was with good personal habits. Setting goals, having deadlines, and envisioning were where I started. I continue to read, put myself in environments where I could learn, then take action towards my goals. These qualities were the foundational pieces needed to stay consistent and grow. Yet, I did see myself struggling with this consistently. This process of developing my lifestyle to create a successful business led me to go to college as a business major. I believed that going to college as a business owner would be the best way for me to obtain the knowledge and experience needed to be successful. It was my freshman year at North Carolina A&T State University. I continued to read personal development books and worked part-time in different industries. This was an environment that amplified my personal development. Yet, I ran into some challenges. Being a full-time student and having a part-time job, while still running my business felt as if I was clawing away at my responsibilities. The success that entered my life started to slip away from me. I noticed that I started to fall behind in classes, show up late for work, and study all night to catch up on my schoolwork. I was losing the very principles and practices I had taught myself. So I went back to reading, and I picked up Ryan Holiday’s, Ego is the Enemy. Once I read that chapter I instantly knew what I needed. I needed to restructure my goals and priorities. I took the time to write down my goals and where I wanted to see improvement. I created a schedule to study for class. I wrote down how I wanted to present myself at work. Finally, I wrote what type of student I wanted to become. This realization reminded me of how I first started my business. The daily and weekly goal creation. The dedicated time I took to perfect my knowledge and skill set within my business and roles. From that day on I decided to make sure that my skills and characteristics helped me develop my personal life and business. A month had passed. It was a full 30 days of me going back and forth checking off tasks on my to-do list, checking and editing my calendar, and showing up to both class and work on time. With just one month of good habits, I saw a massive change. I was able to raise the grades of my lowest classes. I managed to increase sales and customer growth, all while showing up to work on time and performing better. Just that one moment of understanding my priority allowed me to enhance my efforts in life. Having multiple responsibilities isn’t easy. The responsibility of showing up and maintaining multiple tasks can get away from you. But what helped me the most wasn't overcompensating for lost time. It wasn’t rushing to be in two places at once or procrastinating my preparation. What I learned from Ryan Holiday and in that moment in my life was getting back to the basics. I didn’t need a big elaborate plan to overcome my challenges. What I needed at that moment was the basic characteristics I was teaching myself. Discipline, structure, organization, direction, empathy, and a curious mindset toward being better. These are basic characteristics I need to uphold to create better habits in my personal life. I can tell my entrepreneurship journey has helped me develop due to a lifestyle change. I hold myself accountable to take care of my responsibilities. I make it a habit to reflect, change, and ponder ways I can develop myself and my business. This has allowed me to stop letting the success slip from my fingers and welcoming back the things that mattered my habits, lifestyle, and journey towards development.

A time when I was the underdog was my first year of wrestling. The closest sport I participated in was boxing. But, boxing was the stepping stone to entering the world of wrestling. I remember the first couple of weeks I practiced, it was awkward. Having to wrestle with my teammates who were older, stronger, and more experienced. Only having stamina and strength and not a single ounce of wrestling technique put me in an underdog position. The first couple of practices were rough but extremely fun. I knew that wrestling was the sport for me. As a first-time wrestler, to participate during the school season, you had to practice over the summer. What I didn’t know was the best wrestler practice during the summer. Summer practice helped build my discipline while getting comfortable being on the mat. After the first week of school, we had our first wrestling matches. I was filled with excitement and energy. Just like boxing, when the match started it seemed like all those wrestling techniques left my brain. The only thing I remembered was a double leg and staying off my back. As soon as the referee blew the whistle, I went for a double leg and got my first takedown in my first match. Though I didn’t remember all the techniques at that moment I knew to keep the pressure on my opponent. This helped me win my first match. Before my second match started, my coach said to do the same thing. As I wrestled my new opponent, I noticed he was a lot stronger than I was. This drew out the match to two rounds of wrestling, with a tied score. Then my coach said you only need one takedown to win. So once again I went for the double and won the match. Though I performed well in those first matches there was still a long road ahead of me. When school started the intensity of practice skyrocketed. The full wrestling team was there and they all knew wrestling inside and out. I knew the only way to catch up in wrestling was to wrestle guys in a higher weight class or those would be extremely good. But this wasn’t easy. There were days when I barely got a takedown in practice. Wrestling was the first time I truly had to hold myself accountable for eating the right foods, keeping my grades up, and making sure that I pushed myself in practice. Being the underdog taught me that if I wanted to get good at something, it was up to me. I saw that being better meant pushing past my limits. What I learned most about wrestling was that performance is based on preparation. During preparation, holding teammates and myself accountable was key to performing at a high level. Though wrestling gave me many strong characteristics, I also had fun. I met other wrestlers from different schools and understood the importance of community. What I still use to this day when it comes to achieving goals is holding myself accountable to be better. Putting myself in uncomfortable situations helped me understand failure wasn't an option. These habits have helped me in a lot of aspects of life. It’s helped me start a business, become a better college student, and become a better family member. Though being in the underdog is tough, it isn’t permanent. If you see a better situation for yourself, push yourself beyond your limits to reach to put yourself in that situation.

