Sheldon Theragood has
been a police officer
since 2010, and he also
works on his volunteer
organization that gets
kids involved with doing
good for the community. (Courtesy of Sheldon Theragood)
From the time he was a teenager, Sheldon Theragood has mentored young kids. With dreams of becoming an NBA basketball player, Mr. Theragood often practiced on the ball court and would teach ball tricks to kids who wanted to learn from him. “I was able to dribble the ball very well. Kids would actually come to the game just to see me make some moves,” he laughed. “It made a place in my heart.”
But due to arthritic pain in his hips, Mr. Theragood was cut from the basketball team during his junior year of college at Texas Southern University. “I had to figure out what else I could do,” he said. He got hired as a youth detention officer in Harris County, Texas. “Working there, I was going to be around teenagers who had made life mistakes. I felt like that was going to be a great place for me to help teenagers.”
Mr. Theragood spent time mentoring the youth, listening to them, and helping them build a plan for when they would be released. However, after working there for four years, he was discouraged to see some of the youth get re-detained. “All the staff were excited to see this kid leave and all of a sudden two months later, he’d be back.”
He decided that becoming a police officer was the best way he could help. “I thought that was the only position for me; the whole deal for me was to save the kids’ lives out on the streets, and to do whatever it takes—that’s my motto—to make a difference.” While patrolling the streets, Mr. Theragood would not only encounter at-risk teens but also many homeless. When he first joined the Houston, Texas, police force, he became a member of the police department’s homeless outreach team, which would provide housing, rehab, access to daily necessities like clothing and toiletries, and services meant to help them get out of homelessness. Mr. Theragood then realized that he could teach teens valuable lessons through introducing them to the homeless men and women he met. “I brought them so that they could understand that nobody’s born like this,” he said. “This is just choices. Hey man, this could be you. Sometimes you have to be realistic with them and give them that little scare so they start thinking, ‘I want to change my life.’”
Mr. Theragood volunteers at a blankets and clothing giveaway for the homeless during the 2023 holiday season. (Courtesy of Sheldon Theragood)
So in 2010, Mr. Theragood got the inspiration to start TheraGood Deeds, a nonprofit to involve children of all ages and backgrounds in community service. He envisioned gathering kids with a troubled past and straight-A students, hoping that they would learn from each other’s experiences. After he got support from a community center to introduce kids to his program, his nonprofit took off, with children ages 4 to 16 doing at least one community outreach project per month. Activities range from serving in soup kitchens to hosting a Christmas toy drive and organizing celebration events for the homeless. He is constantly looking for new project ideas. “Wherever the help is needed, we want to provide a service. I’ll never say no.”
Mr. Theragood at an Easter-themed event with children participating in his TheraGood Deeds organization. (Courtesy of Sheldon Theragood)
The children enjoy spending time together and making new friends. “We have a good time, so it’s also catering to their enjoyment of life,” he said. “We hang out, we go to the basketball court and play. Their friends see them being part of something that looks exciting, and they want to join, too.” Over the years, some of the teens who joined TheraGood Deeds have grown up and gone to college, and thanks to donations from local sponsors like the Ashley Jadine Foundation, the nonprofit is able to provide them with scholarships.
(Courtesy of Sheldon Theragood)
Princess Jackson, 21, started doing outreach projects with TheraGood Deeds in 2014 and said that the experience has taught her humility by seeing and working with people in need. Ms. Jackson, who also happens to be Mr. Theragood’s stepdaughter, said that her stepfather also showed through his example how to be a giving person who serves others. “He is a great man of faith. Not only does he tell you what is the right thing to do, but he shows it and he walks it.”
Cynthia Sun photographed at a sunflower field in upstate New York. Sunflowers are among her favorite flowers. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
When the hosts of the Miss NTD pageant announced the winner, it took Cynthia Sun a few moments to realize she had won. She stood in stunned silence, thinking they had made a mistake. Sun had not expected to win. In interviews and conversations with friends and family, she had openly shared her doubts, believing she lacked the talents that other contestants showcased—singing, dancing, or musical prowess.
Sun said, “I can ride a horse, but obviously you can’t do equestrian on stage. I can dive, I’ve done cliff jumping a lot, but there’s no cliff on the stage. I can swim really well—there’s no pool. I can play badminton—there’s no court. And I can play soccer—there’s no field. I also really like Ultimate Frisbee, but there’s no space for that. So I just gave up, and then I just put none [as talent for the pageant].”
But this was no typical pageant. While physical beauty and artistic talent were still valued, the contest emphasized celebrating five essential virtues inherent in traditional culture—morality, righteousness, propriety, benevolence, and faithfulness. The chance to study those virtues deeply motivated Sun to join the pageant. “To think about how I can be the best version of myself, but also to meet other young women who also prioritize these virtues. We’re trying to implement them in modern-day society—that was the motivation for me to actually join.”
NTD is a New York-based global television network founded in 2001 by Chinese Americans who fled communism. The pageant required participants to be at least one-third of Chinese descent. (Starting in 2025, the pageant will be open to women of all ethnic backgrounds). Sun, born and raised in Pearland, Texas, a quiet suburb south of Houston, is 100 percent ethnically Chinese. However, she didn’t always feel that way.
As a Chinese American, she felt her identity was split into two halves. “I vividly remember when I was younger, I used to tell my parents that I was hanging out with my friend group from the Chinese half of my identity, or the American half of my identity. And so for me, it was like two different worlds.”
(Larry Dye)
She felt at a disadvantage compared to the other contestants, who grew up closer to their Chinese heritage. They could recite poems from different Chinese dynasties and were very familiar with the historical figures that shaped the 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture. “It just bemused me, but also befuddled me, that it could even be possible, because there was such a high level of artistic and literary knowledge that it was just unbelievable for me,” Sun said.
However, as she prepared for the pageant and reflected on the five virtues, she realized that her two sides—the American and the Chinese—weren’t that different after all. Southern hospitality, in particular, resonated with some of the virtues emphasized by the pageant, such as benevolence and propriety. “I think community is such a huge part of the Texas spirit. Through all of my experiences, I could think of at least several stories for each of the five virtues that helped me stand out and give me confidence that these universal values do come from a place that I can call my own.”
Her understanding of the five virtues comes from a very personal place, not limited to the superficial meaning of the words. “I think the balance for me is a mixture of listening and internalizing, which is very much a Chinese thing. But also trying to be encouraging and openly inviting, and accommodating, which is something that Southern culture really holds dear.”
She believes that opening up about this duality with the pageant’s judges during the Q&A section helped her win the competition. “I was just very honest. I told them that as a Chinese American woman, I was working very hard to reconnect and rejoice in my traditional Chinese heritage, which I felt had been unlinked and unattached from me for so long. I felt like I’m not completely considered American in America. I’m not considered Chinese in China. But I feel it’s possible to bridge both cultures, both modern and traditional, and present that in myself. That’s who I actually am as a whole.”
She thinks her message resonated with the panelists that night, and that’s why she won. “It was very surprising, but also very heartwarming to know that as a Chinese American, I can actually embody these traditional values inside myself and present them to the world.”
Her Life-Changing Experience In China
Sun has visited China three times in her life: as a baby, when she was 12 years old, and after graduating from high school at 17. Her parents had come to America as college students in the 1990s, while the rest of the family remained in China. The second time, when she was 12, she traveled only with her father, as her mother had been blacklisted for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual practice severely persecuted in China by the Communist Party since 1999—the same year Sun was born.
The moment she and her father landed at an airport in Inner Mongolia, in northern China, they noted they were being followed. When they arrived at her grandparents’ house, they had barely said hello when three policemen knocked on the door, wanting them to go to the police station for an interrogation.
“They didn’t want me to give my grandparents any ideas about free thought or American culture or inspire them to join us in America as a family,” Cynthia said.
Sun won the inaugural Miss NTD pageant, held in October 2023. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
Maybe it was their American passports that made the police officers relent, but Cynthia’s father realized that staying with their family could put her grandparents at risk. So, they cut the visit short and left.
“I felt like I was in a James Bond movie or something,” Sun recalled. Her father suggested they go to a nearby mall, and the policemen followed them. There, they moved from store to store, trying to evade them. Her fathereven removed the battery from his phone to avoid being tracked.
For Sun, the whole situation felt bizarre. Even though she was only 12, she was taller than the three policemen—“I could see the top of their heads,” she said—and couldn’t understand why they would chase down a girl and her father who were just visiting family.
“I was actually not very scared because as an American citizen, and my father as an American citizen, I was really confident,” she said. “Maybe it’s the Texan spirit in me, but I was really confident that they couldn’t do anything to us. Even if they did, you know, America would step up.”
They later caught the first flight they found back to America with no further incidents, but the experience had already left a mark on Sun.
In America, she had participated in rallies in front of Chinese consulates in different cities to protest the persecution of Falun Gong in China. She knew many people who practiced the gentle exercises and meditation in parks in Texas, and had heard stories of some who had family persecuted in China for believing in truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance—the three principles of Falun Gong. However, experiencing firsthand surveillance and the pressure on her family members gave her a new perspective.
“I found that the stories that you hear, sometimes it feels like they’re just numbers, and they’re just words on a page,” she said. “But to really experience that in real life … I had a newfound appreciation of what the millions of practitioners in China are going through.”
The experience spurred her to do more research and later pursue International Relations and Global Studies at the University of Texas in Austin, with a focus on human rights. She wrote two theses focused on how the West is inadvertently complicit in China’s human rights abuses. For example, American pharmaceutical companies that provide medical supplies to China might not know that those supplies are used to forcibly harvest organs from prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs. “That really shocked me. But it also motivated me because this was actually something that we could stop the demand of, and the supply of, because it was coming from within America, a country that I call my home.”
(Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
A Newfound Purpose
After she won Miss NTD’s crown, people encouraged Sun to compete in other pageants as well. She takes it as a compliment, but is certain she won’t participate in them. Even though other pageants also require effort and discipline to win—diets, gym workouts, mental preparedness—she doesn’t find deeper meanings in them.
As Miss NTD, she is now aware that other young women will take her as a role model—not only because of her beauty but also as an embodiment of the five core virtues promoted by the pageant. “There’s a very big sense of responsibility being the very first inaugural Miss NTD. And knowing that younger women will see my image, my behavior, and take me as a role model … and also my internal responsibility, I guess towards being a better version of myself and also being better for the benefit of people around me.”
