When Farrah Gray was 7 years old, he carried a lunchbox full of business cards that described him as a “Future 21st Century CEO.”
The cards were prophetic. Today, at 20, he is publisher and editor-in-chief of entertainment magazine InnerCity and has been a chief executive or a partner in a number of businesses.
He said during a telephone interview that he is worth more than $1 million.
Gray said he pocketed his first million at age 15 when he sold Farr-Out Foods, a specialty-foods company that produced his grandmother’s strawberry-vanilla syrup, and other products that targeted kids, to a group of private investors.
Gray will be the keynote speaker Friday at the Mountain Region Black Economic Summit & Biz Expo at the Holiday Inn-DIA in Aurora. At least 350 people are expected to attend the two-day event, which starts Thursday.
“Farrah is young, and he is all about economic development,” said Carla Ladd, president of the Denver Black Pages, an online directory that is among the sponsors of the event. “We thought he would be able to inspire not only the youth but also some of us older folks.”
Farrah, who is promoting his book, “Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out,” has led a life marked by ambitious overreaching.
Gray’s business ventures have included Kidztel prepaid phone cards, Farr-Out Foods, One Stop Mail Boxes & More, the New Early Entrepreneur Wonders Student Venture Fund, and InnerCity magazine, a joint venture with Inner City Broadcasting Inc.
He credited his success to his grandmother’s wisdom.
“When I was whining and complaining,” he said, “she said, ‘Anything that you want to achieve in life, you can. Nobody is better than you. Wake up every morning and say, “Why not me?”‘
As a 6-year-old growing up in Chicago, he collected partially filled bottles of lotion, mixed and repackaged the contents and sold them door to door for $1.50 each.
Between his lotion sales and another enterprise – selling rocks that could be used as bookends, he made about $50, enough to give him a taste for entrepreneurship, Gray said.
Gray is the youngest of three children who grew up with his single mother in a Chicago housing project.
His older brother Andre, a businessman, introduced him to a larger world, taking the boy with him on trips to Asia and Europe, according to an article in Las Vegas Weekly.
Andre acted as guardian and mentor because their mother was trying to start a business.
At home with his mother, times were tough, Gray said.
When he was 8, he formed the Urban Neighborhood Economic Enterprise Club, an organization that encouraged kids to become entrepreneurs.
He plans to tell the summit’s attendees to believe in themselves and to take chances.
“Never fear rejection; once you believe in yourself, all things will follow,” he said.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-820-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
Black Economic Summit & Biz Expo
The 2005 Mountain Region Black Economic Summit & Biz Expo is coming to Aurora this week.
What: Economic empowerment summit with workshops and panel discussions
When: Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: Holiday Inn-DIA
Price: Preregistration until Wednesday, $179 for Denver Black Pages Club members, $199 non-club members; on-site registration (if available) $249