I plan on making a positive impact on the world by being a fountain. I have always been curious about how the world works and how the operations of the world have affected people. This started my love for history, particularly black history. My household made it known to understand historical achievements within history. This grew my curiosity towards leaders and how they have positively impacted the world and their communities. Leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Mummand Ali, and W.E.B Dubois have been a few of the many leaders who have provided some type of positive impact on the world. What these individuals have shown is the impact of the world comes from within.  My contribution towards creating a positive impact in the world is by becoming a positive and patient version of myself. The reason is that having the ambition to change the world is amazing. But, a wise man told me that to change the world I need to be able to change myself. The change I need to make is being more patient, empathic, positive, reassuring, and creative. I truly want to be better at developing these characteristics within myself, so I impact those around me.  I believe my efforts to make a positive change can be channeled through my work ethic. My career goal is to own a business. Ownership of this magnitude comes with a strong sense of leadership. I want both my business and leadership style to inspire others to be positive, creative, and enthusiastic about life. What leaders within history have shown people is that anything is possible. They have been able to show and live that message by being themselves and encouraging others to be themselves. They have proven maximizing personal characteristics can lead to a worldly impact. Their enthusiasm for life has been fountains of positivity and encouragement that didn't just affect one person. It affected a community, the world. Having unbreakable characteristics can influence those in a community to be positive figures for themselves. If I'm able to maximize my positivity then no matter if I’m in the office of a business, volunteering in the community, or at the grocery store. My character will constantly leave a positive impact on the world.  I want other people to realize that anything is possible. That challenging situation means developing challenging solutions. Being able to think outside of the box, seek opportunities, and enjoy challenges can lead people to become inspirational figures themselves. My positive impact on the world would be shown through my actions and what I create. My actions will be characteristic of someone who upholds good character. Creativity, curiosity, optimism, and compassion are traits I want to be able to show and create from. This will show others that diving deep into personal creativity could be a solution for positive change.

As a Business Administration Management major at North Carolina A&T State University, my passion is business, entrepreneurship, and philosophy. I also enjoy reading, creating art, and boxing. I was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. Growing up I watched people in my family start and manage businesses and I aspire to do the same. Currently, I own a sneaker store and my long-term goal is to become a CEO of a global operating company. There was a time in my life when I felt both physically and emotionally weak. It was when I was 18. I got put on academic probation, I was sent back home, and I had to get a job. This was the summer of 2020, the hottest summer of the past four years. There were weeks when it was a blazing 97-98 degrees. I remember melting through my clothes while driving in my Honda Civic because I didn’t have an A/C in my car and I didn’t have the money to fix it. I started to work at UPS to make money to repair my car and fund my sneaker business. I was working 2nd shift, meaning at 2:00 the hottest time of the day. I had to be in a UPS truck loading boxes. This is where my emotional turmoil started. I dropped out of college. I’m starting a business from scratch, and the people around me felt distanced. I wanted to work and focus on creating, while most of my friends wanted to have fun. I felt weak because I felt the aftermath of separation. Every day I would drive in a 99-degree car to work in a 100-degree truck. I went into work drenched and came out of work soaked and tired. But I knew I had to do more, I knew I had to use the best of my time. So right after a shift, I would work out to clear my mind; then I would sit and work on my business. My day-to-day life was packed with emotionally and physically draining tasks, but I knew I had to pull through. I knew I had to find some way to energize myself to keep the creative mind to move my business forward while making money to provide for myself. I started to look at ways to ground myself and build myself up from within. I started searching. I knew my work ethic had to be channeled in a direction that aligned with my dreams and goals. I started to dive deep into learning business strategies, self-help books, and financial wellness. Whenever I had the time, I used it to prioritize elevating myself and my business. There were nights when I lay awake, too tired to move and too passionate to sleep. I would think to myself, "I know there’s a better way, there has to be a better way of living. What do I need to do to make this change in my life?" These very questions helped me to keep studying and searching for answers. This gave me the strength to do the hard task. It gave me the strength to show up to work in a hot car. It gave me the strength to work on my business and develop business skills. At my weakest point, I knew there was a better way. This is what gave me the strength to move forward. This scholarship can help make a difference in my life by helping me obtain the funds to continue my education while staying focused on my career goals.