When other women ask her how to live by those virtues, she encourages them to find their real selves and purpose in life. “I think everyone has all five virtues inside them. Naturally, inherently, they embody those five virtues. For me, it wasn’t a matter of finding those virtues. It was a matter of how I can highlight them and bring them to the surface.”
“We’re all here trying to fulfill each of our missions and to do the best that we can for our communities. It plays out in different ways, and I find that so powerful.”
Cynthia Sun
Age: 25
Current occupations: Human rights researcher, foreign policy analyst
Your first job: Hostess at a Chinese buffet
Love language: Surprising people with personally curated bouquets. I love peonies, sunflowers, and hydrangeas the most.
Hobbies or talents: Making my friends laugh. Reading a book super fast. Hosting a great party. Winning at board games. Speaking in public.
How do you recharge? I’m a super extrovert—I recharge best by spending time with my friends and family. One of my favorite things to do on a day off is exploring new places and restaurants with my girlfriends. In the past few years, my lifestyle has unintentionally settled into a 1-4-12 schedule: spa day once a month, hiking four times a year, and traveling to a new country once every 12 months!
Favorite books: The “Treasured Tales of China” trilogy.
Favorite movies: “Kung Fu Hustle,” “Monty Python— movies, “Eternal Spring,” “Howl’s Moving Castle,” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.”
Something people don’t know about you: I’m the opposite of a green thumb—every plant I raise ends up arriving in my mom’s garden on the verge of death. I’ve nearly killed a cactus once.
Your favorite thing about Texas: Good ole Southern hospitality! I miss when waitresses call me “love” and “sweetheart.” Barbecue takes a close second.
Emmy Award-winning host Mario Lopez maintains an active professional life while still prioritizing his family. (Adhiraj Chakrabarti for American Essence)
Mario Lopez is a host, actor, producer, author, and entrepreneur. He hosts TV shows and podcasts, does food criticism, and has his own shoe line. He’s been a dancer and sports commentator and fitness guru, and in a nod to his Mexican heritage, he recently became a small-batch tequila entrepreneur. Could becoming an astronaut be next?
“I’m working on that one,” Lopez said.
He’s joking. Sort of.
Lopez has not only come a long way in five decades of a life lived, as he puts it, “at full throttle,” he’s gone in so many different directions it’s hard to keep track. The two-time Emmy Award-winning host of “Access Hollywood” is currently the host of the nationally syndicated radio show “On With Mario Lopez.” But that doesn’t begin to gauge the breadth of his active professional life.
Last year, Lopez launched a line of shoes that bears his name as its brand. And that tequila? Lopez partnered with boxer Oscar de la Hoya to market it as “Casa México.”
Underneath the panoply of entertainment and business endeavors, who is Mario Lopez? He’s a guy who shot to fame in 1989 at age 16 in TV’s “Saved by the Bell.” He did 86 episodes as the deep-dimpled, mullet-sporting heartthrob A.C. Slater in that teen favorite, and another couple dozen episodes in the sequel series, “Saved by the Bell: The College Years.” The dimples are still there. The mullet, long gone.
Lopez accepts an Emmy award on behalf of his team for Outstanding Entertainment News Program at the 43rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, held in Los Angeles, May 1, 2016. (Matt Winkelmeyer/ Getty Images)
After “Saved by the Bell” came a slew of movies, of which “Breaking the Surface” (1997), the story of Olympic swimmer Greg Louganis, is probably the best remembered. Somewhere in the 2000s, there were also stints as both contestant and judge on “Dancing with the Stars” and several dozen episodes of the TV soap “The Bold and the Beautiful.”
Movies and TV eventually took a back seat to other endeavors. “There was just so much more to do, more paths to explore,” Lopez said. One of those paths ran through Manhattan and was called “Broadway.” In 2008, Lopez was cast in the Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line,” where he performed eight shows a week for five months. Also in the cast was veteran Broadway singer, dancer, and actress Courtney Mazza. The two met and fell in love. They married and had three children: Gia, 14, Dominic, 11, and Santino, 5.
The entire cast of the ’90s sitcom “Saved by the Bell,” where Lopez had his breakout role. (Peter Engel Productions/Album/Alamy Stock Photo)
The Mexican American Life
Lopez was born in 1973 in Chula Vista, California, near San Diego. His earliest memories include stories of the gangs who dealt drugs and violence there. With keen parental instinct, young Mario’s mother started him in dance classes at age 3 to keep the world of drugs and gangs away. As he entered the world of show business auditions, Mario’s minority status at first worked against him. In the 1980s, the entertainment world was not brimming with Latinos.
Have things improved? “We’ve come a long way with Latino representation, but we still have a way to go,” Lopez has said in a YouTube video.
Is his Latino background key to his family orientation? “I don’t want to hit people over the head with that,” he said. “Families are the same everywhere. Everybody loves their children and wants the best for them.”
He views all cultures as providing the same solid foundation for family life, an observation he made growing up in Chula Vista. In addition to a large Hispanic population, Lopez recalled in his memoir “Just Between Us” (2014) that Chula Vista boasted other communities as well: “Chula Vista had a strong Filipino community, a black community, even a Samoan community. Eventually, once I started meeting people from different backgrounds, I gained a much broader worldview. The differences, in my opinion, were cool. Not only did I become extremely accepting of others who weren’t like me, but I genuinely enjoyed getting to know how those differences shaped them.”
Nevertheless, his own foundation is inescapably Latino, a source of pride as well as gustatory pleasure. Lopez makes no bones about his enthusiasm for Mexican cuisine, from high-end eateries to food trucks. Food trucks, in fact, are some of his favorite places to dine out. His favorite taco meats are lengua (tongue) and cabeza (head).
What’s his No. 1 pick for Mexican food? “Mariscos,” Lopez said without hesitation, meaning “seafood.”
Lopez’s first onscreen role was in the 1984 ABC comedy “a.k.a. Pablo.” (Roger Karnbad/ZUMA Wire/ Alamy Live News/Alamy Stock Photo)
It Runs in the Family
Lopez has returned to acting in film in recent years, exclusively to family movies centered around the holidays. He enjoys including his own family in them. Daughter Gia appeared in his 2021 flick “Holiday in Santa Fe,” and wife Courtney and their son Dominic will appear with him in “Once Upon a Christmas Wish,” out this fall. The holiday film is the first of a multi-film contract with Great American Media. “Being able to share family-friendly stories representing diverse voices is a true blessing,” Lopez said of joining Great American Media.
Explaining why his family is so often involved in his projects, Lopez said, “Because my wife is actually the talented one, and fortunately, the kids take after her.” Despite all the flash of his topsy-turvy life, Lopez nurtures a more introspective side of his personality, one that came out in his memoir. As he wrote in “Just Between Us”: “No one is famous forever, so you just have to make the most of every moment and every opportunity, no matter how much money you have today, no matter how many people recognize you as you walk down the street.”
Lopez said being a father and husband is “my best role, ever.” (Adhiraj Chakrabarti for American Essence)
If he had it all to do over again, he wrote: “I’d have put more trust in God” from the start. “I know He’s got my back. … It’s nice to have something that is consistent in our life. Family and faith is that for me.”
What’s next? “There are many things I want to do. I want to produce more content. I have pots simmering on multiple burners,” he said.
At 50, Lopez looks 35. He credits daily exercise, good nutrition, and plenty of sleep, but he admits that perhaps a line of Mario Lopez skincare products might be a good idea—one more thing to add to the Lopez list of endeavors.
And if NASA ever makes a habit of sending celebrities into space, Mario Lopez will likely be high on the list of candidates.
Lopez attends a Netflix movie promotion event in Los Angeles, November 2022. (Jerod Harris/Getty Images)
Q&A with Mario Lopez
What’s your superpower? Being able to fall asleep, ANYWHERE ANYTIME.
How would your kids describe you in a word or two? How would your wife describe you?
Kids, goofy. Wife, handful.
What song would be the perfect soundtrack to your life right now? “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince.
What lessons have you learned from your athletics endeavors like Brazilian jiujitsu and wrestling? If you stay disciplined and consistent, you’re bound to improve no matter what.
What keeps you so positive? My faith. And I’m genuinely happy.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Work hard, stay focused, and do the right thing. The right things will happen for you.
Sculptor Sabin Howard sits with the maquette he created for "A Soldier's Journey," the sculptural component of the National World War I Memorial that was unveiled in Washington on Sept. 13, 2024. (Courtesy of Sabin Howard)
Stretching across 58 feet in Washington, D.C.’s Pershing Park is a bronze frieze that portrays “A Soldier’s Journey” through the demands and dangers of World War I. From left to right, 38 life-size human figures relate the experience of a single American soldier: his departure from home, the ordeal of battle and its aftermath, and his return.
The massive work, unveiled in an illumination ceremony on September 13, was created by Italian American sculptor Sabin Howard, whose lifelong quest is to revive figurative sculpture in the great tradition of the Renaissance. The fact that he has made his case in a large-scale piece commemorating World War I is something Howard finds deeply ironic.
Howard analyzes his full size relief of “A Soldier’s Journey,” featuring 38 figures spread across 58 feet. The figures were cast in bronze for the installed memorial in Washington. (Courtesy of Sabin Howard)
“World War I marked the end of a philosophical thought process that the world is unified by a divine order. With the decimation of 22 million people, you move toward alienation and nihilism, the death of God and the beginning of the modern era,” Howard reflected. “That moment had a huge impact on art. The idea that the figurative is what art is all about was already starting to slide away. After World War I, the figure is no longer a part of the art world. The last moment that figure is paid attention is [during the] Art Deco [movement], and after that you move into abstract art.”
A hundred years later, Howard found himself commemorating in figurative sculpture those sacrifices made during the very event that led to the erasure of figurative art—ironic, indeed, yet somehow apt. “A Soldier’s Journey” is a powerful tribute to the Americans who fought in World War I, while its metaphysical reach “goes back to a previous age and speaks of our connection to the sacred,” Howard said. Its greatest potential: to spark what Howard calls “an American Renaissance revolution.”
Birth, Rebirth
When Howard was 19, he knew he wanted to become a sculptor. (Courtesy of Sabin Howard)
Sabin Howard the man was born in 1963 in New York. But Sabin Howard the sculptor was born precisely at 4 p.m. on October 22, 1982.
