The "Magic" in black business.

I have to say that I honestly admire, Earvin "Magic" Johnson. I did not have a clear vision for what I wanted to do with my life, now that it was not being revolved around my children. I knew that I enjoyed writing and wanted to see where it could take me. However, after reading Mr. Johnson's book and learning about his vision that drove him to build, repair, and create jobs, businesses, and decent communities for Urban America I was truly inspired.

I love how he overcame his fears and learned life lessons from his father by working for him collecting trash. Reading about how passionate he was to the point of humbling himself to be mentored by some of the greatest men in the business world was an eye-opener for me.

I absolutely love how he was able to become the first player to become a licensee of the NBA just by having learned a little bit about business from some of his fans who had season tickets to his games. It was so cute how he played the Chicago Bulls in the 1991-1992 NBA finals against Michael Jordan and even though his team did not win, he made money selling Michael Jordan's face and number on his T-shirts. A $2.4-million-dollar order was placed by Footlocker alone. Now that is something I can admire. I just keep picturing the look on Michael Jordan’s face when he found out and he could not do anything about it.

I also admired the fact that he did not fear the gangs and sat down and talked to them to come to a mutual understanding that benefited everyone. Now that to me is worth my admiration, he is respectful of everyone.

When he faced huge life-changing difficulties he did so with respect and strength. I loved learning from him. Rather it was about the importance of finding a good mentor, bank financing, private investors, partnerships, or philanthropy.

I was surprised to learn about pension funds from Mr. Johnson. Did you know that a public pension fund contains the money put into a retirement plan for the employees of school systems of the city, state, or federal government departments and agencies? I did not know that, what surprised me, even more, is the fact that the people who control these funds like to invest the money. They hold more than $20 trillion in assets. Mr. Johnson was able to use $150 million of the pension fund money to renew Urban Shopping centers. He started with one called, Ladera Center which was very successful.

Mr. Johnson created a company called Magicworks, which through this company he was able to co-promote Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope Tour.

I was happy to find out that Mr. Johnson had even started motivational speaking. I like his quote, "It's not whether you can become successful...it's how many people can you help become successful?"

Did you know that you can find out about all the recent ventures Mr. Johnson is involved in at www. magicjohnson.com/company

One of the most recent is his generosity of providing $100 million in capital to help fund federal loans for minority and women business owners whose businesses have been impacted by the coronavirus.

He even built Magic Johnson Foundation Community Empowerment Centers in several states. It makes me happy to see young African men making such a positive difference in so many people’s lives. I cannot thank him enough. He is an awesome role model for my six African American sons.

The fact that he is still in the business of giving back to his community in such a profound way gives me hope for my son. Anything is possible when you are willing to put in the work with passion to get it done. Never giving up no matter what the odds are.