My favorite game to play in Cooperative mode is Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat is a fighting game that I enjoyed as a child. I like MK because of the fatalities, competition, and gore. Mortal Kombat is an easy-to-learn fighting game that is beginner-friendly. This makes it easy for friends and family to play which makes playing all the more fun. Mortal Kombat is a detailed gory fighting game that doesn’t pull the punches of ways to execute a fighter. One of my favorite things about MK and what it’s most known for are the fatalities. As you land a final blow on a fighter, the game comes to a halt, and as your opponent stands in a daze, there’s an opportunity to land a special attack to win the match. Another feature is the MK characters; each character has signature fatalities and combos that give players a chance to customize their own fighters. Playing MK Online is a random selection of players that could be pros, beginners, or intermediates. Due to the random selection of difficulty, the level of excitement never depletes. Most of my memorable fighting matches came from MK online. The online match I remember was a match where me and the opponent were going back and forth in wins. I was playing with three of my best fighters; Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Nightwolf. My opponent played with Joker, Liu Kang, and Raiden. For an hour straight, it was an intense session of controller hammering, action-patched fighting matches. If someone doesn’t know what a pro playing MK looks like, it sounds like someone typing 200 words a minute, while watching a Jet Lee fighting movie. After ten sessions of brutally tossing around these MK characters, we decided to move our efforts to a tournament, so the win and loss number didn’t affect our online ratio. Mortal Kombat solidifies as my top choice because it is easy to play and it holds multiple game modes. The online mode is the biggest highlight of MK. In MK, you're able to choose and customize a fighter based on different sets of combos and special attacks. This shows your skill set and knowledge of Mortal Kombat. Having the ability to play online and play with family and friends makes MK my top game.

I am Jerry Boyce III a sophomore at North Carolina A&T State University. My family consists of my mother, my father, and my younger brother. Our dynamic is speaking of ways to grow our passion, empower each other, and love. Growing up, my parents taught my brother and me the importance of self-love, relationships, and religious grounding. My family made sure to support each other's dreams and ideas while making sure we maintained our responsibilities. These key lessons help me as an individual by having a strong foundation in character and discipline. Growing up my parents made sure that I was involved in extracurricular activities. Starting from kindergarten through high school, I always played sports. My parents intentionally put me in IB schooling(International Baccalaureate schooling). I was able to make friends from different cultures. What I love most about being in IB schools was learning a new language. I am still practicing my Spanish skills to this day. The reason is because my dad started to teach me Spanish at a young age. These teachings drove me and my brother to speak multiple languages. My future plan is to become a CEO of an international company. Ever since I was young, I always wanted to own a business. Because I went to school in an environment with students with different backgrounds and cultures. I knew that my business had to include people from different parts of the world. Due to my idea of business, I applied to become a business administration major. My education has sparked an enormous amount of excitement and hunger for learning new things. Some of my favorite subjects are macroeconomics, global business studies, and speech foundations. After I graduate, I want to own a business that brings people together from different parts of the world. I will achieve this goal by turning my passion into a business. I have a strong passion for art and footwear. I want to be able to start up a sneaker store and create a business to help artists market their art. In my experience, obtaining the right pair of sneakers can be hard. Sneaker buyers may run into problems with the sneaker selling out or a particular pair of shoes aren't sold in their country. Another issue I see is the art industry. Often one may hear," Artists don't make money". I don't believe that. I think there are some very talented people who not only earn a living but can create financial freedom for themselves all because of their talents. I want my business to solve both of these problems. I want to be able to provide people all over the world with some of the best-looking sneakers. While creating a platform for artists to create wealth for themselves by being a helpful tool to market their artwork so artists can continue to create. My platform will be a safe space for artists and sneaker enthusiasts to connect and share their likes and interests. I believe people are connected through passion. Growing up I understand that staying true to who you are is a key aspect of growing up in life. This helps develop passion while empowering both the love for self and others. I want my passion to show and encourage others to stay true to themselves and their vision.