“That was the moment I decided to become an artist. I was working in a cabinet-making shop, and I called my dad and told him. He said, ‘How long is this going to last?’ So far, it’s lasted 42 years.” Then 19, Howard did not know how to draw and was unfamiliar with the procedures of the art world. He called an art school to ask about requirements. “They said I needed a portfolio, but I didn’t know what a portfolio was,” he recalled.
All the same, Howard knew what he wanted. He persisted, earning degrees from the Philadelphia College of Art and the New York Academy of Art, and used what he learned in school to build upon what he had already experienced of the great masterpieces of Western art. Because his mother is Italian, he spent many formative years in Italy. There, “I was exposed to the great artists of the Renaissance, and I thought that’s what art is. I decided to make art like the Renaissance masters, especially Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo [da Vinci].” He chose sculpture because in the Renaissance, “everything—drawing, painting, everything—was guided by the three-dimensional energy of sculpture, which has such presence.”
The Aesthetic of the Figure
Howard sculpts from a live model for his World War I memorial. He recruited combat veterans to be his models. (Superhuman Film Productions)
With his dedication to the Renaissance and figurative art came certain core values. “There are values that govern what art is,” Howard explained. “Art comes from experience, and experience is driven by the divine nature of how the universe is assembled. The artist takes something that stems from that sacred element and that shows something representative of our potential as human beings.”
Howard’s earliest works were sculptures of ancient deities such as Hermes and Aphrodite. In 2011 came the work Howard was convinced would bring him to the art world’s attention. “It was called ‘Apollo,’a male nude that took 3,500 hours and two models. I thought I had made something comparable to the works of the Italian Renaissance.”
Howard’s “Apollo” was unveiled in a gallery in New York’s Chelsea district, “a huge space with huge glass windows floor-to-ceiling and light pouring out of the windows.” About 300 people showed up for the unveiling. And then, “Nothing. Nothing happened.”
Sabin Howard’s plaster cast “Head of Apollo” for his final bronze statue. (Courtesy of Sabin Howard)
It was a watershed moment in the artist’s life. He decided, “I had to do something different after the ‘Apollo’ because I was really down on myself. I’d worked so hard all those years, and nothing was breaking through.”
Change of Direction
In 2014 came a call from the commission of the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C., for proposals by architect-sculptor teams to create a park, incorporating a sculpture, that would commemorate the Americans who fought and died in World War I. In 2015, Howard, then 52, was chosen and teamed up with then-25-year-old architect-in-training Joseph Weishaar. Together, they conceived of a 58-foot-wide frieze that would be placed on a deck raised above a water feature.
Howard began work on the sculpture in January 2016, completing it eight and a half years later.
Howard sculpts the maquette of “A Soldier’s Journey” at Weta Workshop, New Zealand, in November 2017. (Courtesy of Sabin Howard)
“Those years were dedicated to meetings with the commission and to 25 different iterations of the sculpture. Then came a 10-foot maquette and then another 5-foot version which became the final, green-lighted project. It was a battle,” he said.
One member of the commission suggested that Howard look at Henry Shrady’s bronze statue of Ulysses S. Grant, unveiled in 1924, located at the base of Capitol Hill. “I saw it and liked it and thought, ‘That’s a template I could follow,’” Howard recalled.
But not all figurative sculpture is alike, and Howard faced having to reshape his style. “I had to change from an esoteric, quiet classical style to one that is very vibrant and human and expressive and dramatic and kinetic. That’s a great challenge for an artist.”
Howard spent roughly 75,000 hours to create the figures in the World War I memorial. (Superhuman Film Productions)
Challenging in a different way were the “tortuous and difficult” meetings with the commission as the work progressed through its 25 iterations. “But in the end, it was worth it. It was almost like I had created something that tasted so good but so condensed, like French food. The flavor is very powerful and satiating, too,” he said.
Sculpture for Everyone
Howard sculpting a detail of a soldier’s pants in clay. (Superhuman Film Productions)
Howard called “A Soldier’s Journey” “a break from making sculpture for elites and governments.” His intention was for anyone to be able to connect with it. “An eighth grader with no interest in art will be fascinated by this movie-in-bronze that unfolds as you walk from left to right.”
At the start, we see a man saying goodbye to his wife and daughter as the daughter hands him his helmet. We move to the right and see him engaged in fierce combat, while men around him are killed, wounded, and gassed. We then see the solemn aftermath of battle, and the return home to wife and daughter.
Details of Sabin’s maquette for “A Soldier’s Journey” displaying the soldier’s farewell. (Courtesy of Sabin Howard)
As the action moves from left to right, the face of the protagonist changes to reflect the different races and ethnic groups that contributed to the war effort.
Howard’s wife, novelist Traci Slatton Howard, pointed out to him that the implied story of the sculpture parallels the “hero’s journey” story that is universal to the human experience.
Howard compares completing the enormous sculpture after nearly a decade of continuous work to “traveling at 90 miles an hour and then suddenly coming to a stop.” When he finished, he didn’t know what to do next, so he wrote a 750-page book about the experience.
Details of Sabin’s maquette for “A Soldier’s Journey” displaying the soldier’s return. (Courtesy of Sabin Howard)
He sees “A Soldier’s Journey” as the spear-tip of a potential shift from abstract to figurative sculpture and is not reticent to make his position clear: “Schools, art critics, galleries, and museums are arrogant and ignorant of what art is.”
To correct that, Howard believes we must re-connect with the divine that is inherent in human nature.
Chef Geoffrey Zakarian
runs restaurants,
frequently appears
on TV, and has his
own line of food and
kitchen products. (Aaron Lockwood)
These days, place settings at your dinner table might look like this: a knife, fork, spoon—and cell phone. You might watch television as you eat.
You’re missing the key to a good meal, says renowned chef Geoffrey Zakarian: family.
Mr. Zakarian learned this lesson at a young age. He grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, with a Polish American mother and Armenian American father.
“Being Middle Eastern, all we did was cook,” he said. “At breakfast, we’re talking about lunch with our mouths full. At lunch, we’re talking about dinner with our mouths full. It was a never-ending circle.”
Mr. Zakarian saw that a meal was about more than just good food. It was the glue that bonded his family.
“It created a shared devotion around the table,” he said. His love of food and its effect on family eventually led to his calling as a chef.
(Aaron Lockwood)
Fighting Hunger in the City
Mr. Zakarian is not only a prolific chef and restaurateur—whose ventures have included restaurants in New York, Connecticut, Los Angeles, and Florida, where he now lives—but also a long-standing television personality, known for his appearances on the Food Network as an Iron Chef, a recurring judge on “Chopped,” and a co-host on “The Kitchen.”
He’s also worked for years with City Harvest, a New York food rescue organization that has distributed an incredible 80 million pounds of food this year to New Yorkers in need. He’s served as chairman of the NGO’s Food Council since 2014.
City Harvest rescues much of its food because of something that might surprise you: expiration dates. “This would not be possible unless a terrible legislation for expiration dates was created. That created a false foundation where we have to throw food out [after its sell-by date] and can’t sell it,” Mr. Zakarian said. “City Harvest came along and said, ‘We’ll take it, and, in less than 24 hours, we can distribute it.’”
When asked how much of the “expired” food the charity gets is still edible, the chef has a stunning answer: “One hundred percent.”
City Harvest receives donations of surplus food from nearly 2,000 businesses, including farms, grocers, restaurants, wholesalers, and manufacturers. But Mr. Zakarian makes sure to distribute healthy food, shopping as carefully as he would for his own family.
Mr.Zakarian attends a City Harvest event in New York City, June 19, 2018. (Getty Images for City Harvest)
“Nothing with high fructose corn syrup. We’re very picky [about] what we take. Fifty percent of what we give away are fresh vegetables,” he said.
City Harvest trucks then deliver the food free of charge to more than 400 food pantries, soup kitchens, and other community food programs across the city. “It’s a very fulfilling process for everyone,” he said. “If you talk to any of the drivers, they’re so happy with what they do. They get paid to make people happy and live better; they give away food all day. What a great way to live.”
The organization holds several fundraisers throughout the year, including an annual fall food tasting that will be held on October 29 this year, at The Glasshouse in New York. Last year’s event raised enough to feed 4 million people.
The Next Generation
As a father of three, Mr. Zakarian has taken his own childhood experience of sharing a meal at the table and passed down the tradition. On any day he’s home, he makes it a point to cook breakfast for daughters Anna and Madeline and son George.
They’ve picked up Dad’s love of cooking. Anna and Madeline published a cookbook called “The Family That Cooks Together” in 2020, when they were 12 and 14, respectively. They also helped start a Junior Food Council for City Harvest that year.
Want to teach your kids to cook? Mr. Zakarian says it only takes one thing.
“Smells. This is why there’s a failure in modern cuisine, that minimalist cuisine: If nothing has a smell, it’s not memorable. Every memory you have of food is the smell.”
Chef Geoffrey Zakarian with his family. (Courtesy of Geoffrey Zakarian)
Mr. Zakarian says nothing draws a kid into the kitchen more than the aroma of something delicious. “You don’t have to ask kids to do anything. They’ll smell something, come by, and say, ‘What’s that, Mom?’ And she’ll say, ‘Well here, try it.’ I’ll say, ‘Do you want to help?’ ‘Sure.’ It’s not forcing them to do anything. It’s the memory of the smells and the clanging of pots and pans.”
Spreading the Joy
He’s also passionate about bringing those memories to other families. His cookware line, launched under Zakarian Hospitality, is designed to “make life better for the average person at home,” he said. He doesn’t focus on obscure items you might use once every 10 years, but basic, good-quality cooking tools you’ll need every day.
His television appearances aim to do the same. “I love these shows because they show people how to nourish their families,” he said. “When people watch a competition show, they love the competition, but at the end of the day, it is captivating their memory with things they want to try.” He calls it “nourishment of the stomach, but also nourishment of the soul.”
As a chef, Mr. Zakarian focuses on what he calls the Mediterranean basket, the diet from Greece and Italy. At his restaurants, “I make menus for food that I enjoy,” he said. “I just try to make food yummy for myself, and if I like it, I would say that 99 percent of my customers will like it.”
But whether he’s cooking for customers or his kids at home, his philosophy is the same.
