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African American millionaires: Looking beyond athletes and entertainers

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Big time athletes and major entertainers tend to fill out the top spots on any list of African American millionaires. But there are also those who have used their minds to enter the realm of financial security known as the Millionaires Club. Their stories may actually be more inspiring and instrumental for driving our youth to achieve greatness.

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But first, a little history is in order.

The U.S.’s first self-made Black millionaire was a lady named Sarah Breedlove Walker. Her story is an amazing rags-to-riches tale that began at a time when many Blacks were just emerging from slavery to try to build lives of their own.

Walker was born to former slaves in Louisiana in 1867. She was born free, but her life seemed destined to be shackled. At 7, her parents died, she was married at 14 and widowed at 20. She remarried and was earning a meager $1.50 a day washing clothes. By the time she was 25, she noticed that she was losing her hair.

Walker wasn’t willing to settle for a life of “getting by.” She did some experimenting with her hair and came up with a tonic that made it grow back. Since her second husband worked at a newspaper selling ads, she put an ad in it, promoting her tonic as “wonderful hair grower.”

She did business as Madam C.J. Walker and was actually also the first female millionaire. But it  wasn’t all about the millions; she had confidence and a common sense approach to business that helped her shatter glass ceilings that still face women and Blacks today.

One more significant note about Walker: She understood the importance of giving back. She regularly donated to scholarship funds, the NAACP and campaigns to enhance the lives of Blacks.

Her story is more than 100 years old, yet its messages still ring true today. She used her mind, a desire for a better life and sheer determination to lift herself out of poverty.

Today’s millionaires

As Walker did, many of today’s African American millionaires have taken a problem in their lives and turned it into a financial fortune.

• Amos Winbush III, like his dad (a member of the Commodores music group) was a musician. But when his iPhone crashed and he lost tons of original music files, he realized there needed to be a way to save files that he created on his phone with another device. This led to the creation of CyberSynchs in 2008. One of the most innovative tech companies of the last 10 years, it debuted as the first universal data synchronization company that allowed users to transfer data between devices. Today, Winbush is worth millions.

• At 16, she became a mom. A year later, she was kicked out of the house. She is Cathy Hughes and she is a multi-millionaire who came from humble beginnings to create and run one of the most prevalent media companies in America—Radio One. In a recent interview with The Huffington Post, she revealed that the birth of her son Alfred was an impetus for success.

“It was the reason that I took my life seriously for the first time as a teenager and made a promise to myself, my son and God that he would not become a Black statistic.”

Hughes struggled, working at a radio station, then buying one, and losing her home in the process of keeping the station afloat. Sometimes, she and her son slept in the radio station. But she was persistent and eventually turned things around. Today, she owns 53 radio stations across the country and is considered one of the wealthiest Black women in America with a net worth of more than $400 million.

• Ursula Burns grew up in a housing project in New York City in an area known as a hub for gangs. Her single mother—a Panamanian-immigrant—ran a daycare center out of her home and made money ironing shirts to be able to afford to send Ursula to Cathedral High School. Burns who went on to earn a mechanical engineering degree from N.Y.U. She then became an intern at Xerox. Over time, she moved up the ranks and became the first African American woman to ever lead a Fortune 500 Company. She’s also considered one of most powerful women in the world. Burns makes nearly $20 million a year.

• Tyler Perry had to deal with an abusive father; he was sexually abused by four men as a child; and he was also kicked out of school. He eventually got his GED, wrote a play and with persistence and sacrifice turned his skills as a writer into his position today as a multi-millionaire running a film/television company. Tyler went from living in his car to a net worth today of $400 million.

They’re out there

The stories are out there. People of color have come from nothing to having everything they could ever want.

There’s an estimated 35,000 Black millionaires in the U.S. today. That may sound like a lot, but according to the Statistics Portal, the U.S. population of millionaires is 76 percent White. Blacks, Hispanics and Asians make up about 8 percent each.

Obviously, African Americans have a ways to go.

The founder of BET, Robert L. Johnson, a self-made millionaire who beat poverty and discrimination, offers an interesting perspective to those seriously seeking entry into the Millionaires Club. In his book (“Succeeding Against the Odds: The Autobiography of a Great American Businessman”), he says, “If you want to know how people feel about themselves, look at their bank account … wealth is less a matter of circumstances than it is a matter of knowledge and power.”

That means no excuses are accepted. He did it, Oprah did it, as well as thousands of others. And it had nothing to do with how high they could jump or how fast they could spit some lyrics.

It’s about the mind conquering the elements, outmaneuvering the obstacles and using sheer determination to get past circumstances.

What they have in common

There are certain similarities that prevail in the characters of these financially accomplished African Americans, with the most prominent being a desire to better their own personal lives, as well as that of others.

Indeed, building wealth is a challenge. It’s never going to be easy. Hard work, determination, the ability to accept failure yet move on, and a mind willing to absorb information are just a few of the requirements it takes to build a fortune.

The pundits and the gurus who write books and go on talk shows also have their versions of what it takes to become wealthy. Dr. Dennis Kimbro, Ph.D. who wrote the book, “The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires,” insists that wealth does not come from circumstance, but rather a conscious choice to practice faith, be innovative, put in effort, be disciplined and always be prepared.

Some other words of wisdom from Kimbro include:

• Focus. Set your sights on what you want and do not let anyone or anything derail you. Keep distractions at a minimum.

• Be passionate. The desire to succeed has to be there, and that will come if you choose goals that you are passionate about.

• Deal with your strengths. Be innovative but deal from what you are already good at.

• Be thrifty and frugal. The faster you save, the more you save … the faster you can buy what you need to build, develop, bake or whatever it takes to develop your product.

• Go in early, stay late. Manage your time to move toward your goals.

• Surround yourself with people that will support you. And it’s not a bad idea to hook up with some people that are already successful and let them mentor and guide you.

• Be willing to take risks. But don’t do anything crazy. Take calculated risks that are a result of research, planning and instinct.

• Keep your body strong. You will need it for the long hours that it truly takes to build a company that will enable you to become a member of the Millionaires Club.

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