The Ellie Drake road show rolled into Denver this weektwo tour buses and a trailer — and Coloradans will have a chance to hear her God-bless-America gospel of giving while gaining.
Some already have a taste of it. On Monday, the Atlanta-based entrepreneur and inspirational speaker appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s charity-reality show, “The Big Give.”
Now Drake is here, part of her eight-month “Inspired You Inc. 2008 National Tour.”
It’s a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and her own BraveHeart Kidz Foundation. She’ll appear at 5 p.m. today at the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Wilfley branch at 4595 Navajo St.
At 34, Drake has come a long way from her native Iran, where she recalls huddling in bomb shelters during the Iran-Iraq War, dreaming of America.
“One of the biggest things I get out of this is letting people know that America is absolutely the best country to be,” she said. “Some have lost that feeling. No country is perfect, but this one is the closest.
“This is my way of giving back,” she said. “This country has given so much to me.”
It’s been quite the journey. Drake arrived in America in 1990. She was 17 years old.
Her parents pushed her to be successful. Drake trained as a chiropractor but discarded that. “I wanted to inspire people,” she said.
Enter the “home-based business industry,” those entrepreneurial daisy chains where you sell products to people with the aim of getting them to sell the products for you. By her account, she made a fortune in Nutrition for Life.
Today, Drake runs BraveHeart Women, a life-coach network, and has authored “What Eighty Million Women Want.”
“I truly believe women can make a positive change in the world,” she said. “In the Mideast, it will have to be women saying, ‘We have to stop this.’ ”
In January, Drake launched NetWeb Marketing, an online tutorial in Internet business.
And there’s her charity work, begun a few years ago.
“I wanted to give back to people, so I started donating anonymously,” Drake said. She started a school in Peru, gave toys to kids in Atlanta.
Earlier this year, excited by Oprah’s “Big Give,” where entrepreneurs compete to raise money for charities, she decided to go large.
Out came her Rolodex. In 24 hours, Drake said, she raised $100,000 to rebuild Katrina-ravaged homes in Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish.
Now she’s barnstorming for children. Her make-big-bucks seminars are part of the fundraising tour. Drake will hold a private one in Denver at $97 a pop — 60 percent for charity.
She travels with seven people, including her father; her husband, Charlie; and their 6-year-old son, Aiden.
Oh, and there’s a video cameraman capturing it all for Web postings and posterity.
Drake is nothing if not media-genic, with jet-black hair and striking dark eyes. Wednesday found her in a brocade tunic and fancy cowgirl boots, the latter a gift from fans.
Her chic visage beams from murals on her tour buses.
High-profile philanthropy has a long history. Think of Carnegie libraries and John D. Rockefeller, photographer in tow, handing out dimes to street urchins.
Still, philanthropy as road show, fueled by TV and one’s own Internet MySpace page, is a new twist for our time.
“Through this, I hope to reignite the passion for the American dream,” Drake said.
That would be America as the land of opportunity, if you’re bold enough to seize it.
William Porter’s column runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at wporter@denverpost.com or 303-954- 1977.