“If you have everyone sitting around the table, that’s the real joy, that’s where everything happens—all the glances, the looks, the nuanced conversation that comes out,” he said. “If you can get them to the table, that’s the real reward.”
9 Questions for Geoffrey Zakarian
Comfort food? Steak frites.
Most beloved kitchen tool? Paring knife.
3 ingredients you can’t live without? Sea salt, chardonnay vinegar, anchovies.
Underrated ingredient? Miso.
Go-to easy but impressive dish to cook for someone? Spaghetti with lemon.
Daily wellness rituals? Work out five times a week. Don’t skip breakfast. Eat grass-fed beef, full-fat yogurt, fruits, berries. Big fan of honey and dates instead of sugar.
Favorite hobby when you’re not cooking? Golf.
Best advice for home cooks? Start learning to cook with breakfast. Eat your mistakes.
Leanne Morgan has delighted audiences with her stand-up routines that draw on her
family life. (Joseph Llanes)
Four years ago, you’d have never heard of her.
Today, it’s impossible to think of stand-up comedy without thinking of Leanne Morgan. And soon, she’ll be unavoidable.
Subscribe to Netflix? Then you’ve probably already seen her special, “I’m Every Woman.” Netflix has commissioned two more specials from Mrs. Morgan and will soon start shooting a 16-episode multi-camera sitcom featuring her humor.
Like the movies? Mrs. Morgan will be seen with Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon in “You’re Cordially Invited,” set for release next year.
Browse the bookstores? Look for Mrs. Morgan’s memoir, “What in the World?!,” out this month.
Mrs. Morgan has come into the spotlight swiftly. There’s a reason for her sudden emergence: She speaks to people who until now haven’t had a voice in comedy.
Mrs. Morgan gets laughs from being surprised by middle age, from wondering how all that Jello went to her stomach, from talking about old boyfriends and perimenopause and empty nest syndrome and chicken pot pies. Most of all, she plows the ground of family life with love and hilarity. Watch “I’m Every Woman” and you’ll come away knowing her husband Chuck and their three children almost as well as you know your own family. That’s the point.
“I have an audience out there: moms and everyday people,” Mrs. Morgan said in a recent interview. “They’re unseen. Hollywood’s forgotten them.”
“I am one of them,” she added. “I always lived in Tennessee, raising my children, and having a normal life, and from that, I built my years of material that people can relate to. It’s like me sitting in a coffee shop talking with my girlfriends. It really is. And it’s all because I’ve lived a normal, everyday life in the middle of the United States.”
Actress Reese Witherspoon with Mrs. Morgan at the Ryman Auditorium, Aug. 29, 2023. (Catherine Powell)
Life as Comedy
Mrs. Morgan grew up in Adams, Tennessee, a town of about 500 people near the Kentucky border. Her family ran a meat-processing plant in their backyard. The smell did not encourage suitors for young Leanne. “But I was soooo cute! It helps to be cute when you smell like meat. I still had boys after me.”
“What in the World?!” details her childhood growing up wanting things that were different from her surroundings. She had an early fascination with tap dancing, which she says she would still love to learn.
She did the usual things. She went to college and dated and got married and divorced, and then she found The One: Chuck Morgan, who worked for a mobile home restoration firm. They moved to a place called Bean Station, Tennessee. Meat processing, manufactured housing, and a town called Bean Station: The cliches could hardly have been deeper. Out of this, Mrs. Morgan wrestled several stand-up routines’ worth of laughs, at the same time honoring the values of hard work, honesty, and family that all those moms and husbands out there hungered to hear celebrated.
Mrs. Morgan (R) as a child with her father, Jimmy, and sister, Beth, 1970. (Courtesy of Leanne Morgan)
Though her comedy is understandably aimed at fellow women, men love her humor, too. “I have loved men,” she said. “I celebrate men: my husband, my son, my dad—and I do it in a way that is loving. I can see men in the audiences elbowing their wives saying, ‘That’s you!’”
Leanne and Chuck Morgan have been married for over 30 years. “I don’t know how we’ve done it. There are times when I get so mad I could spit, ’cause he’s not a talker. But we have the same values. We worship our children and these grandbabies, and he still thinks I’m soooo cute!” Chuck’s stoic silence and his husbandly enthusiasm for Leanne after all these years are frequent subjects of her jokes.
One Big Leap
It seems impossible now, but a few years back, Mrs. Morgan nearly gave up. “I’d been doing comedy for over 25 years, and when I was in my early 50s, I was just about to quit,” she recalled. Bookings were infrequent, and her son was on the verge of giving her grandbabies. Maybe leaving comedy, she thought, would be for the best.
“It was a bad time in my life. I was in perimenopause in my mid-40s, and my kids were moving out or starting middle school and high school. There was a tragic death in our family, and my best friend that I’d had for years just dumped me one day. I couldn’t get booked and no one cared about my comedy.”
An old photo of Mrs. Morgan with her husband and children. (Courtesy of Leanne Morgan)
Then, she took one last look at the successful comedians around her and noticed something: “I saw they all had social media people. So, I said to my former manager, ‘I think I need social media people.’ And he said you can’t afford it and it’s not a big deal. I did it anyway.” She hired two brothers who ran a social media firm in Texas.
On the first day of their contract, October 1, 2019, her social media professionals promoted a single video of Mrs. Morgan’s stand-up bit about taking her husband to see Def Leppard and Journey in concert. The clip went viral. Suddenly, gigs started to pour in, and within months, Mrs. Morgan was booked on a national tour.
“I could feel it happen. Months before, I could not sell tickets. Comedy clubs would say, ‘We love her, she’s sweet, she doesn’t get drunk and fight in the parking lot, but she can’t sell tickets.’”
But things changed virtually overnight. “It was like a switch turned on in a dark room. People saw that video and started looking for my other stuff, and then they were calling comedy clubs all over the country and asking, ‘When are you going to book Leanne Morgan?’”
The pandemic disrupted her new success, but she persisted, posting videos about how important it was to keep going. One of those videos caught the attention of Reese Witherspoon, who later remembered the comedian during the casting of one of her movies.
Audiences are entertained by Mrs. Morgan’s comedic timing and characteristic Southern drawl. (Troy Conrad)
Mrs. Morgan emerged from the pandemic a major comedy star. “It’s been one wonderful thing after another,” she said with a tone of wonder in her voice. “I’m just getting started at age 58.”
The responsibilities of celebrity do weigh a bit heavily on her shoulders. “Every night when I look out in the crowd, I think I could be best friends with every one of these people. They are precious to me. They will message me things like, ‘You helped me get through chemo’ and that kind of stuff. That’s hard for me because I keep thinking I’m not worthy. These people deserve so much, and who am I to give it to them?” She went through a period of impostor syndrome. She writes in her book that having faith in God’s plan for her helped get rid of her doubts. “I’m getting over it now,” she said.
Of all the projects that are now crowding in on Mrs. Morgan, she talks with most enthusiasm about the yet-untitled sitcom. “It was always my dream to be in a sitcom. I grew up loving sitcoms like Ray Romano’s,” she said. The comedy series is being produced by Chuck Lorre, widely known as the “King of Sitcoms,” with “Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men” among his credits. And it will be “based on my comedy, but not my real life,” Mrs. Morgan said.
Mrs. Morgan with the whole family: (L to R) her two daughters; her daughter-in-law and son with their child; her mother (seated) and father; her mother-in-law; and her husband. (Thelen Wright Photography)
Then there is the movie that Reese Witherspoon recruited her for, “You’re Cordially Invited.” “I play her big sister in a wacky wedding movie. Two families have double-booked a wedding venue in the south. Comedy ensues as our families fight over the venue,” Mrs. Morgan described.
Despite her sudden popularity, Mrs. Morgan insists she’s just one of the people in her audience. She just happens to be on stage instead.
“Every night before I even say a word, people give me a standing ovation. It’s not that I’m Michael Jackson. It’s them saying, ‘Here comes our friend.’”
Mrs. Morgan has been doing stand-up for over two decades. Photographed on the streets of Nashville. (Joseph Llanes)
It’s Showtime!
Grew up in: Adams, Tenn.
Lives in: Knoxville, Tenn.
Loves to: cook, make people laugh
Got her comedy career started by: telling jokes while selling jewelry at house parties
First breakout special: “So Yummy,” which has over 50 million views on YouTube
First national tour: “The Big Panty” tour in 2020
Latest tour: “Just Getting Started” with 145 shows in 72 cities, and counting
Presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln) are all featured in the book "How the Best Did It" by Talmage Boston. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Talmage Boston: The name rings of American history. A lawyer by trade, Mr. Boston has written his way into the society of historians. As one of Texas’s finest litigators, he shares a connection with those early Americans whose lives he studies. Nearly half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and more than half of those who signed the Constitution were lawyers.
From Yankee Stadium to the White House, Mr. Boston has written five books that connect with modern Americans on both cultural and political levels. His latest work, “How the Best Did It: Leadership Lessons From Our Top Presidents,” is not only a recollection of the country’s best presidents from George Washington to Ronald Reagan, but it is a propositional work for current and future leaders.
Talmage Boston, author of “How the Best Did It: Leadership Lessons From Our Top Presidents.”
In this conversation, Mr. Boston stated that “How the Best Did It” is a work of “applied history” that encourages readers to do more than “enjoy history,” but to “actually apply it to what you are doing in your daily life.” Digging into the lives, methods, and decisions of the top presidents―Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Reagan―Mr. Boston has unearthed a treasure trove of qualities, disciplines, and skills that every leader should know and apply.
A meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and President-elect Kennedy, January 1961, at the Cabinet Room in the White House. (Public Domain)
American Essence: What are some of the common qualities that you noticed in the eight presidents?
Talmage Boston: I found three common qualities: One, they were all great persuaders. Some were great persuaders because they were eloquent orators. Some were great one-on-one, personal persuaders. One way or another, they moved the needle with whomever the audience was in their particular era. Two, they were all self-aware. They each had an awareness of his strengths and weaknesses. They always found ways to use their strengths. Where weak, they would bring in colleagues who were strong and allow them to take charge. Three, they all succeeded in their eras because they targeted the middle way―the great middle. They were smarter than to target the extreme right or the extreme left. They knew that was never going to accomplish anything positive. Their efforts and messages were always in terms of what the vast American middle was inclined to think on an issue.
AE: People often “want” to be leaders but don’t understand or don’t want to accept the weight that comes with responsibility. What can readers learn from your book about the demands of leadership?
