We were lucky to catch up with Darrin Francois recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Darrin , thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

As we all know, the educational system in America has its flaws in many different ways such as the information that’s being taught, the corruption behind it, and the false information being given to students. One way how I would change the education system is by providing the proper tools for the scholar of the United States to succeed. The education system in America has to tell the truth. What I mean by the tell the truth is to give real information on past events that have occurred. The next reason on what I’ll change the education system is that should change is the prison to pipeline system that set up for the downfall of people of color like myself to end up flunking out of school and going to prison because they didn’t have the right tools for them to achieve the correct way.The last reason on what I’ll change about the education system is providing more opportunities for students that wanting to go to college but can’t afford to go. Also, changing the core curriculum, so that every ethnic story is being told truthfully and fairly. We can prepare students for more fulfilling life and career students better flourish in the life and careers by providing proper understanding and knowledge behind that given subject. Most students don’t know how to write in cursive, write or cash a check, financial literacy, etc. These are basic life skills that one must possess to be able to truly live freely in this world to succeed and be great.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Darrin Francois is a multifaceted young black man who is from New Orleans, LA, and someone who has always had the mindset that if you put in the work then you’re never going to lose. Also, he is an experienced brand ambassador with print, media, and acting credits. A professional public speaker with expertise in subjects such as mentoring disadvantaged youth, creative disruption of the prison to the pipeline system, code-switching, and the precarious journey of 1st generation college students. A published co-author of the book College Cash Magnet, an autobiography of how I gained admittance to 91 colleges and received scholarship offers totaling more than 3.4 million dollars. A graduating senior at Tuskegee University majoring in Political Science. Demonstrated passion for social impact and cause marketing and a deep commitment to supporting youth from disenfranchised communities. Over five years of experience in public speaking, mentoring youth and collegiate students, a history of cultivating relationships across multiple organizational levels, and working with nonprofit and for-profit entities to advocate mentor, coach, and support the transition of marginalized youth into adulthood.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

A time when I took a marketing risk was a couple of years back when I wrote my first book at the age of 17 about ways on receiving free scholarships and grants for college. After the final edits of the book were finished, I found every business card that had an email on it on top of the emails that I already had on my laptop and sent a mass email out about the book, what it consisted of, and the everyone that it benefits. Also, created social media pages to better promote the book and use social tools such as ads, posts, and reels to drive clientele to buy the book. The whole summer of 2018, consisted of nothing but promoting the book on local radio stations, different social media platforms, public speaking events around New Orleans, and went to high schools giving away copies of the book to high schoolers that are going to need assistance to go to college and achieve greatness. I connected with the Mayor of New Orleans communications team to get the book more exposure Overall, it was a little overwhelming and exhausting having to go through different channels and loopholes to get certain individuals to get into these spaces to show other individuals what I did to get into the position I’m in today, but it helped build my character as well as gain a new life skill that I enjoy to this day. Looking to drop more books and other content as well.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

A time when I showed resilience was when I didn’t let my epilepsy stop me from being the best me I can be. Having restrictions on my life was something I couldn’t bare anymore. At the age of four, I was diagnosed with epilepsy and it completely changed my life. Due to stress at the age of fifteen, I repeatedly started having seizures my sophomore year in high school and by the time my junior year came my hair was gone leaving bald patch spots on my head. I was devastated and alone and was fighting an endless battle of depression. Once my senior year rolled around, I’d found a better way to cope with my depression and stress by applying to college. I wanted to expand my higher education learning and that brought me a form of solace. My story now is still surreal to me because all the hard work and dedication I have put in thus far has paid off. At the age of 18, I left home to attend Tuskegee University on a full-ride scholarship. Even though I had several struggles come about, I never took my eyes off the prices, and until this day, I’m still hustling to get to it. I have some special things in the works to further my career and lifestyle and can’t wait to share them with the world. My grades went plummeting because of my lack of focus, but I knew life would get better in no time with the strength of God. A date I would always remember is June 27, 2016. The date when my life was almost done for. I had a severe seizure when I was a camp counselor that caused me to end up in a short coma for 2 and half days. After this day, I realized that I was given a second chance to live and achieve way more in life which I did.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/darrinfrancois
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/darrinfrancois
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/darrinfrancois15
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/darrinfrancois