I am Jerry Boyce III a sophomore at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. I am 21 years old with a passion for business. I started my first business in high school, and I then proceeded to obtain my real estate license at 19. Through my experience, I can say that leadership, service, and empowerment are key factors that are instilled within everyone. With these characteristics, people can build a community and connect with those around them. These three factors gave me the ability to mature as an individual. Leadership is a trait that I believe we all have. Leadership is the ability to make the right choices to create a certain outcome. Leadership creates an environment that’s welcoming for all people while simultaneously pushing others to be strong leaders. A leader is someone who shows compassion and empathy to better connect and understand those in their proximity. The way I stand on leadership is by finding things that people in my community have in common to bring out the best within themselves. I have done this both in and outside of school. My first act of leadership was through being team captain of my wrestling team. Being team captain allowed me to get to know my team members and find ways to elevate their skill sets. I made sure to hold my teammates accountable to push themselves during practice to be well-prepared for a match. Another instance where I brought people together was through my podcast. In my junior year of high school, I started a podcast. On my podcast, I would impact my community by having discussions about character and what it takes to be successful. I did this to provide my community with words of encouragement to pursue their dreams. Service is the act of giving. I believe service is what one can provide for their community. This can be in the form of volunteering, contributing to a non-profit, or joining a leadership group in the community. The way I contribute to service in my community is by being present. I want to make sure that I am there for my community and the people around me. Throughout school, I have made sure that I would volunteer at my local library, church, or non-profit. A couple of my favorite non-profits are Educators of Financial Wealth and Rolemodels University. Both of these non-profits educate the community on ways to build foundational financial skills to build wealth.

I am Jerry Boyce III, a current sophomore at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University studying business administration management. Recently I've been doing a lot of reading and book-finding. My book findings come from both my research, Booktok, and Booktube. All of these methods have helped start my book collection of 15 books, excluding audiobooks and books from the library. Some of my favorite books are War of Art, The Power of Positive Thinking, Think and Grow Rich, and Living in Balance. My ideal bookshelf would be filled with comic books, mangas, fiction books, autobiographies, business books, cookbooks, and more. Reading has been very important growing up as a kid, and still to this day. From BookTok recommendations, my bookshelf would include Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, Stephen King's You Like It Darker, and Babel by R.K Kuang. I plan on reading more books to grow my book collection. Currently, I have been reading a lot of self-development books and business psychology books. Right now, I see the value of gaining new skills to grow as an individual. I recently bought a book that was recommended by Booktube. The title is How To Talk To Anyone 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships by Leil Lowndes. I bought this book to find ways to better interact with strangers. I have been going to a lot of local meetings, networking events, and meeting people through daily life. I wanted a book that would help me sharpen my skills to become a better communicator. So far, How To Talk Anyone has been a great book that is very relatable. One of the BookTok titles I think is a must-have is The Power Of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. This book is great for anyone no matter where they may be in life. This book goes into great detail about how to stay positive and create a positive outcome for yourself. The reason why I started to read this book was because of a new job I started when I was 18. It was a commission-only pay job and at the time I started to pay bills. I was very used to having a job that paid weekly, this was a different environment. Being that this was my first commission-only pay job, I felt pressure, doubt, and uncertainty for the first time. I didn’t know how to handle these feelings and still perform at a high level to reach a successful outcome. This book was my go-to before work, after work, and between work. I can say that I truly fell in love with this book because it not only positively changed me. But this book helped me create habits and actions that changed the people around me. I would recommend this book to anyone. Based on the reviews of this book, the book has greatly impacted others. A lot of comments have spoken positive things about this book. There are even short testimonies within the comments of how people were affected by the book. Yes, there are still a couple of comments that find things within the book that aren’t “ideal”. For the majority, this book left a positive impact on the booktok community.