Mr. Boston: For each of my chapters on the eight presidents, I identify his three most important leadership traits that caused him to be successful … a total of 24 leadership traits. But at the end of each chapter, I ask a series of questions for the reader to ask him or herself. Essentially: “How am I doing in the trait I just read about? How am I learning from my mistakes? How am I doing on unwavering integrity? How am I doing in building consensus out of factions that are trying to split the organization? How am I inspiring optimism throughout my organization?”
These leadership traits are timeless and can be applied in any generation and basically any circumstance.
AE: Leaders are often accused of surrounding themselves with yes-men. Why is it important for leaders to surround themselves with people who are industry- or subject-knowledgeable, confident enough to be disagreeable, but also buy into the leader’s overall vision?
Mr. Boston: Washington is a great example. He knew going into the Constitutional Convention, [they] were basically going to create a government from scratch and to do that you had to have a deep knowledge of history, different types of governments, and what had worked and what hadn’t. He couldn’t have studied quick enough to draw any sound conclusions, but he knew James Madison had, so he delegated the responsibility of what became known as the Virginia Plan―essentially the backbone of the Constitution. With a brand-new country, we had postwar debts and we had to figure out how to make the economy work. Washington had never studied economics or fiscal policy, but Alexander Hamilton was a financial genius, so he turned that responsibility over to him, and Hamilton did a great job.
“Washington and His Cabinet,” circa 1876, by Currier & Ives. (Library of Congress)
Lincoln was famous for his team of rivals [in his cabinet], three of whom had run against him for the Republican nomination. Two, Edward Bates and William Seward, immediately recognized that Lincoln was the smartest guy in the room. So, they became his biggest fans. Salmon P. Chase, who was something of an egomaniac, never could quite acknowledge it, but nonetheless he was a brilliant guy, and ultimately Lincoln named him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Eisenhower had cabinet meetings every single Friday. As a rule, you couldn’t bring up any issue that pertained to your department. He wanted to talk about big issues. He wanted free exchange, debate, and disagreements. He wanted to hear it all. He didn’t want to make the final decision until he knew he’d considered the soundest and strongest viewpoints on all sides of the issue. That’s how Eisenhower was so effective in making good decisions.
AE: You discuss Washington’s self-criticism. You also reference Eisenhower, who once said, “Always take your job seriously, never yourself.” What was the benefit of self-criticism for these presidents?
Mr. Boston: You can’t just go through life on cruise control, thinking, “Everything I do is great. Every decision I make is wise.” Not many people like to be on the receiving end of criticism from others, but a self-aware person can acknowledge his own flaws and areas that need improvement, and then diligently go about the process of making himself better. That’s how you become the best that you can be, and all eight of these presidents became the best that he could possibly be through this rigorous self-examination and fierce desire to be better tomorrow than he was today.
AE: All of these presidents were able to communicate at a high level for varying reasons—either by speech or writing or by virtue of their body of work. How did trust and credibility contribute to these presidents’ capacity for effective communication?
Mr. Boston: It’s virtually impossible to be an effective leader if you don’t have strong credibility, which is tied to your integrity. In terms of Theodore Roosevelt, he had this ferocious egotistical personality, but it had a certain charm and appeal to it. He was probably our highest IQ president. He was not a great public speaker. But his real skills as a persuader were demonstrated as a mediator, like the Great Coal Strike one year into his presidency. Winter was coming. People didn’t have coal. No American president had ever gotten involved in a labor dispute. Roosevelt said, “If I don’t do it, then it’s not going to happen and we’re going to have half the country freezing to death.” So, he got both sides―the workers and owners―together [and] created a dialogue. Together. Separately. Listening. Talking. Brainstorming. He finally came to the approach of binding arbitration on the issues involved, and they agreed to it, which ended the strike.
A [few] years later Japan and Russia were at war and they couldn’t find a way to bring an end to it. They reached out to President Roosevelt. He got that settled, and for it he won the Nobel Peace Prize. … Later he settled a dispute in Morocco. A [year] after that, he settled a dispute at the Hague Convention. With Roosevelt’s power personality, his brilliance, his emotional intelligence of getting people to do the right thing without pissing them off, these were his skills as an up close and personal communicator that caused his presidency to be so successful.
“Good Offices,” 1905, by W.A. Rogers. President Theodore Roosevelt stands between the Russian czar and the Japanese emperor. (Library of Congress)
AE: John F. Kennedy was young and rather inexperienced politically. What made him such an effective leader?
Mr. Boston: The traits that made Kennedy stand out as a great leader that I think are important for anyone who aspires to be a great leader are, one, he was an amazingly quick study, who created great policies in three major areas in a short period of time. Two, he was calm in a crisis, and three, his ability to not only be an eloquent speaker, but for his words to inspire action―positive action.
In his first inaugural address, he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” A couple of weeks went by and he proposed the Peace Corps. Soon tens of thousands of young Americans joined the Peace Corps, and they went abroad and enhanced American PR all over the world. A year later, 1962, we were involved in the Space Race in the post-Sputnik era. Kennedy at Rice Stadium in Houston gave the famous speech where he said, “I want to send a man to the moon in this decade. And we’re going to do it not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.” Those words, Congress heard them; all of a sudden they’re willing to spend money on the Space Race, and lo and behold we did get a man on the moon by the end of the decade. And then his speech after the Birmingham Riots awakened our conscience and reoriented the members of the House and Senate on the imperative of having a strong civil rights bill. All these positive things come out of his powerful speeches. Those are the traits from Kennedy that standout despite serving less than three years.
AE: You wrote: “Most people with ambition aspire to lead.” Ambition is often given a bad name, often tying it to famous leaders like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte. How do you dispel the connotation that ambition is for the unscrupulous or power-driven?
Mr. Boston: Ambition can be for the unscrupulous or power-driven, but it’s also for people with good hearts and good moral compasses who simply want to be the best they can be. They have the basic human desire to want to be recognized and are willing to take on the public responsibility of governing. None of the presidents were unambitious. You don’t go through this process of elections, developing relationships, dealing with the negatives, and doing all that it takes to become the president of the United States unless you’re wildly ambitious. That doesn’t mean you’re going to be unprincipled or thoughtless. It just means you want to get to the top and in order to get to the top, you want to be the best person you can be. These presidents hit that mark.
“How the Best Did It: Leadership Lessons From Our Top Presidents” by Talmage Boston.
AUTHOR NOTE: Mr. Boston’s selection of the eight presidents is based loosely on the two most recent C-SPAN Presidential Historians Surveys.
Jimmy Cha spent his childhood between his native South Korea and the United States, where he learned English by watching “Star Wars” and “Top Gun.” Yoda’s line, “No. Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try,” resonates well with his give-it-his-all attitude. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
How did a dancer from South Korea master an ancient Chinese art form that has blossomed anew in modern-day America? It’s a story that can only happen in this land of opportunity.
Jimmy Cha, 41, has danced with Shen Yun Performing Arts, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, based in New York, since 2008. His path to performing on the world’s top stages was unexpected, but it has made him appreciate America all the more. It was here that his desire to dance was not only fulfilled, but also led to a greater purpose.
Jimmy Cha was classically trained in ballet, but is now a world-class performer of classical Chinese dance. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
America, Where Dreams Come True
Mr. Cha grew up between South Korea and the United States due to his father’s job in the South Korean air force. Between the ages of 4 and 14, Mr. Cha spent several years living in Ohio and Indiana, where he embraced his mischievous side.
He remembers one particular trick: He would go to the local convenience store with friends and pay for items without getting a bag to carry them. Upon exiting the store, he would glance at police officers nearby, and then sprint away as if he had stolen the goods. When the cops caught up to him, he would then pull out a receipt. “I had very creative ideas to make certain people upset,” he joked.
When he returned to South Korea at age 15, he realized he didn’t fit the mold. There are established hierarchies in social relations that one must respect. For example, “you don’t speak unless you’re spoken to,” he explained. “People don’t really like to go out of the boundaries. There are a lot of unspecified rules that you have to follow.”
He felt pressured to conform to an expected trajectory for societal success. “You need to get into the top high school to get into the top college, and that’s how you get a good job,” he said. He wasn’t interested in pursuing that track.
His father suggested dance as a possible career option. Mr. Cha had already taken up music, as well as sports like gymnastics, swimming, and track and field. Dancing combined the musicality and physicality that he had learned before. He was quickly accepted into an art school and gravitated toward ballet’s systematic training. It became his “obsession,” he said.
Mr. Cha soon won national prizes for ballet. But when he applied to dance companies for performing roles, they rejected him. His height and build did not match the long, lithe physique they were looking for. “A lot of their classical ballet is very heavily Russian-influenced, and Russians care a lot about visual aesthetics,” Mr. Cha said. He felt stuck and thought about quitting dance. Meanwhile, his family pressured him to find another route that would bring him success.
That’s when Mr. Cha decided to move to California to study Eastern medicine. He returned to the United States in 2002, feeling in his gut that a path would open up for him there.
“In America, anyone can be who they want to be. That gave me hope,” he said. During his free time in between studies, he auditioned for dance companies in Southern California. He was hired as a soloist for Anaheim Ballet, and later promoted to principal dancer. Opportunities were lining up. This time, he was determined to see it through: He quit his Eastern medicine program and transferred to Point Park University in Pittsburgh to pursue a bachelor’s degree in dance.
Mr. Cha feels every role he performs on stage is “very precious.” Even when performing background dancer roles, he “picks up new things,” he said. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
Dancing With Purpose
After graduating from university, Mr. Cha started a master’s degree in dance at New York University. Through acquaintances, Mr. Cha heard about a burgeoning dance company, Shen Yun, that trained dancers in classical Chinese dance—a dance system with millennia of history. It was nearly lost after the Chinese Communist Party took over China and systematically destroyed elements of traditional Chinese culture. Shen Yun’s mission was to revive this lost art form.
Mr. Cha was intrigued after watching a performance in New York. He observed the differences between ballet and classical Chinese dance—akin to the differences between Western and Chinese paintings: “Western painting is very form-oriented. Every angle, every stroke has to be in such a way,” whereas Chinese painting is about expressing a feeling. He wanted to learn this art form that was like an entirely new language to him. He auditioned and joined the performing arts company in 2008.
