We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Prentice Ahmad. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Prentice below.

Alright, Prentice thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

One thing that I have learned is everyone has the potential to be great. Everyone wants to be successful in their own right. However, it is what we do with that potential that actually matters. Les Brown arguably one of the greatest speakers of ALL time said that the richest place in the entire world is the grave yard. That is because many dreams and goals never come to fruition, they die with you. As powerful as that is, it is the truth. Most times, we as a people do not become successful in certain areas because we fail to learn the craft of what we are doing. We jump ten toes down but, often not ten fingers down in a book of said craft. In order to be successful in any area you have to become a student of the craft. You have to study the craft the same way you would any subject in grade school. I competed in the first MISTER U.S. UNITED Pageant ever July of 2023. Before I got to Nationals, I researched as much as I could to get some sort of edge on the competition. I learned how to walk, speak, answer interview questions, the proper way to stand etc. I studied the craft. July 29, 2023, I was victorious and walked away making history as the very first male winner. Learn the craft of what you want to do because your victory is waiting for you on the other side.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Going from being homeless, to business owner to homeowner is still one of my greatest gifts I ever accomplished. I come from humble beginnings. I often times joke saying that we (my mother, two brothers and I ) were so poor we couldn’t afford the “o and the r” we were “PO”. I grew up on welfare. We had section 8, food stamps, medicaid, you name it, I had it. Although materially, we did not have much, we had a lot of love. I graduated from high school in the top ten percentile of my class. I later went on to college where I attend The Great Bethune-Cookman University and majored in Biology. A few short years later I was finished. Fresh out of school not certain of what direction to go, I did exactly what I had always done, followed what I was being told. I ended up getting a job. I had done what I was told since I was a child, go to school, get good grades, go to college, graduate and then you will be able to make it out of the “hood”. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for what to do before I getting out of college. Therefore, I ended up with a dead-end job years later as a medication technician. Here I am college trained making $8.50 an hour working as a medication technician. The worst part was I was okay with this job because my mind had been conditioned since I was a child to survive. I was not taught how to thrive. I knew that I would not end up rich working there, but, it was a rewarding job. However, rewarding or not, all of that came to a crashing halt when I was injured on the job December 2014. A resident was falling from her bed and paging for help. Unfortunately, we did not have anyone except myself working during that shift at the assistant living. I ran in and with all my might attempted to help this woman not fall. I was not successful in doing so. I broke her fall but, she broke my back so to speak. As a result of her landing on me, I sustained a lifetime injury to my lumbar. Due to being injured I wasn’t able to work. Months later I received my settlement, but, by that time, I had to move from my apartment because I couldn’t renew the lease having a balance I incurred from not being able to pay rent. I sold my car that I had started sleeping in. I slept on floors of people I did not know. I gave you the back story so that way you could understand where I’m going. Fast forward to 2016, I was in the Philadelphia Airport and listening to Les Brown on my phone and I saw a gentleman standing at the flight information monitors. The gentleman turned around and there he was in the flesh Mr. Les Brown himself. I am a huge Les Brown fan. His story of how he was adopted, labeled EMR (Educable Mentally Retarded) no formal education and later turned all of that around. Became a motivational speaker. And now has amassed millions of dollars in revenue. This guy is my hero, so to see him in person was a dream come true. He walked over to me and we started talking. He then told me I had “the gift”. He said “You should be doing what I’m doing, I train people to do what I do”. Not seeing the potential in myself I shrugged it off. I’m thinking he probably tells everyone this. He said “there is a book in you” and you need to be a speaker. No one wants to hear my story is how I responded. I then became bold and said “If you believe in what you’re saying to me here is my contact information, you will call me. A few moments later as I walked off my phone rang and it was Mr. Les calling. I never took him up on his offer because I didn’t see the same potential he saw. I was allowing my current circumstances to dictate my life’s choices at the time. Let’s skip forward to 2019, I was in Atlanta, Georgia and I was speaking at a convention. I also had written my first book which had become a bestseller. I got off stage sat down and then I felt a presence sit behind me. I turned around and Mr. Les was making a surprise appearance at the conference. I spoke with him afterwards. Mr. Les didn’t remember my name, but, he remembered exactly where we both had met. That interaction changed the trajectory of my life. I am most proud of changing the direction of where my life was headed. I’ve always been smart. I’ve always felt like there was more out there for me, but, I didn’t think this would be the lane I would be in. Motivational speaking and writing books. I never would’ve thought I would be in a space of influence such as this. What sets me apart is even though I had life happening to me and I was not given the skills to thrive my mindset did not allow me to blame those things as a reason for me being unsuccessful. I adopted the mantra that we are not responsible for the way in which we were raised. We are not responsible for what we didn’t know as a child. But, we are 100% responsible for creating the life that we wish to have.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson I’ve had to unlearn is my thought process. Growing up as a child I was given lots of love. I was never without love, admiration and family. Although those things are good, I had to unlearn the thought process of constantly being in survival mode. There is nothing wrong with being in survival mode because in some cases it can save your life. But, when you are constantly in survival mode you do not open your mind to the fact the world is limitless. Being in survival mode prevents you from being able to accept all of life’s blessings because you won’t be able to see most of them that come your way because your mind is not conditioned to see that. I often say that “The sky is NOT the limit, it is just the beginning. Take the limitations off your life and the lid off your thinking.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I read once before that a rocketship is off track at least 97% of time to the moon and only 3% on track. Life is about knowing how and when to pivot. I’m no stranger to knowing when to pivot especially with as much life as I’ve seen since the age of four. But, my greatest lesson of having to pivot would have to come from me being homeless. Prior to having to move from the apartment I was living in, I was really down in the dumps about being injured and out of work. Everyone around me was getting up going to work, jumping out of bed working out and there I was my lower back is aching, lying in bed on pain meds. It wasn’t until I decided that I was going to challenge myself everyday and get out of bed and make this gratitude tree. The idea came from a sermon I heard in church one Sunday morning. The pastor said how can you expect more when you are not grateful for what you have. As the saying goes “You don’t miss it until it’s gone” was so true. I didn’t miss jumping out of bed, running ten miles a day, going swimming with my friends until I wasn’t able to. It’s incredibly easy to fall into a depression when you start thinking of the negative. That is where I came up with the idea to build a gratitude tree. Everyday I would write on a construction paper leaf that I cut into shape something I was grateful for. The more I did it the harder it became to find new things to write down. I started having to dig deeper than I ever thought possible, but, the results were undeniable. I truly became more grateful. There are so many things to be grateful for that we never pay attention to until it is taken away from us. This is a practice I adopted to my life now and has helped shape the other areas of my life because being grateful transcends space and time. I definitely challenge you to make your own gratitude tree or even create journal. You will be surpised at how it truly impacts and improves your life.

Contact Info:

• Website: Prenticeahmad.com
• Instagram: iamprenticeahmad
• Facebook: I Am Prentice Ahmad
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prentice-ahmad-1130b71b8
• Other: Tiktok iamprenticeahmad

Image Credits
Marcus Nelson photography Ken Rochon photography