Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joshua Holi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Joshua, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

I first told my life story as an assignment in my Speech Communication class in community college. The story moved many students and my professor encouraged me to continue to share that story with the world. Over the next few years I began learning to present, started speaking at other events and then began creating content online to share my experiences. I needed to understand how to deliver messages to people in a way that makes sense to them and not just me. I also needed to let go of what people thought about me for pursuing this.

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?

I grew up in a single parent home on section 8 housing with my mother and older sister. Since I didn’t have a father in my life, I began a life in the streets at 16 and began selling drugs and fighting. By 21 I was in a shooting that landed me 5 years in a state prison. My life seemed over.

But over those years I grew and transformed. I came home and went to college, built a career in Product Management and began telling my story. I also started a business doing community and motivational speaking and started a clothing brand. Today my biggest goal is to give back and help other people realize their potential to become better versions of themselves.

What I’m most proud of is hearing how young adults who were on the wrong path have heard my story or watched my content and it invoked some sort of change in them. It changed them in a positive way. There is nothing more rewarding that being a positive impact on others when it comes to work.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Coming home from prison I was a convicted felon with no credit, no formal education post high school and no money. I was not supposed to last long much less succeed. I refused to become a statistic and repeat offender and although I will always need to deal with the judgement that comes with being me and deal with the roadblocks as a felon, I’ve never used it as an excuse. That mindset truly paid off. We must understand that the future is ours and be willing to put in the necessary work to win.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson I had to unlearn was who I was as a person. I realized a lot of my beliefs were really just things the people around me believed and therefore I accepted them as true. I had to really explore who I was internally and redefine what terms like respect, love and friendship mean to me. And I had to learn to form my own opinions instead of following a crowd. That really helped me grow!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joshuaholi.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/know_vember/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/U9oPPaZnSNnQ7J4x/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits

Bryan Lathrop
Iris Lee
James Boria
Evelyn Barksey
Christopher Gabayan