Mr. Cha learned that classical Chinese dance intricately tells stories through movement. “Because [classical Chinese dance] hasn’t been passed down systematically, it’s always evolving. So, in terms of the level of artistry, it’s always advancing.” There were always new ways to perfect the forms through which his body could express the emotions portrayed in a piece. More importantly, he found a purpose beyond advancing his own career. “Trying to revive anything that was once lost, I think there’s huge value in it,” he said.
Performing with Shen Yun taught him humility. Depending on the piece, dancers play a lead role or a supporting role as a background dancer. “With the smaller roles, you still have to put all your heart into it. It helped me become more well-rounded and more humble,” he said. Performing wasn’t about being in the spotlight, but about achieving excellence no matter his role.
Mr. Cha is now in his 17th year with Shen Yun—with no signs of slowing down. He’s motivated by a desire to serve audiences around the world—”we want better quality every year,” he said—and to set a good example for his two young daughters. He wants to show them the value of hard work and commitment. His parents are proud of seeing what he’s accomplished after seeing him flourish; they take care of his daughters when he’s on tour with the company.
Mr. Cha and his two daughters, Lina and Mimi, raise chickens in their backyard. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)Mr. Cha with his youngest daughter, Mimi, and the family dog, Felix. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
As one of the company’s oldest performers, he also wants to be a positive role model. “Everybody’s watching each other and learning from each other. I want to set a good example in terms of the work environment, to give people some sort of inspiration,” he said.
For several seasons, Mr. Cha played the Monkey King, a beloved character from “Journey to the West,” a famous 16th-century Chinese novel. His childhood gymnastics and acrobatics training made him especially well-suited for the fast, agile movements of the sometimes-mischievous character.
Mr. Cha performing on stage as the Monkey King during the NTD International Classical Chinese Dance Competition held in New York City, in 2009. (Dai Bing)
He also learned an important lesson from portraying the character, who encounters 81 trials while accompanying a monk on his journey to India to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures. “Only when one looks beyond oneself and maintains a steadfast heart, can one succeed,” Mr. Cha said. And in many ways, Mr. Cha’s own story reveals that he has done just that.
Mr. Cha is proud to be an American. He appreciates how in America, strangers can easily open up to each other and that everyone is treated equally no matter their background. (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
Kimbal Musk is passionate about sustainable farming and widening Americans' access to local fresh produce. (Laurie Smith)
Imagine spending 18 months at one of the most prestigious culinary schools in the world, and the first assignment you get after graduating is peeling potatoes in a volunteer kitchen.
But that’s only part of an unusual story that includes a near-death experience, a message from God, and a terrorist attack that led one man to a career dedicated to bringing local, sustainable food to Americans.
Then again, you wouldn’t expect anything less from someone with the last name of Musk. In this case, the tale belongs to Elon’s brother, Kimbal. While the more famous sibling is launching rockets and electric cars, Kimbal Musk is cooking up innovations in the kitchen. The former tech entrepreneur has dedicated his life to his nonprofit, Big Green, which supports sustainable farming, educating children about growing food, and expanding home, school, and community gardens.
He also owns several farm-to-table restaurants in Colorado and Chicago, with a forthcoming location in Austin, Texas. “The kitchen is truly where I have so much passion,” he said. “I love … walking into my restaurant and feeling the energy of the community.” He recently wrote a cookbook, “The Kitchen Cookbook: Cooking for Your Community,” in the hopes that everyone can experience the joy of sharing the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor; he feels that cooking a meal for someone is the ultimate act of sharing.
How he came to this point in his life is a story in itself.
Mr. Kimbal Musk with a copy of his cookbook, “The Kitchen Cookbook.” (Samira Bouaou for American Essence)
From Tech to Social Entrepreneurship
Already successful and financially secure at age 27 when he and his brother sold Zip2, the tech company they founded together, Mr. Musk decided to pursue cooking. He enrolled in the French Culinary Institute in New York, thinking that the experience would be an exotic endeavor. Instead, it was a lot like the high-stress cooking shows on television.
“I thought of going in and it being somewhat romantic. And it was like the movie ‘Full Metal Jacket.’ It was screaming at you, all the time, breaking you down, in a boot camp kind of mentality.” Of the 25 students who enrolled in that class, only six made it through the year-and-a-half course, he recalled.
Mr. Musk bakes a cake in New York, in 2000. (Maye Musk)
Timing is often everything in life, and this case was no different. Shortly after Mr. Musk completed his training, the 9/11 terrorist attack devastated New York. The city needed its firefighters, police, and first responders more than ever; it also needed people to cook for them as they worked around the clock in rescue and relief efforts. “It started out with me peeling potatoes, and I was there for six weeks, through the end of October.” Top chefs from around the world gathered to cook meals for the rescue workers. Eventually, Mr. Musk worked his way up to the point where he was preparing the dishes.
He enjoyed serving firefighters dishes they probably didn’t get on a regular basis, like sautéed salmon in a creamy dill sauce. During this time, he saw the effect good food had on people as he watched the exhausted, emotionally spent rescue workers renew their spirits as they ate. “We would feed them some of the best foods I think they’d ever eaten in their lives. … We were putting so much love into the food. And the color was circling back to their faces. They never stopped talking to each other. And by the end of that 45-minute break, the room would be full of energy and joy.” His immediate thought: “Wow. I can’t imagine a life without this. I have to do a restaurant.”
Mr. Musk knew that the best quality ingredients come from local growers, so around 2004, he started working with farmers to supply his first restaurant, The Kitchen in Boulder, Colorado. At about the same time, he wanted to do something to change the trend in America whereby “your average 10-year-old wouldn’t be able to tell you what a tomato looks like.” He provided financial support for school gardens, so children could learn the value and science of growing food. But he was a “checkbook philanthropist,” he said, basically letting others do the work.
Mr. Musk opened his first restaurant in Boulder, Colo., in March 2004. For the first year, he was sous-chef in the kitchen, working the line 5 to 7 days a week. (Maye Musk)
A ski slope changed all that. Along with a voice.
In 2010, Mr. Musk slid down a ski hill on an inner tube and landed on his head. He ended up with a ruptured spinal column that paralyzed the left side of his body. He thought he was going to die. While waiting for surgery, he heard a voice that led him to his current calling.
“I really had this profound voice in my head that I can only describe as God. … And it told me that I would go work on kids and food. It wasn’t specific instructions. It wasn’t like, you’re going to do school gardens, you’re going to do restaurants. It’s just kids—you’re going to help kids connect to food. And I was going to be fine.”
Surgery was successful. “I also got my movement back in my body. And the voice didn’t go away. It wasn’t like a flash of light or anything like that. It was a beautiful, clear voice.”
That experience led to the creation of more than 650 “learning gardens” in schools around the country through Big Green. Teachers can incorporate gardening into the science and math lessons that are part of their curriculum, allowing students to learn outdoors. Mr. Musk hopes that every American will eventually learn to grow food. “You’re going to get a whole new appreciation for the flavor of things, the seasons of things,” he said.
Mr. Musk teaches students at Eucalyptus Elementary School to plant a vegetable garden in preparation for Plant a Seed Day in Hawthorne, Calif., March 13, 2019. (David Mcnew/AFP/Getty Images)
The Future of Food
Mr. Musk is already seeing the trend of American farming changing toward becoming more sustainable. More farmers are embracing regenerative farming, which is designed to improve the quality and health of the soil. It’s not a new concept, as Native Americans have applied regenerative farming principles for centuries.
A farmer might plant corn and beans together: The corn provides a natural trellis for the beans, while the beans put nitrogen into the soil, which helps the corn grow. A rancher might move cattle around and let grazed land “rest” for a while. Periodically rotating the land on which crops are grown can reduce or eliminate the need for pesticides and fertilizer, on which many farms have become reliant.
While many farmers still need time to learn and adapt to these concepts—“it’s a very risk-averse community,” he said—it is catching on around the country. “It grows food better and more nutritionally. And then the farmer can also charge more for their product. So that’s a win for them, too.”
Looking toward the distant future, his vision lies with his Square Roots company, which has nothing to do with math, but focuses on growing food indoors with less energy, such as through hydroponic systems inside upcycled shipping containers. That will become useful if, say, humanity starts living on Mars. The red planet will have less sunlight and fertile ground than Earth. Technology to grow food with fewer resources “will be critical for our expansion on Mars,” he said.
Mr. Musk has ambitious plans to develop hydroponic farming for future food production on Mars. (Phynart Studio/Getty Images)
A Family Legacy
The creative spirit within the Musk family traces back to his grandfather, who moved the family from Canada to Africa in 1948. “My grandfather was a cartographer mapping Southern Africa. He mapped the Kalahari Desert, and pioneered understanding geography down there.” He tells of a unique family trip in family lore: On a single engine plane, his grandfather, his wife, and their daughter, Mr. Musk’s mother, went from South Africa to India, Indonesia, and down to Australia. Mr. Musk describes his grandfather as a real adventurer, and that the innovative spirit of the family is “in our bones. In America, that translates into being an entrepreneur, but whatever it is, it’s some sort of a pioneer breaking new ground.”
Maye Musk, mother of Mr. Musk, cooking in the Kalahari Desert, 1956. (Maye Musk)
Mr. Musk, who became an American citizen in 2004, talks about how grateful he is for this country, having lived through the apartheid era in South Africa. “My kids, I love them to death. They’ll critique America if we let them,” he said, but he often tells them, “Maybe you should try somewhere else first, before you dive in on the criticisms.”
Mr. Musk with his sister Tosca and mom Maye. (Laurie Smith)
Mr. Musk feels a need to give back to the country that has given him so much. It hit him five years ago during a family trip to the Rocky Mountains. “We were just going for a hike and spending a day in the mountains. And I just had this epiphany—that I have the American dream. I have my wife, I have a beautiful home. I’ve got wonderful kids, and built beautiful businesses that make a difference in this community.”
Madison Marsh, after being crowned Miss America at a ceremony in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 14, 2024. (Courtesy of Miss America)
In her early teens, Madison Marsh attended a space camp and met several astronauts. “I just fell in love with the idea of being the first woman on Mars,” she said. So she took flying lessons at age 15 and joined the Air Force Academy to work toward her goal. She loved the thrill of flying and became an Air Force officer. When Marsh, 22, was crowned Miss America in January, she became the first Miss America to also be an active duty member of the military.