I am Jerry Boyce III, currently studying business administration. I chose this major because I plan on becoming a CEO of an international company. As a child, I have always been interested in becoming a business owner. Being able to create my job, schedule, and lifestyle has always been a goal of mine. What I have always enjoyed in life is making friends, creating works of art, and trying new things. What my future job looks like is an environment that encourages creative thinking, diversity, and being outside. I feel that being creative while working with other creators with different perspectives is a beautiful thing. Also, taking the time to go outside to get fresh air is a great way to recharge and draw inspiration from the natural world. So far my interests have been in the world of sneakers and real estate. I have always grown up in a world of sneaker culture. Sneaker culture has been a burning passion of mine ever since I was a child and still is to this day. The world of sneakers has been my creative outlet in life. The world of sneakers allowed me to be creative and make lifelong friends. What real estate has done for me is give me a real-life perspective on what ownership means. I have been studying and practicing real estate for a little over a year now. Which has been a very exciting journey from the start. Real estate has allowed me to meet great people and understand a different generation of people. In my opinion, what allows me to create the ideal job for myself is becoming a shoe store owner and a real estate investor. The benefits of being a shoe store owner are staying aware of new trends, collaborating with sneaker enthusiasts, finding rare sneakers, and being able to provide sneakers to those who don’t have them. Throughout my life, I have always met great people through sneakers and I have always felt gratification from being able to help someone find a pair of sneakers. Becoming a real estate investor allows me to open so many doors of opportunity not only for myself but for my community. Ever since I started studying real estate, I started to notice the importance of having a safe place to stay. I started to take notice of this the more I talked with people in the community, both homeowners and nonhomeowners. One of the things I love about real estate is that it allows me to be involved with my community at a very high level. If I can pursue a career in real estate I want to provide opportunities for people to build wealth for themselves and their families. In the time we are in now, so many people are creating their jobs. So many people are becoming their very own CEO. I feel like my job hasn't been created yet so this would be the perfect opportunity to create the job or position I want to be in. So, my future job looks like me being a part of a global and diverse community of thinkers, leaders, and creators. I have a great urge to create. I want my job to allow me to create and build new, innovative things for the future. Hopefully, my future job is me be the CEO of my very own company.

The business I believe in starting within my community is a sneaker store, that inspires individuals to create from a healthy source of inspiration. I see that there can be a lot of unhealthy ways to create that can cause a negative image around creative thinking. My store will show my community that being creative can come from a place that everyone can enjoy. That’s inspired by a healthy lifestyle. The way my business will contribute to the welfare of my community will be by giving fruitful thought and positive inspiration. Outside of just being a regular retail store, the message of the business will attract a community of creators. In this community, shared knowledge and creative thought will nurture and grow into a bigger picture. Being able to tell the stories of healthy creation will hopefully inspire my community to continue to create from a source of passion. As a kid growing up, I know the importance of community events that spark the inspiration of young creators. Being able to see people around creating art, for the whole family to enjoy. I will provide a source of inspiration to the next generation of creators. Knowing the growth of my community will be able to move in the direction of progress. I plan to host events within my community through my business to provide family fun. My plan would be to host shows, sneaker pop-up shops, and even art galleries. This will show the culture around creativity. The biggest connections I have with creative thinkers are with artists. Artists have such an outlasting effect through their message of creativity. I want to be able to connect the culture of sneakers and the culture of art to bring forth and grow a community. As an artist, you are constantly walking through life experiencing and fueling your mind to produce creative work. Subjectively, certain messages and stigmas in the media can promote unhealthy sources of inspiration, which could leave a negative connotation on artists. But I know plenty of great artists that have great works of art with a healthy source of inspiration, that impacts in a positive manner. Being able to show how art and sneakers can promote healthy sources of creation, will not only be a success for myself but also a success for my community. Having a creative way to express, share, and connect will always provide aid to the welfare and growth of communities.