It’s no surprise that when you ask Farrah Gray where he sees himself professionally within the next five years, the chairman of the Farrah Gray Foundation answers with, “The sky is the limit.” Gray saw his mother, Paula Gray, endure financial struggles as a single parent in the projects of Chicago’s Southside and determined to one day change his family’s financial situation. What began as just a wish has led the 23-year-old entrepreneur to experience enormous and consistent success through business ventures that he has launched over the years. His entrepreneurial activities date back to when he was merely six years old and sold homemade body lotion for $1.50 a bottle.

Gray prophesized his own future, toting around business cards at the age of seven that read “21st Century CEO.” At 13, he started Farr-Out Foods, a specialty foods company headquartered in New York City. The company generated orders in excess of $1.5 million and made Gray a millionaire at age 14. He subsequently became the youngest person ever to have an office on Wall Street.

Gray received an honorary doctorate of human letters from Allen University at the age of 21, and in 2006 he was named one of the most influential Black men in America by the National Urban League’s Urban Influence magazine. He currently serves as an AOL Money Coach and is the author of the best-selling books Reallionaire and most recently Get Real, Get Rich: Conquer the 7 Lies Blocking You From Success. He’s also a syndicated columnist with the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a federation of 200 weekly newspapers and more than 15 million readers. The Farrah Gray Foundation, which Gray founded at 15, dedicates a portion of his income from speeches and book sales to scholarships and after-school literacy programs for inner-city youths. Gray advises youngsters to “Always believe in the beauty of your dreams and wake up everyday thinking, ‘why not me?’”