She hopes her win will show people that you can achieve anything you set your heart to, and that women can embrace their feminine and strong sides in the service of others. “I love being able to lead others and serve in something that’s bigger than just me,” she said.
Air Force 2nd Lt. Madison Marsh poses in front of a glider at the U.S. Air Force Academy, in December 2023, shortly before her Miss America win. (Adalyn Greene)Ms. Marsh prepares for her familiarization flight at the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. (William R. Lewis)
Q&A
AE: How do you plan to use your platform as Miss America?
Ms. Marsh: The most important role for me this year as Miss America is to support research on pancreatic cancer on a national level. My mom was Whitney Marsh. She died of pancreatic cancer when she was only 41 years old. There were just 9 months between her diagnosis and her death. My national level goals include diversifying the ways we raise money and lobbying for legislation to get early detection standards implemented nationwide.
AE: What does the pageant mean to you?
Ms. Marsh: The first Miss America was in 1921 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I think a lot of people might say that pageants are very superficial, but the Miss America organization is so much more than looks. The Miss America opportunity is about scholarship: they’re one of the largest providers of scholarships anywhere in the world. They are about leadership and community service.
I started competing in pageants in my freshman year at the Air Force Academy because I saw my cousin doing it. I’d lost my mom to pancreatic cancer the year before, and I was struggling with my identity and working through grief. I knew how important it would be to have a greater platform for my mom’s story. That’s really why I started doing pageants.
Ms. Marsh cheers on competitors at the Big Hoopla STEM Challenge basketball game in Dayton, Ohio, on March 19, 2024. (Miriam Thurber)
AE: What are your plans regarding your military service?
Ms. Marsh: I plan to stay with the military. I’ve got my service that I owe to them; they’ve given me so much, and I want to be able to give back to them more so. I love the people, I love being able to lead others and serve in something that’s bigger than just me.
I’m not a military pilot but I love flying. It’s one of my favorite things. It taught me a lot about relying on my training and being confident in myself. I’m not able to do any flying at all right now, unfortunately, but hopefully after things die down this year, I’ll be able to use the scholarship money I earn from Miss America to earn some more pilot education.
Ms. Marsh with an Air Force colleague. Ms. Marsh is currently working on her master’s degree in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. (William R. Lewis)
Fun Facts About Madison Marsh
Hometown: Fort Smith, Arkansas
Position in the Air Force: Second lieutenant
Duties at the Air Force: Public affairs, recruitment efforts
Miss America credentials: Representing Colorado
Ms. Marsh reacts to her win, at the ceremony held at the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts in Orlando, Fla. (Courtesy of Miss America)
Former 7-Eleven and Blockbuster CEO James Keyes is now a philanthropist devoted to helping young people succeed in higher education and
beyond. (Angela Talley)
It hit him like a thunderbolt.
James Keyes, the newly minted CEO of the Fortune 500 company 7-Eleven, was bounding his way across the campus of Columbia University, en route to teach a business class at his Ivy League alma mater. He was nattily dressed in a newly tailored suit, briefcase in hand, daydreaming of past walks on campus.
Then, he was utterly gobsmacked. Walking toward him was a young student, arms wrapped around too many textbooks, his T-shirt preaching the gospel: “Education Is Freedom!” in bright, bold letters.
“I had an epiphany, right then and there,” Mr. Keyes recalled. “It was everything I had believed in and relied upon to get where I was to that day.” He vigorously shook the student’s hand and told him how much he agreed with the idea behind his T-shirt message. They spent a few minutes talking about how education had changed both of their lives. Mr. Keyes told the young man that he was impressed by his passion and vision and wished him well.
“He believed every word on his shirt. Thoroughly,” Mr. Keyes said. “I did too. I just hadn’t thought about it in those terms before.” He reflected on how Columbia and other educational opportunities had impacted his own life and provided him with the freedom to succeed. Back home in Dallas, Texas, he soon rallied like-minded business leaders, government officials, and entrepreneurs, and founded the Education is Freedom (EIF) charitable foundation. The year was 2002. These leaders envisioned a world where every young person could pursue a college education and a rewarding career. EIF would provide students with the tools needed to successfully graduate from high school, attend and graduate from college, and develop their career paths.
Mr. Keyes on graduation day at Columbia University. (Courtesy of James Keyes)
Over the past two decades, EIF mentors and counselors have helped more than 100,000 students and their families in multiple Texas school districts complete the college process. They’ve also provided scholarships to hard-working students. And they’re just getting started.
Now, Mr. Keyes has a new goal: to help heal and educate the entire world. In his new book released in February, “Education Is Freedom: The Future Is in Your Hands,” he outlines how the power of education can not only unlock our personal freedom and improve our individual lives, but is crucial to preserving our democracy. “Our country is so polarized right now,” he said. “We need more knowledge and less ideology. I believe that fear and ignorance are at the root of most of these issues. On both sides of the aisle.”
Mr. Keyes’s book “Education is Freedom” was published in February this year. (Post Hill Press)
Whether it’s fear of the unknown; fear of the “other”; a mistrust of people and institutions; or fear of other cultures or religions—whatever it is, having the curiosity to learn will stomp out that fear. “It’s like when you were a kid in the dark and you were scared. And your mom came in and turned on the light and said, ‘See? No monster here,’” he said. “That’s what knowledge is. It’s the light that conquers fear.”
If we can encourage more people to turn on the light, we can reverse that cycle of ignorance, fear, violence, and anger that tortures the world, he argued. “Sounds a little Pollyannaish. But in so many ways, it is true.”
The Power of Education
Mr. Keyes argues that education can change the world. That’s because people gain the skills, tools, and opportunities to make better informed choices and decisions, he contends. They’re able to pursue their wildest dreams and aspirations and fully participate in the world around them. They can separate reality from fiction, confidence from fear.
One example he cites in his book is the story of Adan Gonzalez. Mr. Keyes first met him when he was a high school student living in South Oak Cliff, an underprivileged Dallas suburb. He lived in a one-room apartment with six other family members in a neighborhood where 32 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. During his sophomore year at Adamson High School, Mr. Gonzalez signed up for the Education is Freedom program on a lark. The program offered Mr. Gonzalez an internship at a local business to help him visualize a better future. “Unfortunately, he turned us down,” Mr. Keyes said. “He could make more money in a local factory. Like a lot of underserved kids, he went straight for the money.”
But in his junior year, Mr. Gonzalez reapplied and landed an internship at a local ad agency. The experience opened his eyes to new career possibilities. He aimed to attend Georgetown University and studied hard. Through grants and scholarships facilitated by EIF, as well as his academic rigor, Mr. Gonzalez got his Georgetown shot. He also channeled his love of fighting into boxing and became a national boxing champion while studying at Georgetown. “Instead of becoming a street fighter in South Oak, he became a college champion,” Mr. Keyes said. “What a story.”
After graduating in 2015, Mr. Gonzalez went back to his hometown grade school to teach math and social studies. He has since earned a master’s degree in education policy at Harvard and a master’s in education leadership at Columbia, and he has founded a nonprofit to provide underserved youth with academic support, leadership training, and community service opportunities. He recently received a White House fellowship, which he hopes can help him return home with the knowledge to improve his community’s education system.
“Adan is just a poster child for the idea that opportunity and education can transform anyone’s life,” Mr. Keyes said, adding that he’s moved by Mr. Gonzalez’s desire to work in the public school system. “He could have taken a much higher profile and higher paying job, but he’s really embraced that, for him, it’s about the freedom to do what he wants to. He has more freedom to give back to his community.”
His Life Story
Mr. Keyes himself has had his whole life transformed after working hard in school, though education wasn’t a priority during his hardscrabble childhood. Keyes was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1955, the youngest of six children. He grew up in a small, three-room shack without running water, plumbing, or heat. His parents, both factory workers, were highly intelligent but undereducated high school dropouts. Their impoverished life was difficult to bear. “Too many kids, not enough money,” he wistfully recalled.
His parents divorced when he was just five, and his mom “moved uptown to the trailer park,” he said. Keyes chose to stay with his dad. Though he lived in abject poverty, Keyes didn’t realize that his family was poor. His “rich” friends always came to his house to play because there were abandoned cars in the yard, tree swings, and creeks to play in. “I was poor but incredibly free and happy,” he said. “It wasn’t about wealth. We saw it as an adventure, like camping! I’ve remembered that all my life.”
But the family also endured hard times. When he was 10, his father was diagnosed with cancer, his grandmother fell ill and entered a nursing home, and their home was condemned by the local sheriff. Dad was sent to a veterans hospital, where he died six months later. Keyes went to live with his mother, who had to work two jobs to support them. “I lived through severe crisis after crisis,” he said. “So many horrible things [happened] before I was even 12 years old. It was then that I understood I had no safety net, no one to catch me if I stumbled or fell. It was up to me.”
Mr. Keyes visits a 7-Eleven convenience store during his executive days. (Courtesy of James Keyes)
At 15, Keyes began working for McDonald’s part-time and became the shift manager within a year. During summers, he worked a second shift as a produce truck driver, and he even made a side hustle out of being a church organist. “Hard work never goes out of style, and it pays off. I learned that early on, too,” he said.
With his earnings and a small baseball scholarship, he was able to attend the College of the Holy Cross. While there, his mother developed cancer, and he helped care for her. He continued working at McDonald’s. It was humble work, but it instilled his lifelong drive to outwork and outperform everybody. He would graduate cum laude with membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.
He then attended Columbia Business School, where he learned the skills that would jump-start his business career. Mr. Keyes has a profound recognition and gratitude for how education led to his successes. “Education was the key that opened all my doors. It unlocked huge opportunities. It was my path to personal freedom,” he said. He believes that every American—every person, for that matter—needs to explore new interests throughout life.
He, for example, wanted to fly airplanes ever since the 1960s moon missions sparked a fascination with the skies. He learned to speak Japanese after working with Japanese business partners to bring 7-Eleven to Japan and wanting to overcome the language and cultural barrier.
His childhood experiences instilled a fierce sense of independence and an unbridled drive. His positive response to adversity—and his pursuit of knowledge and education—were the beginnings of a quintessential rags-to-riches American story.
He still remembers a poster that hung in the McDonald’s kitchen he worked at. “It still inspires me to this day. It had a famous quote from Calvin Coolidge.” The quote reads, in part: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Persistence and determination are omnipotent.” When he left that job, he asked the owner if he could take the poster with him, and the owner agreed. “I took it to shop class and burned the edges to dress it up. I’m looking at it right now. It’s hung in every office I have ever had,” he said.
After earning his MBA, he joined Gulf Oil and taught himself how to use an Apple computer—the most cutting-edge technology at the time—to streamline operations and replace clunky corporate spreadsheets. After steady promotions, he joined Southland Corporation, today known as 7-Eleven. In 2000, he was named president and CEO. After expanding the convenience store chain into a global brand, Mr. Keyes joined the ill-fated Blockbuster as CEO in 2007. He tried to shepherd in a digital streaming strategy, but money woes and market conditions eventually forced a sale of the company to DISH Network.
Despite setbacks, Mr. Keyes remains highly regarded as a visionary industry tycoon. His days as a CEO taught him one crucial lesson that he also shares in his book. “Yes, it means Chief Executive Officer,” he said. “But more importantly, it means ‘Change Equals Opportunity.’” If you’re knowledgeable, persistent, and dedicated to your passion, you will embrace change not as a negative but as a tremendous opportunity, he concluded. It’s a trait that is necessary for survival in and out of the boardroom.
Mr. Keyes speaking to graduates of a leadership program for entrepreneurs offered at Columbia Business School. (Courtesy of James Keyes)
A Promising Future
Keyes believes that the American dream is still alive and well. “Arguably it’s more alive than ever before in history,” he said. “That’s because of the emergence of technology. Truly and literally, the future is in our hands. There’s no excuse now. Everyone can have access to unlimited learning. The cell phone itself is a portal to unlimited learning.”
He expressed optimism about how technology can revolutionize education, citing how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated access to technology and educational resources as schools embraced remote learning. He’s buoyed by the future possibilities. “I want to see a future where academic content is as engaging as video games and where students are incentivized for their learning progress—where tech can tailor to individual needs, providing flexibility,” he said. He hopes such technology can supplement classroom learning and inspire people to become lifelong learners.
“Someone can take your money, your material things, your job, … but they can’t take away what you know. My dad told me that,” he said. “With knowledge, you can replace anything lost, you can be free to explore the world, you are beholden to no one. That’s the path to real freedom.”
Mr. Keyes visited his alma mater, Columbia Business School, earlier this year. (Courtesy of James Keyes)
The Three C’s
James Keyes defines the Three C’s that have helped him weather challenges, especially during his business career.
Change is inevitable in life, Mr. Keyes asserts. Both 7-Eleven and Blockbuster went through drastic changes during his tenure, and he had to respond—whether it involved restructuring the business or redefining the way the companies delivered and sourced products.
“You have to accept and respond to change, especially in the face of adversity,” he said. “You can’t give up or become a victim in the face of challenges. You must see the learning opportunities that come with change.”
Confidence is essential to responding to such changes. When going through turbulent times, people have a tendency to let fear take over, such as fear of losing one’s job or fear of people thinking negatively of one.
“You must have confidence in your own skills and abilities,” he said. “You must keep your head up and confidently look to the future.”
Clarity is the ability to break down complex problems into their simple components. It prevents one from being overwhelmed and better facilitates learning, according to Mr. Keyes. During times of crisis, keeping things simple is vitally important. “It’s how you navigate to safe harbors,” he said.
Ken Valentine
served three
presidents during
his tenure with the
Secret Service. (Courtesy of Kenneth Valentine)
“Every time you take the president out of the White House, you introduce risk,” said Kenneth Valentine, retired Secret Service agent. But for Mr. Valentine, assigned to the personal protection detail for three U.S. presidents, his faith allowed him to do his job with confidence, “because I believed that I would be empowered to do my very best,” he said in an interview. Every time his team brought the president back safely to the White House, they joked that they had “cheated death,” but in his mind, cheating death also means living life to its fullest.
While Mr. Valentine loved his career and never had any doubts that he was exactly where he was supposed to be, it was a high-risk, high-stress job that took a toll on his family life. To make things work, there needs to be a lot of humility, sacrifice, and collaboration. This philosophy is also what helped him persist. Three times, he told his wife that if she wanted him to quit so he could be home more, he would. Each time, she said no.
Mr. Valentine knew since his junior year in college that he wanted to join the Secret Service. Both his father and uncle were FBI agents, and that year, in 1988, President Ronald Reagan visited Purdue University, where Mr. Valentine was studying. His father was there to provide intelligence, and Mr. Valentine got “backstage” access to witness up-close what the job entailed. “At the last minute, I ended up going to the airport to watch Air Force One arrive and then the motorcade depart,” he recounted. “That had a big impact on me.”
Encouraged by his uncle to complete a law degree first, Mr. Valentine did just that, got married, and then applied to the Secret Service. “I was in Jackson, Mississippi, and I remember very well taking in my application. The head of the Secret Service in Mississippi called me into his office and sat me down,” Mr. Valentine recalled. “I was very prepared to answer his questions and tell him why I wanted to do it.” When he got the news that he was in, he was so excited he couldn’t sleep for 48 hours.
Mr. Valentine (far R) during his training days. (Courtesy of Kenneth Valentine)
What Gets Him Through the Hard Times
One thing Mr. Valentine appreciates greatly about the Secret Service is that staff members take the time to go into the homes of new recruits and meet with the people who are going to be impacted by the job. They want to be fully transparent about the challenges of the road ahead. Mr. Valentine and his wife didn’t have children when he first got the job; over time, their family and their faith grew together.
The family was always aware that when he left for the day, he would first put on a bulletproof vest, he had a gun, and he’d been trained. “Bad things happen,” he said, “But there was no pressure to be a hero and make an unnecessary sacrifice. The efforts we undertook not only protected the president, but also ourselves.” Nevertheless, he always knew that what he was doing might cost him his life, and so he started writing letters to his kids: “I would write a letter on the stationery of the hotel and send it through the front desk so that it would get to the family in case something happened.” Over time, as letters and journal entries multiplied, he realized he had the beginnings of a book. That book, released in April 2024, is the accumulation of the lessons he learned and is titled “Cheating Death.”
He and his wife have five children. He was present at each of the births, but he could never stay with the family for long. “Each baby was born on a weekday, and I would take the rest of that week off,” he said. “But then I’d be back at it [the following week].” Once, after being away in Colombia for several weeks, he returned home for a brief 14 hours before leaving again for Halifax, Nova Scotia. While he was home, his wife informed him that she was going to have another baby: “Well, that’s great! I have to pack a suitcase now.”
In his book, Mr. Valentine details how faith gave him the strength to overcome challenges in his career. (Cody Corcoran)
Work was exciting. “It was so much fun that sometimes it was hard to remember that life back home was difficult,” Mr. Valentine said. As the children grew up, he became more and more intentional about carving out quality time with them since there wasn’t a quantity of time. “The boys loved rough-housing,” he said. “We would go in the basement, I would get down on the floor, and the three boys would just attack me.” With his two girls, he would set a time to take each one out and give his undivided, one-on-one attention.
Family came first, but sometimes, Mr. Valentine’s line of work potentially put them in danger. One time, while they were living in Oklahoma, “our agents were involved in a shoot-out that resulted in the death of the guy we were trying to arrest.” Mr. Valentine immediately became concerned about the possibility of retaliation. After making the necessary arrangements to ensure the office and staff were protected, “I then googled ‘Secret Service Oklahoma.’ I was the one doing the TV interviews—I was the special agent in charge. My name, my photo, my home address all popped up.”
Shocked at how easy it was to find himself on the internet, Mr. Valentine briefed his family about the need to be vigilant about “cars we don’t recognize, and if you hear the sound of breaking glass in the night, then here’s what you do.” He trained each of them how to low-crawl to a safe spot: “That’s the reality of being in law enforcement: You’re easy to find, and here’s how best to protect yourself.” He believes the be-prepared mindset has affected all of his children: “My daughter lives on her own in Chicago, and she’s not afraid: ‘I’m Ken Valentine’s daughter; I can take care of myself!’ she says.”
Mr. Valentine’s faith helped him feel prepared without fear. “Faith is being sure of what you do not see,” he said. “My faith is tested every single day. Walking in faith is the exercise of what you believe, and sometimes it’s bumpy.” Nevertheless, he believes faith is a gift. “In work, if you believe that you’re where you’re supposed to be, doing what you’re supposed to do, there’s great freedom … in the Secret Service. I believed that I was empowered to do great things.” While Mr. Valentine always knew the job was risky, his faith gave him strength to do his very best, with confidence and peace.
The Presidential Example
In his work, there were lots of times when Mr. Valentine and his team had to make quick and sometimes creative decisions to enable the president to do what he wanted to do. “All the president heard was, ‘Sure, we can make that happen,’ and what he didn’t see under the water was the churn,” he said. In return, Mr. Valentine got to observe and learn from the presidents he served.
In President George W. Bush, Mr. Valentine observed and admired his great resolve and fearlessness: “Once there was an incident brewing in Peru, and the Peruvians tried to prevent the Secret Service from going with the president on a big on-camera walk. President Bush got a few feet in and realized none of us were with him, and he stopped the procession, walked back, reached over what was almost a fist-fight, and grabbed our guy and pulled him in. If we didn’t love him before, we loved him after that. The protectee turned around and protected us.”
Mr. Valentine (far right) on a security detail for President George W. Bush. (Courtesy of Kenneth Valentine)
Mr. Valentine admired President Barack Obama for the way he handled stress. “He didn’t sweat the small stuff!” Once, when Obama was still a U.S. senator running for president, Mr. Valentine was on a small jet with him that landed in Iowa. Mr. Valentine was supposed to be the first one off the plane, so he stuck his head out and looked at a dark airport with no agents waiting for them, no car ready. He turned back and said to the pilot, “I think we’re in the wrong town.”
He had to go and tell Obama that they had landed in the wrong place. Obama looked up from his newspaper and said, “Oh. Where are we supposed to be? How long will it take to get there?” When he heard the answers, he simply said OK and continued to read the paper. “Other people might have been quite upset,” Mr. Valentine said, “but not Senator Obama.”
Being prepared, asking for help, and exercising his faith daily has allowed Mr. Valentine to do his job with confidence and return home safely to his family. Mr. Valentine wants to show people that living an abundant life and being confident through faith is surely the best way of cheating death.
